Cabrillo Unified School District staffers filed the appeal when Farallone View's test scores placed it in the cautionary category despite the fact that the school fell from the roles of federal aid recipients this year.
Program Improvement is intended to flag schools that have not demonstrated rapid enough growth in key sub-groups - divisions of students such as English language learners and the economically disadvantaged. Schools that do not receive federal money are exempt from the designation. Farallone View received such funds in the 2005-06 school year, but had too few free or reduced lunch recipients to qualify this year, said Principal Catherine Werdel.
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"The fact that that group is still growing is an indication that what's being done benefits all students," said Werdel.
Werdel did not point to any programs specific to the school, but noted that English learners have been receiving a required extra 30 minutes of language instruction. Farallone View has improved in its overall test scores since 2003, she added.
"And that was before the boundary changes," said Werdel. "The demographics have changed dramatically in that time - but the school has done much better."
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