Eye of the Tiger (Issue 8, Volume 14)

Page 1

TOP NEWS Features

Opinion

Entertainment

Sports

Junior Joshua Ireland follows father’s footsteps to Swan Brothers Circus Page 6

Senior Maddy Furdek promotes fair distribution of LCAP funds through special ed experiences Page 7

Roseville High School arts culminate in drama’s “Seedfolk” and revived SG talent show Page 9

Girls basketball relies on balance rather than star players to secure playoff spot Page 11

EYE OF THE TIGER Roseville High School’s student-produced publication

www.eyeofthetigernews.com

@EOTNews

Eye of the Tiger

1 Tiger Way, Roseville, CA

FEBRUARY 22, 2016 | ISSUE 8, VOLUME 14

Support approach shifts SBAC segueing in, CAHSEE out turns departments toward individualized academic intervention BY MARC CHAPPELLE

m.chappelle@eyeofthetigernews.com

Staff at both Roseville High School and Roseville Joint Union High School District increasingly focus efforts to accurately target and support students in need of academic support or intervention. These ongoing efforts stand in the light of a wider educational environment of standardized testing transition. For the first time last school year, RJUHSD

conducted Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium’s California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress in place of Standardized Testing and Reporting, last administered in the spring of 2013. CAASPP addresses newly-implemented Common Core state standards. That same year was likely the last that RJUHSD campuses administered the California High School Exit Examination, as Gov-

ernor Jerry Brown signed off on Senate Bill 172 that both suspended the exam through the 2017-18 school year and implored a state advisory board to explore future pathways for high school exit exams. Having acknowledged the historical relationship between standardized tests, intervention placement, and academic support, principal David Byrd weighs the value of other approaches in achieving and maintaining effective student support systems. “We shouldn’t say, ‘well, let’s wait and see how they do on the big test,’” principal Da SUPPORT | Page 3

MARC CHAPPELLE EYE OF THE TIGER

Seniors Cali Suba and Michael Choi work during Tiger Tutoring. The after-school program is one of several campus initiatives to offer individualized support.

LCAP: the first year

Digital resources outpace analog texts

Williams Act remains roadblock for digital transition BY BRIAN NUEVO

b.nuevo@eyeofthetigernews.com

Several teachers at Roseville High School have been making moves away from textbook use in their classrooms and implementing alternative resources for teaching materials. Still, the Williams Act, a “Superior Court case to provide all students equal access to instructional materials, safe schools and quality teachers,” requires states to update and purchase textbooks for every course, according to the California Department of Education. However, the downstairs 900s hallway houses piles of unused textbooks, and has for years. While the district continues to spend money on textbooks, many of the other electronic resources – such as current event articles, sample math problems, supplemental notes, online stories, tutorial and documentary videos – are available to teachers at no monetary expense. “Everytime we buy textbooks, [teachers] always ask if there is a digital resource. Until there is a change in the Williams Act we’re sort of stuck,” Roseville Joint

Union High School District superintendent Ron Severson said. For example, Oakmont High School Spanish teacher Clarice Swaney doesn’t use textbooks at all and uses other resources, such as stories and videos to teach students rather than using the textbooks. “We agreed that we would cover the info by way of stories,” Swaney said. Swaney enjoys newer resources such as current events to help students relate to what’s going on. “We try to find more newer, relevant type articles that show some of the themes we are exploring connect to people’s lives more currently,” Swaney said. While many teachers, including many English teachers at Roseville High School have mostly or entirely abandoned the use of textbook, not everyone is ready to completely move away from them. RHS principal David Byrd isn’t quite ready to entirely condemn the use of textbooks. “I’m not ready to say textbooks are a waste and we need to stop buying them but we’re transitioning and looking at it, before we buy anything let’s make sure there’s a better way to do this,” Byrd said. Byrd encourages exploration into more convenient and accurate options rather than textbooks.  TEXTBOOK | Page 2

RJUHSD spending targets at-risk groups BY MIKAYLA STEARNS

m.stearns@eyeofthetigernews.com

ZACHARY CHEEK EYE OF THE TIGER

Senior Chris Benning instructs students during Pilar Steiner’s third period Choreography class. The counseling department now requires prospective TAs to complete an application for the 2016-17 school year.

