Class acts: At Buena Park High, multiple supports multiply successes
Coyote Central tutoring program, Pathways to Success make a difference
By:
Trinette Marquis-HobbsSpring 2014
Recognizing that meeting the needs of specific student groups can benefit all students on campus, Fullerton Joint Union High School District’s Buena Park High School in Orange County developed a multifaceted approach that has helped make a dynamic impact on the entire school community.
In 2010, the high school’s leaders implemented Coyote Central, a tutoring program to help students improve grades, attendance and behavior. The initiative gives students a safe, comfortable and consistent environment with adult tutors who are experts in their content area. It’s open to all students, but the program specifically recruits those who are struggling. School administrators believe having the extra support enables the students to actively participate in their learning and gain crucial academic help to improve their grades and take on more challenging classes.
Additional tutors have been added over the past three years, attracting a dramatic 800 percent increase in students attending tutoring sessions. A related service, the Coyote Academic Athletic Study Hall, was created as an extension to Coyote Central to tutor and support athletes who may be struggling. The special study hall is designed to understand an athlete’s strengths and weaknesses and create a support plan that will assist with positive short-term outcomes, such as a grade increase, while developing resourceful, inquisitive, positive and innovative life-long learners over the longer term. The tutor has weekly communication with coaches, and each athlete has a specific academic plan. After two semesters, athletes in the program have reduced failing grades by about 70 percent.
Pathways to Success for English learners
Different challenges demand different approaches, so another strategy the high school has developed is working to ensure that its English learners realize the same academic achievement their English-speaking counterparts enjoy. The Pathways to Success English Learner Support Program helps students develop proficiency in English as rapidly as possible for greater success in school and life.
The program takes a four-pronged approach:
- Language mastery—encouraging English learners’ ability to read literature for their studies as well as pleasure
- Parental involvement—empowering parents through workshops and personal meetings with tools to help their children be successful
- Post-secondary vision—showing students and parents how to read transcripts, select appropriate classes for graduation and college readiness, and better understand the college and career pathways available
- School connectivity—helping students gain access to a wider variety of high school course offerings and activities so they are more engaged with the campus
Students have taken ownership of their academic growth through one-on-one data chats followed by group data presentations where students are informed of their individual scores and their importance, and receive guidance in establishing their own academic achievement goals.
Prior to the program, growth in the school’s English learner achievement was stagnant. With Pathways to Success, the school has increased the reclassification of students as English-proficient by 300 percent in three years, cutting the number of English learners almost in half.
Buena Park has also changed the way that its most rigorous classes are filled. With an “open access” approach to all honors and AP classes, any student can enroll in a class. As a result of this policy and the additional academic supports for previously struggling students, the school has seen a significant increase in the number of students challenging themselves with tougher coursework. In 2013, 680 students attempted the AP Exam, more than doubling the number that took the exam for early college credit in 2008.
Engaging students and families
Buena Park’s Coyote tutoring programs and Pathways to Success for English learners each received CSBA Golden Bell Awards last year in the category of Closing the Achievement Gap. But those programs are just a sample of the good work going on at Buena Park High School. Its leaders keep parents informed of available support activities in a variety of ways, including the campus website, parent conferences and special meetings. Better communications between school and home have helped improve attendance and engage students to become more active participants in campus life and their personal learning.
Programs like these succeed as result of consistent, coordinated support from the school board, district administrative team and site-level educator teams. In the last three years, collaboration and flexibility among stakeholders has fueled students’ academic success. Buena Park has seen a steady rise in its Academic Performance Index—more than 30 points in three years.
Find more information about CSBA’s Golden Bell Awards—and winners—at www.csba.org/GoldenBell.
—Trinette Marquis-Hobbs