(Photo: Performance review targets UC San Diego’s Preuss Charter School. Ana Tintocalis/KPBS )
It's been about nine months since UC San Diego's Preuss School was rocked by a grade tampering scandal. The news sent shockwaves throughout the country because Preuss has a national reputation for getting disadvantaged students into college. Now a new report finds the campus is making progress with reforms, but there's still room for improvement. KPBS Reporter Ana Tintocalis has more.
University administrators hired an outside group to conduct the study just a few months after Preuss' principal -- Doris Alavrez -- resigned. An audit found she had a hand in changing student grades -- some of which benefited students in the long run.
The new report finds the school has put more checks-and-balances in place when it comes to recording grades. For example, the school has a new software system that tracks who and when grade changes are made. And only a select group of people are able to make those changes.
Paul Drake is UCSD's Senior Vice Chancellor. He says the report shows Preuss is making progress.
Drake:
I would be horrified it came back and said the school is not meeting its educational mission, or its not taking underprivileged kids and getting them into college. It is! Its getting them into college. Over 90 percent are getting into college. I read this report as this school is a fabulous success...how can we make it ever better?
The consultants say there are 51 ways to make the school better -- which they offer as recommendations in their report.
One area of concern is there are inconsistencies when teachers hand out grades at Preuss. For example, some teachers change poor grades if a student performs better later in the year -- and some teachers give kids a better grade for their effort rather than their academic skills.
There are also inconsistencies in student transcripts. The study shows a student’s course of study didn’t always match with the credits they earned. That hurt some students and helped others.
Gary Matthews is a Vice Chancellor at
UC San Diego
. He says the school's new principal is working on clearing up those inconsistencies. He says there are few specific guidelines and procedures to make sure teachers and staff are on the same page.
Matthews:
We recognize that we are not perfect. That we are comprised of people who make mistakes. People who are learning as we go. And when we talk about best practices, we will gladly take from others if the practices are viable to the success of those students.
The report takes aim at the Preuss’ board of directors as well -- saying they have an authoritarian rule over school business. And the report finds there are too many people serving on the board, some who have conflicts of interest. The report recommends downsizing the board and implementing term limits.
Drake -- UCSD's senior vice chancellor -- believes the overarching conclusion in the report is Preuss is experiencing some serious growing pains.
Drake:
For the first 10 years we had to figure out how to do everything! Founding board, principal, teachers, all of them did the best they could. But they cobbled together and patched together administrative and management procedures over the years. Now we have some pros looking at this, who study a lot of charters, to say what are the best practices. So I think its an ideal time.
The real test is if administrators actually adopt any of these recommendations. The report is a performance review, not and audit with mandates. But for their part, Preuss school officials say they are committed to taking a look at each recommendation and determining which one will help Preuss move forward.
Ana Tintocalis, KPBS News.
