School Accountability Report Card Reported for School Year 2003-2004 Published During 2004-2005
Notes regarding the source and currency of data: Data included in this School Accountability Report Card (SARC) are consistent with State Board of Education guidelines, which are available at the California Department of Education Web site http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/sa/definitions04.asp. Most data presented in this report were collected from the 2003-04 school year or from the two preceding years (2001-02 and 2002-03). Due to the certification timelines for graduation, dropout, and fiscal information, the data for these sections of the report were collected in 2002-03.
School Information
District Information
School Name
Quartz Hill High
District Name
Antelope Valley Union High
Principal
Brett Neal
Superintendent
Dr. David Vierra
Street
6040 W. Ave. L
44811 North Sierra Hwy.
City, State, Zip
Quartz Hill, CA 93536-
Lancaster, CA 93534-3226
Phone Number
(6610 718-3100
(661) 948-7655
FAX Number
(661) 943-8203
(661) 723-9985
Web Site
http://www.qhhs.org
http://www.avdistrict.org/
E-mail Address
Bneal@avhsd.org
kscott@avhsd.org
CDS Code
19-64246-1937051
SARC Contact
Ken Scott
School Description and Mission Statement
Quartz Hill High School (QHHS) first opened in 1964 and is one of seven comprehensive high schools in the Antelope Valley Union High School District. QHHS was the third school built in the district, and is located in Quartz Hill, an unincorporated community in the western portion of the valley. The community lies flanked between the city of Lancaster to the east and Palmdale to the south. The Antelope Valley Union High School District (AVUHSD) also operates three continuation schools and other alternative education programs including adult education, a community school and six site-specific independent study programs. The district currently serves the educational needs of over 21,000 students.
The eighty-acre permanent facility, located at Avenue L and 60th Street West, was originally built to house 1800 students. Extensive demographic growth necessitated the construction of additional facilities, including a second gymnasium, the expansion of the library/media center, a stadium, and forty-two portable classrooms. This year the school went through a $15 million modernization plan that began in the summer of 2003 and completed at the beginning of the 2004/2005 school year. The student population, as of October 2003, stood at 3,245. This figure represents an increase of 561 since the publication of the 1998 Western Association of Schools and Colleges report. The ethnic distribution of the school population is as follows: American Indian .8%; Pacific Islander .03%; Filipino 1.8%; Asian 3.2%; African-American 8.4%; Hispanic 15.3%; White 70.2%.
The AVUHSD has an open-enrollment policy for schools in the district that allows students to apply to schools outside of their enrollment area. This policy has fostered healthy competition among district high schools. QHHS is one of the preferred sites in our district. QHHS consistently has more applicants for enrollment than it has open slots. Since 1998, QHHS has become an International Baccalaureate school and it graduated its first IB class in the spring of 2001. Currently, more than 600 students are enrolled in one or more IB classes at QHHS.
QHHS Mission Statement: “The mission of Quartz Hill High School is to produce responsible citizens who are able to communicate effectively, set and achieve realistic goals, and who become life long learners.”
QHHS Vision Statement: “Quartz Hill High School desires to provide the staff with training, instruction and modeling to improve the instructional strategies, curriculum offerings, and learning for all students. It is the school’s vision that all students will reinforce their fundamental academic skills through the use of appropriate instruction, current technology, and an environment most conducive to learning. The school desires to equip staff with the skills which will assist in providing all students opportunities for post-high school success.”
AVUHS District Mission and Vision Statement: “The Antelope Valley Union High School District’s mission is to provide students with a safe and secure setting with a rigorous, relevant, and reality-based curriculum within strong learning communities where students and adults develop the necessary academic, technical, and work ethic skills to be productive citizens of the 21st century.”
Opportunities for Parental Involvement
Contact Person Name
Debbie Powell
Contact Person Phone Number
(661) 718-3100 ext. 692
Parent involvement and participation continues to be an increasingly important part of the Quartz Hill High School community. Parent volunteers willingly volunteer their time and expertise to support our educational program. Parent volunteers perform a variety of tasks including but not limited to: clerical assistance, proctoring assistance with school-wide exams, classroom support, student registration, volunteering to be a judge on the panel for Senior Project presentations, and many other opportunities when needed. During the 2003/2004 school year our parents volunteered a total of 2,940 hours.
The majority of our academic and athletic teams have booster clubs composed of spirited and enthusiastic parents who help raise large amounts of money to support our academic and athletic programs.
Parents are also actively involved in site decision making through their participation in the Principal’s Parent Advisory Committee, the School Improvement Site Council, the Bilingual Education Advisory Committee, the Guidance Advisory Committee, as well as a variety of committees that come up as needs arrive. Parents that are interested in participating in these advisory committees should contact the Principal’s office at ext. 101.
