San Mateo County schools serve 80,000 K-12 students from many diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. If we want these children to succeed we need to make sure that all children receive a basic foundation of knowledge and skills so that they can thrive at higher grade levels. Unfortunately, the STAR student performance results released in July showed that an average of 39% of our county's 2nd-graders are not proficient in English and math for their grade level and in some schools, 60-70% of the 2nd-graders are not performing at grade level.
I hope to use my knowledge and experience from serving on the First 5 Commission to help improve early education for all children by targeting children in underperforming districts with low Academic Performance Index (API) scores. The County currently administers the Preschool for All Program, making affordable preschool available in targeted communities. I would look at why these children are not doing well, and then depending on the cause, I would explore providing more English language training, equipping parents and teachers with early literacy educational materials, or other solutions to help prepare children for school.
12 years of school, 1 test, 6 tries-shouldn't every child in our school system be able to pass the high school exit exam? My response is “Yes!” This test (the California High School Exit Exam) only tests students on 10th grade English and 8th grade math. If we fail to equip students with this basic level of knowledge and skills, we will be passing along a problem to college teachers, employers who must provide remedial education to their employees, and possibly our welfare system. We cannot send students out into the world poorly equipped to compete in the job market or unable to make smart and informed life decisions on health care, starting a family, personal finances, and retirement, among others. Without these basic skills, we diminish the potential quality of life for our children and future generations.
The truth is, the exam is only one hurdle for high school seniors to graduate. Only 5% of seniors do not receive a diploma solely because of their inability to pass the exit exam. The vast majority who did not receive a diploma failed to complete other academic requirements to earn the degree. So I support additional funding for remedial classes to provide at-risk students and English Language Learners the help they need to succeed.
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