TA parameters tighten BY GABI HUTSON

g.hutson@eyeofthetigernews.com

A new policy for students applying to be a TA will limit all teachers to only having one TA per period per term. This program will go into effect next school year. Any students wishing to TA for a teacher next year must now complete an application and turn it into their counselors in order to ensure that they can TA. The application is the student’s responsibility to complete and requires a teacher and a parent signature and must be submitted by Apr. 15 to the counselors. If the student fails to complete the form or

misses the deadline, then the spot reserved for a TA period will be filled with one of the alternate selections or the student will be assigned another teacher to assist. The catalyst of this new policy was a department coordinators meeting, where teachers discussed that the necessary amount of TAs needed is one TA per term per year – a total of two TAs a year. If a teacher feels they need more assistance than this, they will need to contact an administrator and inform them in order to be permitted. Counselor Robyn Pasco said that it was initiated due to teachers feeling that they had too many TAs and not enough work to occupy them.  TA | Page 2

Century charter school receives district authorization Charter school falls within Roseville High School attendance boundaries BY JAYDYNN SANTOS

j.santos@eyeofthetigernews.com

FILE PHOTO ROBBIE SHORT

Former Granite Bay High School assistant principal Sybil Healy seeks to incorporate the experiences of a diverse blend of students to build Century High School community.

The district school board voted in favor of authorizing Century High School’s independent charter. Former Granite Bay High School and current Adelante High School assistant principal Sybil Healy plans to develop a new charter school called Century High School. Healy’s desire to start a new high school began two years ago and is now coming to plan. Roseville Joint Union High School District’s involvement in the independent charter school extends primarily to documentation and legalities.

“[CHS] is like a separate school district basically, they’re on their own,” RJUHSD superintendent Severson said. “They have to have somebody authorize them, and so that’s what they requested, that our district would authorize their existence.” Student interactions inspired Healy’s drive to start a school alternative from other traditional schools. “A lot of [my inspiration] was students,” Healy said. “It was the students I worked with from different sites, Oakmont, Granite Bay, even now at Adelante. There are just some students who don’t fit into the regular school mold to do well and just need different options. The main idea came from students and just talking to them one on one.” Healy believes the RJUHSD community could benefit from a unique high  CHS | Page 3

INSIDE: Upcoming Events ..... 2 News ..... 2 - 3 Español ..... 4 Features ..... 5 - 6 Opinion ..... 7 - 8 Entertainment ..... 9 - 10 Sports ..... 11 - 12

This article is part one of a two-part series. In this article, Eye of the Tiger details how the district allocated 2015-16 LCAP funds. In the next issue, we look at the spending’s impact on Roseville High School programs. Roseville Joint Union High School District received discretionary funds for this school year from a newly-implemented, state-wide program. Local Control Accountability Plan funds are supposed to provide equity in education for the student body, particularly for at-risk groups such as foster and homeless youth, students who qualify for free and reduced lunch, special education students and English Language Learners. “That’s what we are doing now with our LCAP money, is trying to throw out a real safety net so that nobody falls through,” RJUHSD superintendent Ron Severson said. “So that when they are struggling, someone notices and we get them help.” The district must spend LCAP funds in a way that falls under an umbrella of eight priority areas: services for foster youth, student achievement, school climate, instruction of expelled students, basic services, student engagement, implementation of Common Core standards, course access, parental involvement, and other student outcomes. According to principal David $818,352 toward Byrd, the eight standards for intervention counLCAP expendi- selors at each site tures allow for a $472,248 on broader usage of one intervention the funds. teacher per site “They gave us more flexibility and local control in how we spend the money,” Byrd said. “So that’s been very helpful, for sure.” The district plans to funnel most of the LCAP funds into projects that fulfill the “student achievement” category. “Our LCAP funds have to address all of those [categories], but we are able, because of our circumstances, to focus more on the student achievement,” Severson said. “For the most part, efforts and money are going to student achievement.”  LCAP | Page 2

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