I. Demographic Information Student Enrollment, by Grade Level Data reported are the number of students in each grade level as reported by the California Basic Educational Data System (CBEDS).
Grade Level
Enrollment
Grade 9
903
Grade 10
890
Grade 11
736
Grade 12
705
Ungraded Secondary
3
Total Enrollment
3237
Student Enrollment, by Ethnic Group Data reported are the number and percent of students in each racial/ethnic category as reported by CBEDS.
Racial/Ethnic Category
Number of Students
Percent of Students
African-American
271
8.4
Hispanic or Latino
443
13.7
American Indian or Alaska Native
36
1.1
Pacific Islander
9
0.03
Asian
113
3.4
White (Not Hispanic)
2,312
71.4
Filipino
53
1.6
Multiple or No Response
0
0.0
II. School Safety and Climate for Learning School Safety Plan
Date of Last Review/Update
Kathryn Stanley
Date Last Discussed with Staff
School safety is a continual top priority at Quartz Hill High School. In addition to an on-site Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff liaison, Quartz Hill has eight campus supervisors whose main role is to provide a safe learning environment.
Quartz Hill High School has installed a camera/video surveillance system and fencing to keep non-students off the campus during school hours. In addition, Quartz Hill has developed and implemented a Safe School Plan in accordance with Senate Bill 187. The following are goals within the Safety Plan:
· Goal #1: All students and staff members are provided a safe teaching and learning environment.
· Goal #2: All students are safe and secure while at school, when traveling to and from school, and when traveling to and from school related activities.
· Goal #3: District programs and approved community resources are made available to students and parents.
· Goal #4: Schools provide the educational environment where students, parents, staff, and community members shall effectively communicate in a manner that is respectful to all cultural, racial, and religious backgrounds.
A complete copy of Quartz Hill’s School Safety plan can be obtained in the Administration Office.
School Programs and Practices that Promote a Positive Learning Environment
Quartz Hill High School has a variety of programs for students that promote active and positive learning.
International Baccalaureate Program The International Baccalaureate (IB) Program is a two-year rigorous academic curriculum for 11th and 12th grade students. The IB Program prepares students for advanced placement in college and if qualified (through a battery of tests, completion of an extended essay, a creativity-action-service project, and Theory of Knowledge course), students will receive a special diploma from the International Baccalaureate Program.
This program is a two-year rigorous academic curriculum designed to prepare 9th and 10th grade students for entrance into the International Baccalaureate Program, which begins in the junior year.
Suspensions and Expulsions Data reported are the number of suspensions and expulsions (i.e., the total number of incidents that result in a suspension or expulsion). The rate of suspensions and expulsions is the total number of incidents divided by the school's total enrollment as reported by CBEDS for the given year. In unified school districts, a comparison between a particular type of school (elementary, middle, high) and the district average may be misleading. Schools have the option of comparing their data with the district-wide average for the same type of school.
School
District
2002
2003
2004
Number of Suspensions
219
342
460
4006
4609
5797
Rate of Suspensions
7.7
11.2
14.2
20
21.5
27.0
Number of Expulsions
8
262
267
263
Rate of Expulsions
.03
.02
1.3
1.25
1.2
School Facilities Safety, cleanliness, and adequacy of school facilities, including any needed maintenance to ensure good repair. Description of the condition and cleanliness of the school grounds, buildings, and restrooms.
Quartz Hill High School facilities are over 40 years old and have completed an $18 million modernization program in the 2003 – 2004 school year. On Quartz Hill’s campus, there are 47 re-locatable buildings that are used for classrooms and two re-locatable office facilities have been installed. The original structures of Quartz Hill High School were also renovated with new lighting systems, flooring, upgraded electrical capabilities, plumbing, restroom facilities, and heating/air conditioning systems. In the 2001-02 school year, additional restroom facilities were added and a plan was implemented to upgrade existing student restrooms.
With the increase of students and teaching staff, as well as re-locatable classrooms, an additional burden has been placed on the existing infrastructure, grounds, and support staffs. The staff will do all we can do to ensure adequate facilities and structures for our students, but feel that the building of new schools will help tremendously in student overcrowding and the strain placed on the older facilities hear at Quartz Hill High School.
Another building phase will begin in the 2005-2006 school year and will be a two-year project. This project will provide approximately 20 additional rooms. Pursuant to California Education Code section 35186, school facilities must be clean, safe, and maintained in good repair and our faculty strive to maintain this standard daily. Facilities are thoroughly cleaned each evening and are checked throughout the day at regular intervals to ensure sanitary and healthful conditions are maintained.
