Olson: USA must show improvement

Del Norte School Superintendent Don Olson gave his evaluation of Uncharted Shores Academy’s academic program at a School Board meeting Thursday.

Chartered under the Del Norte County Office of Education, the superintendent oversees charter schools’ finances and academic programs.

Olson told the School Board he made two visits to USA recently to observe students and evaluate the curriculum.

He said he found some positive things and other things he would like to see addressed in the school’s charter renewal proposal to the Office of Education.

Olson also recommended the School Board require USA to raise its Academic Performance Index (API) score (given by the state based on student test scores) from 633 to 700 points by 2014.

“We need to see in the application assurance that they are addressing the academic concerns we saw at the school,” Olson said.

USA staff members are scheduled to make a presentation to the School Board on Feb. 9.

USA touts an academic program that provides hands-on, explorative learning experiences, Olson said. Students move seamlessly between classrooms, they worked well in their groups, have good relationships with their teachers, and the staff is enthusiastic about the school and students’ education, he said.

However, the curriculum for K-5 students is not aligned to the state standards, Olson said. Some of  the curriculum “was a little bit dated,” from the 1990s and 1980s, Olson said.

He also found that non-credentialed teachers were delivering instruction and the staff was not properly credentialed.

Students were expected to retain what they learn in school, but Olson didn’t find evidence that students were applying or synthesizing that knowledge.

The charter school also doesn’t have a system of assessing students and tracking their achievement, he said.

“That’s not to say they’re doing a bad job,” Olson said.

USA students’ test scores are low compared to most district elementary schools, which have APIs of well over 700, and they should be achieving at the same rate, Olson said.

His recommendations are:

• For USA to align its curriculum with the state standards in both English language arts and math.

• Intervention procedures should be in place to help students who are having trouble learning the standards.

• Professional development for staff on the curriculum is needed.

• The school needs to make sure the correctly credentialed teachers are delivering instruction and that adequate time is provided for lessons.

• There needs to be a system for assessing student achievement and a way to record that data.

USA is not expected to purchase a whole curriculum when the state is working on the common core standards on which new curriculum will be based, Olson said.

“However, they do need to make some changes,” he said.

USA Director Margie Rouge responded to Olson’s report at the meeting Thursday. She was given a few minutes to speak, with the intention of giving a more detailed response Feb. 9.

She said not all of Olson’s assessments were accurate as he did not see everything the school does during his visit, but Rouge didn’t detail what was inaccurate.

As for the curriculum, “we believe in addressing the standards,” Rouge said, but not to let it drive instruction. It was pointed out that some of the curriculum used at USA is the same as at district schools.

Rouge agreed that professional development for staff is needed.

“We would like to get to a place where we’re a very strong school,” Rouge said. “We’re on our way.

Local resident Chris Howard, who has been an outspoken critic of charter schools, said the bar for student achievement needs to be set high — he would like it set higher than Olson proposed — for USA. And, if “they can’t make it there, they need to look at another model,” Howard said.

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