PROGRAM IMPROVEMENT (PI) SCHOOLS, the truth about!
2 Responses to "PROGRAM IMPROVEMENT (PI) SCHOOLS, the truth about!"
February 11, 2009 at 12:05 am
I’ve been explaining this to parents for two years. The middle school near my daughter’s middle school is well regarded, and the program improvement letter was sent home to all parents. Sadly, it doesn’t explain why a school is PI or that it was one subgroup. Ironically, every middle school I checked in the Valley was PI. So theoretically, a parent at Nobel or Reed could apply to get out of their program improvement school. Where would they go? It’s silly.
On the other hand, PI is a great program for kids from San Fernando or Sylmar middle schools to get into schools with stronger academics. Yet since Public School Choice utilitizes the same brochure as magnets, meaning you can only apply to either a Magnet or a PSC option.
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February 6, 2009 at 12:12 am
Hey Magnet Yenta:
I note that Askamagnetyenta does not have a category on Program Improvement Schools. It’s worth going into.
Like other frenzied, API and “demographic” obsessed parents, when I had my first dizzying view of the LAUSD “Choices” brochure (2 yrs ago), I was horrified by the number of schools in the District branded as the awful “PI” or Program Improvement” schools…….the equivalent of a Scarlett Letter. There seemed to be a boatload of them, with an equal number of “At Risk” for PI status schools trailing behind. Makes you want to have a few of those martinis.
But I learned this year that PI schools are not necessarily the wolf in wolf’s clothing. Interestingly, they are often pretty decent schools, who received the PI status for the following reason only: they fell behind making API improvments, for 2 consecutive years, in as little a one category of student test performance: i.e., special needs kids, or English learners. It is not always the entire school that is suffering.
The cool news about PI schools is that once it gets branded (smell the burn), the State now throws tons of extra money at them in Categorical and other program funds. Some of these schools may actually have MORE enrichment, computer lab, etc. programs than the “good school” in Studio City or Sherman Oaks.
A last point to make: theoretically even the best of LAUSD’s schools can end up with the dreaded PI status, since schools must continually show API score improvement. Schools whose scores stay stagnant or dip slightly 2 years in a row would automatically become PI. And considering that the API tops out at 1000 points, even a school with a current API of 960 could hit the ceiling and end up as a PI school. Ludicrous!
Of course, with all the LAUSD budget cuts, who knows how much more extra $$ the PI schools will continue to get; for now, families running away from Program Improvement Schools may be advised to check each school out individually. Don’t rely just on the Choices brochure or greatschools.net………