A note from Don Bolce
The world of education is rich with data, and effective use of that information can be a powerful tool to improve education programs and student outcomes. Teachers are encouraged to regularly assess student learning and use this data to improve their instruction. Effective schools foster professional learning communities in which teachers collaborate on the analysis of assessment data and work together to implement programs that accelerate student learning.
With the goal of eliminating the achievement gap, SJ2020 has identified 13 metrics that are reported annually to track our community progress and identify where more needs to be done. We are also beginning to analyze our local data to identify those schools that are particularly effective in hopes of learning -- and sharing -- the "secrets" of their success.
When SJ2020 launched, we wrote "in our local schools, there are examples where the achievement gap has been eliminated or significantly reduced. We will take the strategies from these schools and implement them city-wide." Last fall, we began analyzing school-level data to identify schools that made significant progress in reducing the achievement gap.
Our intention was to recognize these schools, and highlight their successful strategies. In January, we honored a number of such schools with "2020 Vision" awards and published their signature practices on the Santa Clara County Office of Education website.
We have since worked with district superintendents and the SJ2020 Steering Committee to deepen our analysis of school data and refine our recognition criteria. We'll announce the new criteria this fall and use it to identify those elementary, middle and high schools that are modeling successful practices to achieve high outcomes for all students.
SCCOE Program Director,
Special Projects
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System supports instruction of English learners
 The recent A Look at Learning annual showcase, held at the Santa Clara County Office of Education, attracted some 200 people who are dedicated to this award-winning system that supports instruction for English Learners.
The showcase featured the "The Equity and Access District Partner Award," which went to the Campbell Union Elementary School District for the second consecutive year.
 With its goal of raising the academic achievement of English learners, A Look at Learning is an essential part of SJ2020. Like SJ2020, A Look at Learning -- which was designed and developed by COE staff -- is designed to be extremely collaborative in nature.
A Look at Learning provides a comprehensive professional development system that:
- develops a cadre of experts in districts and schools;
- builds instructional leadership and schools' and districts' capacity;
- engages participating teachers in collaborative dialogues and cycles of inquiry leading to positive academic gains for English learners;
- focuses on teacher practice and student engagement; and
- engages in cycles of continuous improvement.
Last fall, A Look at Learning was awarded the California School Boards Association's prestigious "Golden Bell" award, in the category of "Closing the Achievement Gap."
To learn more about the system and the showcase, and to view the storyboards of A Look at Learning teams from throughout the region, visit its website, and scroll down to "A.L.L. Showcase-2012." Also, view a video of testimonies from collaborators, and check out a photo gallery of the event.
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New SJ2020 partner works to boost student enrollment in college prep courses
SJ2020 has launched a partnership with a Seattle-based nonprofit that aims to enroll more students in college-preparatory classes.
 Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS) works to identify students who are not taking Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs -- despite showing signs that they'd flourish in such courses. Then, it helps get such students enrolled in the courses and offer support to help them succeed.
Based on an analysis of nationwide AP and IB student data, EOS estimates that at least two-thirds of a million such students are missing out on these courses annually, which the organization attributes to race or socioeconomic status. EOS refers to such pupils as "missing" students.
 To change this, EOS collaborates with district and school leaders on a five-phase plan of action:
- evaluate advanced course enrollment gaps;
- build stakeholder support to identify within the current school year all students who should be enrolled in AP and IB courses;
- identify such students;
- improve student achievement and course quality through tested pedagogical and support strategies; and
- incorporate efforts to identify missing students into ongoing district- and school-level systems.
EOS' work is in clear alignment with SJ2020's mission -- and it's facing a familiar deadline: The organization's goal is to help high schools annually serve two-thirds of a million more students in college preparatory courses by the year 2020, thus working to narrow the race and income enrollment gap in these classes.
EOS is no stranger to Santa Clara County: Its first school district-level partnership was with the San Jose Unified School District. There, the organization more than doubled participation from Latino and low-income students in AP and IB classes without lowering exam pass rates for students overall.
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Title I Academic Achievement Award winners announced, to be honored
Four schools from San José have been named recipients of the 2011-12 Title I Academic Achievement Awards, the California Department of Education announced recently.
Only schools receiving federal Title I funds are eligible for the award. These funds assist schools in meeting the educational needs of students living at or below the poverty line. More than 6,000 of California's approximately 9,000 schools participate in the Title I program.
 Award-winning schools must demonstrate that all students are making significant progress toward proficiency on California's academic content standards. Additionally, the school's socioeconomically disadvantaged students must have doubled the achievement targets set for them for two consecutive years.
Here's the list of the Santa Clara County schools and their districts:
The Title I Achieving Schools will join the 2012 California Distinguished Schools and the 2010-11 National Blue Ribbon Schools at an award ceremony hosted by the SCCOE on May 30 at the Santa Clara Marriott.
They will also be recognized this winter at the 2020 Vision Awards, which recognize schools that have made noteworthy progress in efforts to close the achievement gap.
See a full list of the state's Title I Achieving Schools.
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 Campaign empowers east San José residents to lead, change
Residents in an east San José neighborhood are empowering one another to help their children succeed and their families thrive, thanks to the work of local nonprofit Somos Mayfair.
 Somos Mayfair will fully implement its In Our Hands/En Nuestras Manos campaign at the start of the 2012-13 school year. In its early stages of implementation since January, the campaign builds neighborhood capacity for change through various programming, messaging and community organizing.
After working for about a year to develop aspects of the campaign, Somos Mayfair staff turned over the project to residents. Now, trained and certified leaders -- called community promotores -- collaborate to deliver all program strategies to residents of the Mayfair neighborhood.
The campaign's mantra is read, walk, eat, breathe and organize. Essentially, the campaign -- which recently received funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation -- works to make these elements daily habits of residents.
 The campaign works to ensure that by 2015, 60 percent of all children in the area are ready for kindergarten; 60 percent of students are reading at proficient levels by third grade; and 60 percent of families practice daily wellness habits.
The Mayfair neighborhood refers to the area of east San José bounded roughly by U.S. Highway 101, the I-280 and I-680 interchange, and Alum Rock Avenue. In Our Hands further focuses its work on the school enrollment zone of Cesar Chavez Elementary School, which is comprised of about 2,000 households and 10,000 residents in the Alum Rock Union Elementary School District.
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It is the vision of the City of San José, the Santa Clara County Office of Education, school districts, charter schools, colleges, and business and nonprofit community agencies to join together to eliminate the achievement gap in San José by 2020. The "achievement gap" refers to the disparity in academic performance between two groups: lower-performing Hispanic/ Latino and African-American students, and higher-performing Asian and White/non-Hispanic students.
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