High Schools Get Cash for Improved Test Scores

Several San Diego County high schools will reap large cash awards for improving their scores on the California Assessment Program (CAP) test, state education officials announced Thursday.

In all, 34 county schools will receive money in the Education Improvement Incentive Program, also known as “Cash for CAP.” The county’s biggest money winners are Mira Mesa, El Capitan and Vista high schools, each of which will receive more than $100,000.

Twenty-two other county schools will earn nothing. They failed to meet program guidelines, either because their test scores fell or because fewer than the necessary 93% of their 12th-grade students took the CAP test.

Statewide, 529 schools out of 1,142 are sharing in the $14.3 million available through “Cash for CAP.” The average award was $27,033.

San Diego County schools received more than 9% of available funds, even though they have slightly less than 8% of the state’s public school pupils. “We made out pretty well,” said Glen Pierson, assistant superintendent for county schools.

Under “Cash for CAP,” established this year under a bill by state Sen. Leroy Greene (D-Carmichael), money is awarded according to the amount of improvement shown on the 12th-grade CAP test and the number of 12th-graders taking the test. The money is added to the schools’ discretionary funds.

At several schools, the money will have a significant impact.

For example, Mira Mesa High School has a discretionary budget this year of about $30,000, according to Principal Jim Vlassis. But “Cash for CAP” will add $126,946 to that amount.

“It’s not hay, is it?” Vlassis said. “I’m really amazed at the amount. I didn’t anticipate nearly this much.”

Mira Mesa’s dollar total was the fourth highest in the state, and El Capitan’s, an award of $125,648, was fifth.

At Mira Mesa, as at other schools, the decision on how to spend the money will be made by a council that involves teachers and community members. No money may be used for hiring staff or buying food.

Vlassis said he will ask that much of the money be spent on sprucing up the campus with paint, new doors and patches for holes in walls. The school’s stage needs to be cleaned and murals retouched, he said.

Alan Johnson, principal of Vista High, said he hopes the $101,367 his school earned will be directed toward a computer lab for schoolwide use and other education programs.

“It’s going to be a tremendous shot in the arm for our instructional programs,” Johnson said. “My feeling is that, since the program was designed to improve basic skills, we have a responsibility to feed that money back into those areas.”

At some other schools, however, the extra money will be little noticed. Fallbrook High, for example, will get $644. That is the lowest amount in the county--except, of course, for those schools that will receive nothing.

“We told our seniors we’d help pay their way to grad night at Disneyland, but this won’t go very far,” Fallbrook Principal Hank Woessner said. “We’ll just have to work on it next year.”

Some critics have said the “Cash for CAP” program is unfair because it may penalize schools that undergo major demographic changes. For example, a school that has a large influx of bilingual students cannot be expected to improve its scores in reading, written expression and spelling, critics say.

But proponents of the program point out that schools at which test scores drop should be in better position to improve their scores the following year. More importantly, they say, the program provides a tangible incentive for schools to get as many students as possible to take the test, thus enhancing accountability to the public.

Johnson, the Vista High principal, said he is confident that even schools that improve their scores substantially can do better.

“I would never want to say we’ve reached a point where we can’t improve. We’re not at the top yet,” he said. “Presumably, if we continue to do what we’re doing, and do more of it, our scores should go up even more.”

“Cash for CAP” produced one unexpected result at Chico High School in Northern California. In December, two days before the test, a group of students approached Principal Roger Williams with a set of demands. Besides asking that any “Cash for CAP” money be spent on a senior class field trip to Santa Cruz, they demanded the removal of speed bumps from the school parking lot and permission to smoke and chew tobacco on campus.

Williams refused, and the students responded by distributing flyers urging that the seniors deliberately fail the test. Chico High’s scores plummeted in three of the four test categories.

“Let’s hope our kids don’t start doing that next year,” Vlassis said.