Mission Bay High School is a comprehensive high school in the San Diego Unified School District. The school is located in the community of Pacific Beach, which borders the Pacific Ocean and Mission Bay. According to the school's vision statement, a Mission Bay graduate is a literate and ethical citizen who is prepared to enter higher education and the work place in a changing global society.
The San Diego Unified Institute for Learning organizes all of the district's efforts to improve student achievement, supporting teaching and learning in the classroom under the district's Blueprint for Student Success in a Standards-Based System. The process for monitoring students' performance and progress toward standards includes analysis of the Academic Performance Index, results of the standards-based tests, and each student's progress in each teacher's class as indicated by semester grades.
Mission Bay High has an enrollment of 1,570 students, with approximately 72 percent living outside the resident community. The approximate breakdown of the school's diverse student population is as follows: Hispanic, (44 percent); white, (27 percent); Asian, (13 percent); and African American, (12 percent). More than 50 percent are socio-economically disadvantaged, and 23 percent are English learners.
Mission Bay offers a comprehensive curriculum that is focusing increasingly on coastal studies and publication/presentation technologies. Students have access to different programs that help them realize their potential and meet high standards, including college-level advanced placement and International Baccalaureate courses; Gifted and Talented Education classes; one- or two-hour algebra exploration classes for students in grade nine who are deficient in mathematics; English language development and sheltered classes for nonnative English speakers; special education with resource specialist support; integrated learning skills for students who are severely disabled; the STARS program for special education students with multiple identified needs; Advancement Via Individual Determination to encourage more college-bound students; the High School Diploma Program, which enables students to make up credits after the regular school day; after-school tutoring to prepare for the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) ; and a variety of career/technical education courses. Counselors meet regularly with failing and at-risk students as well as with their parents. These efforts have resulted in decreasing the dropout rates since the 1995-96 school year.
It is within this context that Mission Bay High has implemented a comprehensive literacy program that involves intensive, purposefully planned classroom instruction and ongoing, differentiated professional development at the school site. This program includes:
- Administration of the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test to identify students who need reading support
- Teacher-student conferences to monitor students' progress and to inform instruction
- Implementation of the district's K-12 literacy framework and the state's content standards
- Correlation of instruction and assessment with the state standards
- A two-hour literacy block for students in grade nine who are reading below grade level
- A three-hour literacy block for students reading significantly below grade level
- Instruction in reading and writing strategies that can be applied across all content areas
- Professional development in differentiated content-area literacy
- Strategy practice during the independent reading portion of the reading workshop, modeled by teachers during the minilesson
- Professional development involving peer coaching and observation classrooms
- A whole-staff focus on content-area reading
Mission Bay has been recognized by San Diego Unified as a leader in the school-improvement process, especially in the implementation of strategies outlined in Blueprint for Student Success. The school serves as a demonstration classroom and professional development facility for the district.
Criteria For Identifying Students At Risk Of Below-Grade-Level Performance In Reading And Writing
Identification of those students:
- The fourth edition of the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test (SDRT) is administered to all students in grades nine and ten to identify those who are below grade level and in need of support and intervention. Test results are used for students' articulation into English-language arts classes for the following school year.
- The SDRT is administered to students in grade eight in the feeder schools. The results of this assessment determine the students' placement in English in grade nine.
- Students found to be reading below grade level or significantly below grade level may be administered an Informal Reading Inventory (IRI) to confirm their reading level.
Monitoring of those students' progress:
- Teachers in literacy core and block classes confer daily with students about their reading and writing during the independent portion of the reading and writing workshops.
- Students' progress is monitored through the use of conference logs, which are maintained by the teachers and used to inform their classroom instruction.
Content Literacy
- The Immediate Intervention/Underperforming Schools Program (II/USP) funds and site funds pay for consultants to work with content areas teachers, emphasizing "fix-it" strategies in the content areas.
- II/USP funds and funds from additional sources provide selected classroom library books that support the curriculum and that are accessible to the students.
- Professional development training and materials are provided
to teachers:
- Teaching Reading in the Content Areas, by Rachel Billmeyer, for all teachers
- Teaching Reading in Mathematics, by Mary Lee Barton, for all mathematics teachers
- Teaching Reading in Science, by Mary Lee Barton, for all science teachers.
- Strategic Teaching and Learning: Standards-Based Instruction to Promote Content Literacy in Grades Four Through Twelve, by the California Department of Education
- Coastal Studies and Publication/Presentation Magnet grant has provided support.
- An interdisciplinary team of content administrators for mathematics, science, and English is being formed and will be implemented during the 2003-04 school year for students who are reading below grade level. The content administrators will teach the classes and will emphasize the implementation of content literacy approaches.
English-Language Arts Core
- English teachers correlate their units of study, instruction, and assessment devices with the content standards.
- Units of study, embedded with content standards, are taught in grade nine English classes.
- Daily classroom agendas are posted to list the content standards addressed by the day's activities. Standards are written in language accessible to the students and are written as a "SWBAT" (students will be able to...).
- The district's K-12 literacy framework is implemented in all English and literacy block and core classes.
