You're in the Clovis: News - Clovis: Health section

Fresno Unified gets low marks on serving minority, poor students

By Heather Somerville - The Fresno Bee

Tuesday, Mar. 27, 2012 | 10:02 AM

tool name

close
tool goes here
0 comments

Fresno Unified earned poor marks on a report card grading the school district's success serving minority and poor students.

Education Trust-West, a statewide education advocacy group that graded districts across the state, gave Fresno Unified an F for the lagging performance of black students compared to whites.

Fresno Unified earned a D on the achievement gap between Latinos and whites, and on the academic performance and college readiness of Latino and black students.

Fresno Unified earned its highest grade, a C, for improvements in test scores over the past five years. The marks average out to a D, the same score it got last year, when Education Trust-West first issued report cards.

The report cards judge the state's 147 largest districts on how well they serve Latino, black and low-income students. The grades are based on Academic Performance Index scores and the percentage of graduates eligible to attend California State University and University of California schools.

Dave Calhoun, Fresno Unified's executive director of research and evaluation, called the grades "somewhat arbitrary" and said they didn't offer much new information.

The grades are based on 2011 data published by the California Department of Education -- the same data the district has been working with for the past year, Calhoun said.

Clovis Unified received a B, while Central Unified did marginally better than Fresno with a D+. Kings Canyon and Sanger unified districts earned a C+.

Calhoun said it's difficult for large districts to score well, in part because the system penalizes districts that have a large population of English learners. About one-fourth of Fresno Unified students are English learners.



The reporter can be reached at (559) 441-6412, hsomerville@fresnobee.com or on Twitter @heathersomervil

Similar stories:

  • EDITORIAL: Low-income students excel at Clovis, Sanger schools

  • Sanger Unified's grad rates lauded in education report

  • EDITORIAL: School's failings confirmed

  • Fate of New Millennium charter school rests with Fresno Unified

  • EDITORIAL: Castro appears to be perfect fit as Fresno State president

The Bee's story-comment system is provided by Disqus. To read more about it, see our Disqus FAQ page. If you post comments, please be respectful of other readers. Your comments may be removed and you may be blocked from commenting if you violate our terms of service. Comments flagged by the system as potentially abusive will not appear until approved by a moderator.

more videos »
Visit our video index