The Antelope Valley Union High School District maintains educational facilities that are safe, clean, and provide an educational environment that exceeds adequacy standards established by the state as set forth in the Williams vs. State of California educational lawsuit recently mandated for public schools in the state of California.
Students attend classes where rooms are properly heated and ventilated. Classrooms are appropriate for the learning environment including the absence of noise levels, which would interfere with communication between teachers and students. There are sufficient numbers of clean, well-stocked, functioning restrooms on all campuses, and there exists no unsanitary or unhealthful condition that would impact a student’s ability to learn.
The District has recently modernized public schools at Antelope Valley High School, Palmdale High School, and Quartz Hill High School using General Obligation Bond funds and state matching funds as resources for these projects. This has resulted in an increase in restroom/toilet capacity, conformance with ADA requirements on affected sites, an increase to lighting on campus, and upgraded science laboratory facilities.
The school district is staffed to provide each school with site-based maintenance and operational staff including custodial staff, grounds crews, and maintenance and repair personnel. These persons are based at each school site and report to school site administrators in rendering service to the District. Site-based maintenance and operations persons are supported by a central maintenance and operations crew including carpenters; painters; heating, ventilation, air conditioning personnel; and one individual who operates the District’s field mower. All sites receive operating funds for maintenance and operations from restricted funds identified for maintaining each campus.
In addition, the District takes full advantage of the state’s deferred maintenance funding program whereby a five-year deferred maintenance plan is submitted and updated to reflect major repair/reconstruction projects in the District. This includes appropriate upgrades and repairs to roofing, asphalt, electrical, and plumbing on District-owned facilities.
III. Academic Data Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Through the California Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program, students in grades 2-11 are tested annually in various subject areas. Currently, the STAR program includes California Standards Tests (CST) and a norm-referenced test (NRT). The CST tests English-language arts and mathematics in grades 2-11, science in grades 5, 9, 10, and 11, and history-social science in grades 8, 10, and 11. The NRT tests reading, language, and mathematics in grades 2-11, spelling in grades 2-8, and science in grades 9-11. California Standards Tests (CST) The California Standards Tests (CST) show how well students are doing in relation to the state content standards. Student scores are reported as performance levels. The five performance levels are Advanced (exceeds state standards), Proficient (meets state standards), Basic (approaching state standards), Below Basic (below state standards), and Far Below Basic (well below state standards). Students scoring at the Proficient or Advanced level meet state standards in that content area. Students scoring at the Proficient or Advanced level meet state standards in that content area. Students with significant cognitive disabilities who are unable to take the CST are tested using the California Alternate Performance Assessment (CAPA). Detailed information regarding CST and CAPA results for each grade and proficiency level can be found at the California Department of Education Web site at http://star.cde.ca.gov/ or by speaking with the school principal. Note: To protect student privacy, scores are not shown when the number of students tested is 10 or less. CST - All Students Data reported are the percent of students achieving at the Proficient or Advanced level (meeting or exceeding the state standards).
Subject
State
English-Language Arts
45
50
47
26
29
30
32
35
Mathematics
23
24
12
10
31
34
Science
54
55
33
27
25
History-Social Science
41
39
22
28
CST - Racial/Ethnic Groups Data reported are the percent of students achieving at the Proficient or Advanced level (meeting or exceeding the state standards).
African- American
White (not Hispanic)
18
65
68
6
56
21
13
58
46
38
15
42
CST - Subgroups Data reported are the percent of students achieving at the Proficient or Advanced level (meeting or exceeding the state standards).
Male
Female
English Learners
Economically Disadvantaged
Students With Disabilities
Migrant Education Services
Yes
No
43
51
49
5
19
17
Norm-Referenced Test (NRT) Reading and mathematics results from the California Schievement Test, Sixth Edition (CAT-6), the current NRT adopted by the State Board of Education, are reported for each grade level as the percent of tested students scoring at or above the 50th percentile (the national average). School results are compared to results at the district and state levels. The CAT-6 was adopted in 2003; therefore, no data are reported for 2002. Detailed information regarding results for each grade level can be found at the California Department of Education Web site at http://star.cde.ca.gov/ or by speaking with the school principal. Note: To protect student privacy, scores are not shown when the number of students tested is 10 or less. NRT - All Students Data reported are the percent of students scoring at or above the 50th percentile.
Reading
---
60
44
59
NRT - Racial/Ethnic Groups Data reported are the percent of students scoring at or above the 50th percentile.
77
63
48
64
83
71
NRT - Subgroups Data reported are the percent of students scoring at or above the 50th percentile.
66