San Ramon Valley High School

School Information

School Name: San Ramon Valley High School
District Name: San Ramon Valley Unified School District
School Address:  501 Danville Boulevard, Danville, CA 94526
School Phone: (925) 552-3000
School Fax: (925) 552-3060
Principal: Joseph A. Ianora
Principal E-Mail: jianora@srvhs.org

Demographics

Number of Students:  2039
Number eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch: 0.1%
Percent of Limited English Proficient: 0.5%
Percent of Special Education: 8%
Racial/Ethnic Percentages:

• White 78.9%
• Black 0.8%
• Hispanic 3.8%
• Asian/Pacific Island: 9%
• Other 7.5%

 

Student Achievement Data:

 

California High School Exit Exam
Percentage of Grade 10 students passing the English Language Arts and Mathematics sections of the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE)
Year	ELA School/State	Math School/State
2005-06	98/77	98/76
2006-07	98/77	98/76
2007-08	99/79	99/78
2008-09	NA	NA

 

Academic Performance Index (API)*
Year	School/State (grades 9-12)
2004-05	857/671
2005-06	860/683
2006-07	855/689
2007-08	868/702
2008-09	NA
*The API, scaled from 200-1000, summarizes performance in California’s standardized testing program.

 

Please comment on any aspect of the data that you believe is particularly significant.

Over the past four years, San Ramon Valley High School students have continued to score well on the state standardized tests and the school’s API has steadily increased. In 2007, the school’s API dropped 5 points, but scores rebounded 13 points in 2008. During the 2007-2008 school year, the San Ramon Valley High School staff began to fully implement all of the components of our professional learning community model.

 

Please present additional information that indicates your efforts to build a professional learning community have had a positive impact on students and/or teachers.

The collaboration model used at San Ramon Valley High School has served to provide excellent support for new teachers. Subject-level team collaboration provides extensive support in area of curriculum development. Prior to implementation of the school’s current PLC collaboration model, SRVHS had an extensive program set up to support new teachers; this program has now been cut back and revised in light of the support provided through subject-level team collaboration. In 2008 and 2009, the teacher retention rate was the highest it has been in over ten years.

 

Please elaborate strategies you have found to be effective in the following areas:

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

To monitor student progress, San Ramon Valley High School has fully implemented the use of School Loop, an online grade book and school communication system, which provides teachers with intervention opportunities that were not previously available. Through the use of the online grade book, teachers post grades at least every three weeks, providing more frequent progress reports to all students, parents, and staff. This online system highlights at-risk students and students with grades that are trending up or down; teachers, counselors, and administrators can keep tabs on students who need monitoring and then intervene with appropriate, timely remediation. With the detailed information provided by School Loop, participants in Student Study Team (SST) meetings can design more effective action plans. The SRVHS staff also uses the Achieve Database, an online database with disaggregated scores from the California Standards Tests (CSTs). Teachers, counselors, and administrators use longitudinal CST data as a tool for refining curriculum and instruction. SRVHS has an Achieve leader to provide support throughout the year, and all teachers have received training in retrieving data and accessing the Achieve database.

2. Creating systems of intervention to provide students with additional time and support for learning.

In 2006, the San Ramon Valley High School community committed to the following goal: “Implement a systematic intervention process for students who are struggling with the curriculum.” With this goal in mind, SRVHS staff is moving beyond just giving students the “opportunity to learn.” A systematic intervention process is in place to proactively foster success for all students.

As staff members worked to implement an intervention program, it became clear that having teachers meet with students during lunch and after school was not sufficient. SRVHS needed a new schedule that would allow for focused intervention during the school day. To achieve this goal, the SRVHS faculty designed and ratified a schedule that includes a 30-minute intervention session on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. During the intervention periods, students choose from a tiered system of activities. Students who are at risk of academic failure will attend focused tutoring sessions and study halls. Freshmen attend a Frosh Advisory (20-25 students) for at least 30 minutes a week. In this advisory, they meet with mentors to hone study skills and basic “high school survival strategies.” Upperclassmen who are academically on track will choose from a variety of extra and co-curricular enrichment activities.

3. Building teacher capacity to work as members of high performing collaborative teams that focus efforts on improved learning for all students.

After years of working in isolation on curriculum development and assessment, San Ramon Valley High School teachers have shifted to the new process of completing these tasks collaboratively. Subject-level teams now meet two to three times a month to develop curriculum, review common assessments, and hone their professional practices. All SRVHS teams have established common pacing guides, four common assessments, common components to their finals, and common team goals. While the SRVHS collaboration model does not require a specific format for pacing guides or common assessments, all SRVHS teams engage in this type of collaborative work. Having common pacing, assessment, and goals does not equal uniformity in instructional methods. Even when covering the same skills, using the same assessments, and pursuing common goals, teachers find that autonomy still exists; instructors draw on their own personal strengths using their own individualized approaches.

Subject-level teams base curricular decisions on specific student performance data, including the California Standards Tests, Advanced Placement exams, and in-house common assessments. For example, in 2008, chemistry teachers made some key decisions based on standardized testing scores. They found that their students scored poorly on the “Chemical Reactions” cluster from the CST, and they adjusted their curriculum accordingly to better address this content area. In the social sciences, the U.S. history team focused on their common research paper assignment. Through examining papers from the past two years, the team observed significant room for improvement. Team members were able to collaboratively design an improved set of paper requirements and a more effective rubric. Grade-level teams in English review CST scores and assign students released test questions in order to identify what specific standards are proving to be problematic for students. These examples from science, history, and English reflect the type of data-based decisions being made by all subject-level teams. At SRVHS, key academic decisions are rooted in student performance data.

Sharing assessment results with colleagues can make some teachers felt uncomfortable and defensive. To address this issue and facilitate the collaborative process, all teams establish meeting norms designed to build trust as well as enhance productivity. With this type of collaborative culture, team members openly discuss their own assessment results without feeling threatened or defensive.

To help foster effective collaboration, the subject-level teams utilize a “collaboration log.” It is essentially a worksheet that helps teams keep track of notes, decisions, next steps, and pending questions. After collaboration meetings, a team member files the collaboration log in an electronic dropbox for future reference. Administrators have access to the dropboxes so they keep track of each team’s progress.

 

List awards and recognitions your school has achieved:

- California Distinguished School, 2009
- Full six-year accreditation from Western Association Schools and Colleges, 2006-2012
- California Business for Education Excellence, Honor Roll, 2006-2008
- Newsweek, Top High Schools, 2005-2009
- U.S. News and World Report, Best High Schools, Silver Medal, 2009