musd“Committed To Educational Quality”

McFarland Unified School District

McFarland Unified School District Quarterly Newsletter Volume V • Fall 2011

Mission:

The mission of the

McFarland Unified

School District is to

accelerate student

performance through

great teaching

and great learning.

District Achievement Results

Continued on page 2

700 ClubKern Avenue Elementary

API 757 4 Year Growth: 63 points

API=YES AYP=YES

Browning Road Elementary

API 755 4 Year Growth: 60 points

API=YES AYP=YES

API (Growth) 5-Year Change

2007

635651 646

680

701

2008 2009 2010 2011

CAHSEE - First Time 10th Grade Pass Rate

2009 2010 2011

2 Superintendent’s Desk

3 Student Achievements

3 Staff Spotlight

4 Campus Digest

5 Transitions

6 Important Dates & Testing Calendar

Student achievement has risen during the past three years. Across the district, nearly 10% more students scored proficient or advanced on the CST English Language Arts and Math tests than in 2008-2009; this means that 300 more students met grade level standards. Browning Road and Kern Elementary Schools each had significant gains on the CST tests during the past three years on both the ELA and Math tests. Across the district, the largest ELA achievement gains were in grades 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7; the largest Math achievement gains were in grades 2, 4, 5, and 7.

The number of 11th and 12th graders taking AP tests decreased in 2009-2010, as did the number of tests taken by those students and the number of tests with scores of 3 or higher. Twenty-five percent of the tests taken earned a score of 3 or higher in 2009-2010, a 5% drop from the 30% pass rate in 2008-2009.

The McFarland Unified School District (MUSD) Academic Performance Index (API) has risen steadily over the past five years to a current

81%

70%66%

69%

59%57%

ELA Math

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growth API of 701. The 20 point gain from 2010 is higher than both the 14 point gain by Kern County and the 10 point gain by the state of California, but McFarland Unified still lags 38 points behind the Kern County API of 739 and 77 points behind the State API of 778. (Kern Avenue Elementary had the highest API growth in the district at 757 along with the largest growth, 52 points.) Browning Road Elementary had the next highest API of 755 with a 34 point gain from 2010. McFarland Middle had an API score of 676 and McFarland High has an API of 670.

Like MUSD’s API, the pass rate for 10th graders taking the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) for the first time has risen steadily over the past three years.

From the desk of the SuperintendentIt is my privilege to report on the progress of the dis-

trict. As we received our district’s 2010-2011 Academic Performance Index (API) and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) scores, we learned that our district-wide growth was a whopping 20 point increase from the prior year! We are now a 701 API school district. Five years ago, our district was at 635 API. We have come a long way.

Our two elementary schools both exceeded the 750 (API) barriers. Kern Avenue Elementary School now has a 757 API score and Browning Road Elementary School has a 755 API score, both schools hit their AYP and API targets.  Another successful year in reaching their AYP and API targets would mean that both schools would exit Program Improvement. What a tremendous feat!

Special thanks to all of the dedicated teachers of our school district as they have put in a tremendous amount of effort in providing our students with an excellent in-structional experience. Our classified support staff and school administrators should also receive special thanks for providing our teachers with the support needed to educate our children.

Last year, we built a new Science and Technology class-room at McFarland High School. Our students deserve modern facilities in which to be educated.  Our new central kitchen recently opened, allowing our students to receive hot meals prepared in McFarland.

Our school district has grown significantly in the past 10 years. Kern Avenue School now has an enrollment of more than 1100 students. As we continue to address the future needs of our students, the school board and I are pursuing various options in building a new K-5 elementary school.

Sincerely, Gabriel McCurtis

District Achievement Results continued from page 1

California Standards TestsPercent of Students Scoring Proficient or Advanced

English Language Arts Mathematics

2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011

Browning Elementary 25% 30% 36% 49% 57% 65%

Kern Avenue Elementary 26% 32% 43% 45% 48% 58%

McFarland Middle 27% 31% 32% 30% 40% 39%

McFarland High 26% 26% 31% 6% 12% 9%

District Total 26% 29% 35% 31% 38% 41%

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Browning Road Elementary Student Council 2011/2012President: Alex Trevino, Sergeant of Arms: Giovanni Estrada, Vice President: Jordan Ayon, Treasurer: Karent Hernandez, Secretary: Natalia Herrera.

Browning Road Elementary School is excited about Student Council. Student Council is comprised of the executive members, shown above, that have ALL attended Browning Road School since Kindergarten. To encourage school participation, Student Council also has 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade repre-sentatives. Student Council Executive members attended a Leadership Conference in Bakersfield on October 14th and have been already plan-ning activities for the school. They are gearing up for their first large event in October, Red Ribbon Week, and are also planning a dance. In ad-dition, these students are busy working on ideas to increase school spirit and school climate. On Wednesdays, our President Alex Trevino leads a school wide flag salute as Sergeant of Arms, Giovanni Estrada, is our flag bearer. This year’s Student Council has definitely hit the ground running. GO CUBS!!