- Teachers implement the following instructional approaches
in their literacy block and core classes:
- Read aloud
- Shared reading
- Guided reading/small-group instruction
- Independent reading
- Word study
- Modeled writing
- Shared writing
- Guided writing/small-group instruction
- Independent writing
- Systematic, ongoing formative and evaluative assessment
Reading Interventions
- Students in grade nine who are reading below grade level are enrolled in a two-hour literacy block English class. Those who are reading significantly below grade level are enrolled in a three-hour literacy core English class.
- Students in grade ten who are reading below grade level are enrolled in a two-hour literacy block English class.
- Literacy block and core classes are taught using a reader/writer workshop model.
- Small, guided reading groups are modeled in select literacy core classes.
- Literacy core and block classes implement a strategy that calls for a large, uninterrupted block of time for independent work following a mini-lesson.
- Lessons in the workshop classrooms are based on the students' needs in correlation with the state standards. Lessons incorporate the elements of the district's literacy framework that are embedded in the context of a single genre.
- Daily, ongoing assessment of students is used in the workshop classroom to inform instruction.
- A wide variety of materials are used in the workshop classroom and address the students' interests and needs.
- Students are taught reading and writing strategies that can be applied across all content areas.
- Classes in grades nine and ten emphasize access to nonfiction text.
- Structured word-study programs are emphasized.
- Instructional approaches are based on the work of Randy Bomer, Lucy Calkins, Janet Allen, Nancy Atwell, Stephanie Harvey, Cris Trovani, Harvey Daniels, and other research-supported strategies and models.
Library Media Program
- A new library is under construction.
- Class libraries are being built and expanded.
- Mobile computer labs are used throughout the school.
- Software is used to enhance learning in core subjects.
Schoolwide Literacy Activities
- All students are enrolled in a daily Reading/Advisory (50-minute period). On Mondays and Tuesdays, the entire school is involved in sustained silent reading during this period. School announcements also are read during this time. On Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, students may remain in their advisory class to complete homework, attend club meetings, complete make-up tests, or receive other assistance.
- In the spring, students in grade eleven who have not passed the CAHSEE are enrolled in a CAHSEE intervention class during the Reading/Advisory.
Structured Time For Independent, Student-Selected Reading
- Literacy core and block classes build student stamina to reach the goal of 70 percent of the reading workshop time devoted to self-selected, independent reading by the students.
- During independent reading, students practice strategies modeled during the minilesson and demonstrate the use of those strategies through various techniques developed to "externalize their thinking."
Professional Development/Ongoing Support
- Weeklong summer professional development is provided by the district for all English teachers assigned to a literacy block class.
- Follow-up sessions are offered throughout the year to strengthen teachers' efficacy.
- Site-based professional development on content area literacy is provided.
- II/USP funds are used to initiate monthly professional development for literacy teachers on the use of data about students' needs to inform and drive instruction.
- A lab/core model for professional development has been implemented. Two teachers work intensely with the peer coach, and their classes are opened up as observation classrooms.
- In 2002-03 a literacy administrator and a literacy resource teacher planned and monitored professional development for 28 English teachers and nearly 100 teachers on staff.
- Differentiated staff development is in place.
- The 28 English teachers are grouped in three tiers.
- Groups are adjusted according to the content of the training and the teachers' need.
- Teachers show great buy-in because they feel they are receiving professional development that is based on their needs, and not "one-size-fits-all."
- Teachers visit each other's classes and plan together.
- Professional development on whole-staff, content-area reading was a major focus during the 2002-03 school year. Minimum days and staff development days are now devoted to content-area literacy, focusing on the schoolwide expectation that literacy is the essential understanding in all core content areas.
Other
- Community members and local authors invited to support Mission Bay's literacy efforts
- Interventions supported and funded by the district's Blueprint for Student Success
- Literacy administrators recruited from mathematics and science curriculum areas
- Peer coach/staff developer at each school site
- Literacy core and block classes, with class size reduction in grade nine
- Literacy block classes in grade ten
- Extended-day literacy classes
- Literacy consultants
- Ongoing professional development
- Demonstration classroom and professional development facility
Evidence Of Success
- Mission Bay achieved a 24-point gain on its 2002-03 Academic Performance Index and met growth targets for the African American (52 points), Asian (28 points), Hispanic (28 points), white (40 points), and socio-economically disadvantaged (23 points) subgroups.
- The graduation rate improved from 92.5 percent in 2002 to 93.6 percent in 2003.
- Higher percentages of students achieved the proficient or advanced level on the California Standards Test in English-language arts in 2002 than in 2001. Grade nine rose from 26.2 percent to 28.0 percent; and grade eleven rose from 27.0 percent to 30.7 percent.
- The percentage of students in grade eleven scoring at or above the 50th percentile on the Stanford 9 (Reading) in 2001-02 was 38.5 percent, surpassing the state average of 37 percent.
- The percentages of students meeting or exceeding the district standard on the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test have steadily improved. From 2000 to 2002 grade nine rose from 63.2 percent to 68.3 percent to 71.8 percent, and from 2001 to 2002 grade ten rose from 65.8 percent to 66.2 percent.
- Mission Bay continues to have a lower dropout rate (1.7 percent) than that of the district, (3.55 percent) and the state (2.8 percent).
For more information contact:
Mission Bay High School
San Diego Unified School District
Tom Yount, Principal
858-273-1313, Ext. 100
tyount@sandi.net
Lynda Lavine, Literacy Administrator
858-273-1313, Ext. 191
ltemplin@sandi.net
