By Regina Brown Wilson

San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Herb Fischer released his priorities for the 2007/08 school year while highlighting two schools that have exited out of Year 4 "Program Improvement".

Karen Redfield, Principal of Westside Park Elementary in Adelanto, and Mark McLaughlin Principal of Maple Elementary in Fontana have successfully boosted their test scores, enough to exit the federal intervention program. The intervention program was designed under the "No Child Left Behind Act" for troubled schools as a intervention index. "Getting out of Year 4 is something the whole school and community can celebrate," said Christine McGrew spokeswoman for the Superintendent's Office.

Out of approximately 532 schools in San Bernardino County 350 are Title 1 schools which receive federal funds.  Currently there are 146 schools in the county reviewing what Maple Elementary and Westside Park did to get out of Program Improvement.

"People where calling me asking me what program we used, I had to tell them there was no program, just hard work and our dedicated staff that worked with the students day in and day out," said McLaughlin.

Many still seem to be frustrated by the standards that are set forth by answering to the federal government as well as meeting the state's standards. "Through independent survey California and Wisconsin have the highest curriculum standards throughout the nation," said Dan Evans spokesman person for San Bernardino County Schools office.

 While elementary schools have shown the biggest improvement in API scores, middle schools and high schools still need improvement. The other Indicator of student achievement is the California High School Exit Exam (CHSEE) which all students must pass in order to graduate high school. High School exit exam scores for sophomores have shown an increase of students passing. However, African American students have increased their math passing rates from 57% in 2004 to 60% in 2007.  The overall passing rate for all students is 72% for 2007, however African American students are 6% below Hispanics and 23% below white students.

 "We have students that are improving, but more students are improving  faster than others, we have to help with that gap because these students will be our work force," said Fisher.

 As priorities Dr. Fischer's will focus on access and achievement gap, NCLB and program improvement, College-going rates, Career readiness, Williams Legislation and school funding adequacy.