PERFECT 600 SCORES ON CST’sThe following students at Browning Road School scored a perfect “600” score on their

CST tests for the 2010-11 school year:

In English Language Arts: Joshua Rizo – 3rd.

In Mathematics: Ruben Maldonado – 5th, Amado Nunez – 6th, Jaime Rizo – 6th, Joshua Rizo – 3rd, Yasmine Valdez – 4th, and Juan Ojeda Vasquez – 4th

The following students at Kern Avenue School scored a perfect “600” score on their CST tests for the 2010-11 school year:

In Mathematics: Gisselle Duran – 4th, Juan Duran – 3rd, Julissa Escobedo – 4th, Nataly Nunez – 5th, Hector Perezchica – 4th, James Ramirez – 5th, Rebeca Santiago – 5th, Aurora Castaneda – 6th, Andres Hernandez – 6th, Juan Loera – 6th and Ashley Verbera – 6th.

STAFF MEMBER

Spotlight

LAURIE HAAS McFarland High School

Vice-PrincipalHaving been involved in

education in one form or another for the past fifteen years, I am extremely excited to join the McFarland Community in the position of High School Vice Principal for the 2011-2012 school year. I am enjoying building relationships with students, staff and parents and am looking forward to a productive and successful year.

QUENTIN PANEKDirector of Special

Education and Student Support Services

My public education career has spanned the last thirty years, with background and experience as a student centered classroom teacher and as a school site administrator and district office director.  I look forward to serving the community of McFarland as an educational leader in the years to come.

Shining Student Achievements

Continued on page 5

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Campus Digest

Please send story ideas

for future issues of

MUSD newsletter to

sespinoza@mcfarland.k12.ca.us

Browning Road SchoolPrincipal: Maria Gonzalez-SalgadoLearning Director: Matthew Roderick

The staff and student body at Browning Road School were excited to learn that they had reached both the state API and federal AYP targets for this year. Over the past four years, our API scores have increased over 77 points, from a 678 API in 2007 to a 755 API in 2011. This was accomplished with all the efforts of the staff and students.

Over the past few years, staff and ad-ministration have had a lot of professional development on instructional strategies based on the most effective research based practices in education. These strategies have been used consistently in the class-rooms to actively engage students in their learning. Staff have also been trained on how to use student data to drive their instruction, how to work and plan col-laboratively in their professional learning communities, and how to effectively teach standards-based content using the district curriculum.

Browning Road School had five students whom scored a perfect 600 score in Math, and one of these students also received a perfect 600 score in English language Arts. They were recognized and celebrated at a school site assembly in August. In October, the MUSD school board also recognized and congratulated these talented individu-als for their accomplishments.

Kern Avenue SchoolPrincipal: Smith EfadaLearning Director: Valerie Garcia

Kern Avenue wants to welcome you to the 2011-2012 school year.  Kern Avenue staff is committed to collabora-tion with parents and our community to ensure that ALL children are capable of success.  We are dedicated to provid-ing a positive learning environment, and allowing all children to thrive academically, socially, physically and emotionally.  By providing standards based curriculum with high expecta-tions, we are proud to announce that our students and staff had fantastic results on the California State Test last spring.  On behalf of Kern Avenue staff, I would like to commend the ac-complishments of the students at Kern Avenue Elementary for attaining an API of 757.  This is due to good teach-ing from our staff, a constant focus on academics, good attendance from our students and wonderful support from you, our parents.  Not only is this a huge success for all of the students and staff, it is a huge success for parents and guardians as well.  This kind of suc-cess is only possible when we all work together and communicate!  It is the support you provide to your child that connects the bridge of success between the home and classroom. So together, let’s celebrate our success while helping us prepare for our future achievements with your child.  We are looking for-ward to another excellent year! 

McFarland Middle School CST Blast Off!!!! Principal: Louie GomezLearning Director: Maria Perez

McFarland Middle School is continu-ally looking to celebrate its successes. Last year, over 600 students took the CST in both English Language Arts and Math. Of our current 683 students, 134 grew a band in English Language Arts and 94 grew a band in Math. We have 207 proficient or advanced students in English Language Arts and 250 students who are proficient or advanced in math. Our students are continually striving to improve themselves, as is evidenced by this great achievement.

As a school site, we also have individ-ual grade levels and courses to celebrate. In 7th grade language arts, we accom-plished a 15% increase in proficient and or advanced students from the previous 2009-2010 school year. There are also select students who are taking advanced math courses: in 7th grade we had 27 students score proficient or advanced on the Algebra 1 CST and in 8th grade we had 32 students score proficient or advanced on the Geometry CST.

