Four Title I Clovis, CA Schools Earn Academic Achievement Awards

Nelson, Miramonte, Sierra Vista and Weldon Elementary Schools in Clovis, CA were among 310 California schools recently named winners of the 2005-2006 Title I Academic Achievement Awards.

“This award is a prestigious recognition for each school that has worked hard to improve their students’ academic achievement in spite of their disadvantaged backgrounds,” said Jack O’Connell, State Superintendent of Public Instruction. There are almost 5,900 Title I schools in California.

The purpose of the Title I Academic Achievement Awards Program is to recognize schools that are making great strides in ensuring all of their students are reaching toward the goals of California’s educational standards.

The four winning Clovis, CA schools have similar philosophies about achieving academic success. They haven’t just worked hard in order to earn this one award. Each school fuels the need to keep goals and expectations in the forefront of students’ minds to develop the mentality of success.

“We are constantly making progress. Our strategies are working, but we are not satisfied. We will re-evaluate to maximize efficiency in the future,” said Kevin Cookingham, GIS of Sierra Vista School in Clovis, CA.

Cookingham attributes much of the school’s API success to the “Cat Chats” of the principal, Jackie Burgan. “The principal meets individually with each teacher to strategize on how to maximize efforts based on the students’ strengths and weaknesses. The teachers then work with those weaknesses to help them become stronger in those areas for testing,” he said.

Being a Title I school, Sierra Vista has many intervention programs, however Cookingham insists that the programs mean nothing without the knowledge and commitment of the teachers. Instead of offering generalized intervention programs, the teachers specifically work on the needs of each student.