Bay Area schools face scrutiny over test scores

This week schools around the Bay Area went under the press’ microscope, as test scores and busing policies promised to reshape districts across the region.

On Monday, a list of California’s lowest-performing schools was released. Among the state’s 188 lowest-performing schools, five were from Oakland, five were from Hayward and one was from San Lorenzo. The “unwelcome distinction,” as described by Oakland Tribune education reporter Katy Murphy, was given to schools that had low scores in reading and math standardized testing for the past three years and have shown little improvement in that time.

Janis Duran, interim superintendent of the Hayward Unified School District, said it was “very disheartening” to see schools in the district on the list, given recent achievements such as improved test scores and more instruction time.

On Tuesday, the San Francisco Unified School District’s Board of Education approved a new school assignment policy. The policy will go into effect in 2011 and takes into consideration the home location and standardized test scores of the student. It will be applied differently for elementary, middle and high school students.

“The goals of this system are to continue to diversify our schools and decrease the population of underserved students in one school,” said district spokeswoman Gentle Blythe.