CAHSEE Prep Hopes to Pull School out of PI

YVONNE LEE
Editor in Chief
Because AHS’ current Program Improvement (PI) status dependent upon student performance on the tenth grade California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE), sophomore English teachers decided to work in collaboration in the weeks prior to testing.
For a period of about six weeks, English teachers focused on material that students would be tested on in the exam in an effort to improve scores. It was called CAHSEE Boot Camp because it would reinforce fundamental English skills in a short period of time.
This Boot Camp approach was introduced at a educators’ meeting and workshop. Teachers interacted with colleagues from other schools in predicaments similar to AHS’, who implemented these sessions, and were able to pick themselves up out of PI. Sophomore English teacher Lori Naylor, along with many other teachers in the English department, decided to collaborate in the hopes of achieving positive results on the exit exam.
“What I got was that the more teachers work together and are on the same page, the better it [is] for the kids,” Naylor said.
The Boot Camp took place during class time. Most teachers worked around their planned schedule in order to stick to their curriculum and make time to review key CAHSEE components in the English section.
“If Ms. Naylor hadn’t taught me how to write the letter [during Boot Camp], I would have never known how to write it,” sophomore Keila Crook said.
For example, in order to ensure their students were able to answer each of the five essay prompts addressed, teachers focused on one type of essay every week for five weeks to ensure understanding.
“We don’t just want to help the kids that aren’t passing, we want to make sure everyone is proficient,” Naylor said. “We want to improve on a larger scale, improve our scores and help kids graduate [with these skills].”