McFarland Middle School is very proud to have such hard working staff who is dedicated to seeing students achieve. We are expecting even greater results for the 2011-2012 school year!

MUSD staff being recognized at Annual District Breakfast.

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Shining Student Achievements continued from page 3 Transitions Kern Avenue Elementary Student Council 2011/2012President: Natalie Cantu, Activities Director: Alexis Gonzales, Giovanni Estrada, Vice President: Lizbeth Sandoval, Treasurer: Fatima Rivera, Secretary: Clarissa Rodriguez, Fire Marshal: Adrian Medina.

With a total of 67 students running for office, and applications, posters, speeches, campaigning, and elections done, the Kern Avenue School Student Body Council made up of six officers and fifteen classroom Representatives, is excited to start this year with a full calendar of events and activities. Our Student Council Installation Ceremony took place on Thursday, October 6, 2011 at Kern Avenue School. I would like to congratulate Kern Avenue’s Student Body Officers.

Some of the activities the Student Body Officers will be involved with are the Leadership Con-ference at Bakersfield College, Red Ribbon Week, Anti-Bullying Program, Attendance Incentive Program, Basketball tournament, Soccer tournament, and Thanksgiving food baskets, just to name a few! We are looking forward to another awesome and excellent year!

McFarland Middle School 2011/2012 ASB OfficersMcFarland Middle School Installation Ceremony took place on Friday, September 23, 2011. The selected students were elated to learn they were elected for their ASB positions. It is going to be a great year to work with these young leaders. They are enthusiastic, spirited, and great role models for other classmates. The following are the names and positions they will carry: Alyssa Aguirre-President, Alexis Lopez-Vice President, Rebecca Zermeno-Secretary, Clarissa Escobedo-Treasure, Cynthia Reyes-Activities Director, Alexa Ayon-Sergeant at Arms, and Lizeth Alaniz and Desiree Vargas - 6th Grade Representatives.

Some upcoming events for October that our ASB Officers are involved in: Red Ribbon Week, October Fright Dance, Spirit Week Rally, and School Fundraising. This year’s ASB Officers have definitely hit the ground running. Go Bulldogs!!

McFarland High School Associated Student Body Executive BoardPresident Lorena Garcia, Vice –President Kassandra Carrillo, Secretary Vanesa Rodriguez, Treasurer Emy Nunez, Rally Com-missioner Khlarissa Agee, Noontime Activities Commissioner Stephanie Alvarado, Athletics Commissioner Jose Gamez, Social Chair Commissioner Nayely Gonzalez, Publicity Commissioner Erika Garza, Cheer Rep Magdalena Soto and Yearbook Rep Alayna Bergman.

Our ASB officers have been busy these last few weeks planning for our homecoming on October 14, 2011. This year’s theme is “Cougars: Go Out of this World.” Each class is constructing a homecoming float with a “Cougars: Go Out of this World” theme. We are excited for our noontime activities, our daily dress up themes, the Coronation of our King and Queen, and our Homecoming dance after the game. We are especially excited to put on the first ever Black light rally on Homecoming Friday! ASB also went to Tulare for our an-nual CADA area C conference, and they look forward to our monthly KASL meetings sponsored by different schools in Kern County. We have many exciting events, assemblies, rallies and dances planned for the 2011-2012 school year.

Matthew RoderickBrowning Road School Learning DirectorI have been with Browning Road School for 14 years. I was in the classroom for 13 years. I enjoy running and playing soccer in my free time. My goal as Learning Director is to help Browning Road School achieve the highest academic success possible.

Valerie GarciaKern Avenue School Learning DirectorI was a teacher and then a Reading Coach at Kern Avenue Elementary before becoming a Learning Director.  In my spare time, I enjoy being with my husband and three children.

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McFarland Unified School District601 Second StreetMcFarland, CA 93250

Board of DirectorsMarlin Isaacs, PresidentKaye Breyer, Vice PresidentDavid Arguello, ClerkRey DeLeon, MemberJim Beltran, Member

On The Web www.mcfarlandusd.comTesting Calendar:

CAHSEE Testing – 12th and Adult Education

Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011

Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011

CST – 4th and 7th Grade Writing Test

March 6, 2012

CAHSEE Testing 10th, 11th, 12th and Adult Education

March 13 – 14, 2012

Please contact your child’s school for additional information regarding the testing schedule.

MUSDIMPORTANT

DATESWinter Break – No School Dec. 19, 2011 – Jan. 6, 2012

Teacher Professional Development Day – No School

Friday, Jan. 13, 2012

NO SCHOOL ON THE FOLLOWING HOLIDAYS:

Martin Luther King Day Observed Monday, Jan. 16, 2012

Lincoln’s Birthday Observed Monday, Feb. 13, 2012

Washington’s Birthday Observed Monday, Feb. 20, 2012