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Riverside County Superintendent of Schools
Kenneth M. Young
Dear Reader,
One of the foremost responsibilities of county superintendents is to visit and examine each of the schools within their respective counties at reasonable intervals
and report on the state of those schools to the public. That is the purpose of this
publication – Report to the Community – to share with you some of the findings of
those visits.
With more than 431,000 students attending class in more than 465 schools
county-wide, this Report highlights a wide variety of efforts to ensure each student
completes high school well prepared for college and the workplace. This includes:
• No Excuses University – a growing program that helps to get elementary school students geared-up for
college early in life
• AVID in Middle Schools – expanding a highly successful program by building a college-going bridge
into high school
• High School Grads and Military Academies – taking pride in this elite path to national service and
top flight education
• CTE for Workforce Readiness – combining career interests with workforce skills to produce
employable high school graduates
• Come Back Kids – a dropout recovery program for young people who want to complete their education
• Professional Learning Communities – reaching the “tipping point” in using PLC's to create successful schools
• State Budget Update – discussing the impact of the Great Recession on the state budget and public schools
As Riverside County Superintendent of Schools, I hope you find the information contained in this 2011
issue of the Report to the Community both interesting and enlightening.
Kenneth M. Young
2011 Report to the Community
The mission of RCOE is to ensure the success of all students through extraordinary
service, support, and partnerships.
www.rcoe.us
RCOEFeb2011:Layout 1 1/31/11 12:43 PM Page 1
No Excuses University gets elementary
students, parents thinking about college
In 2004 Damen Lopez, an elementary school
principal in the Poway Unified School District,
launched No Excuses University. As a former second- and fourth-grade teacher and principal of the
year in his district, he had come to recognize the
critical importance of creating an early expectation
of college, even among kindergartners.
Two years later, Damen Lopez co-founded
TurnAround Schools. His partner in that venture is
another Poway principal – his older brother Dan, a
former president of the California League of Middle
Schools. Together they created TurnAround Schools
to be the training ground for No Excuses University.
No Excuses University schools “actively promote a comprehensive model of college readiness
to all students the moment they begin elementary
school,” said Dan Lopez. “TurnAround Schools was
founded upon the following two principles: One,
every child has the right to be prepared to attend
college. Two, it is the responsibility of adults in the
school to develop exceptional systems that make
that dream a reality.”
By adults, he’s not just referring to educators.
Parent involvement is a key element of the program.
But the program’s most identifiable feature is that a
No Excuses University school is likely to look as if
it’s been decorated for a pep rally. Schools “adopt”
colleges and hang college banners prominently
around school grounds. Elementary students come
to school in college T-shirts and shrill pep chants
in unison. They may have guest speakers who are
alumni of their chosen college. It’s all designed to
foster the expectation that college is just part of the
natural progression of their education.
Behind the pep rally atmospherics, there’s a
carefully constructed educational protocol.
Underpinning the “culture of universal achievement,” the instructional staff of a No Excuses
University school has been trained in a drill of collaboration, standards alignment, assessment, data
analysis and interventions. The package is designed
to lift spirits and performance, even at schools with
signature high poverty rates and low test scores.
In May of 2006, the Riverside County Office of
Education (RCOE) helped to support the first
TurnAround Schools training event. Less than five
No Excuses University
2004: Founded Poway Unified
School District
2010: 96 schools in 15 states
10 schools in Riverside County
3 in Palm Springs Unified
2 Riverside Unified
2 Alvord Unified
1 Corona-Norco Unified
1 Hemet Unified
1 Romoland School District
years later, 96 schools in 15 states have undergone
training and joined the No Excuses University network. The program was recently featured in
Education Week because it is in the forefront of a
movement that’s gathering momentum nationwide –
and Riverside County schools enjoy a prominent
place in the movement: 10 schools in Riverside
County, representing six of our 23 districts, are now
No Excuses University schools.
“In our region, the college-going rate has historically lagged behind the national average,” said
Riverside County Superintendent of Schools
Kenneth M. Young. “It’s important that our youngsters think of college not just as something that’s
possible, but as something that’s part of their
future. That’s going to create bigger dreams, and
better realities.”
TurnAround Schools will be returning to
Riverside County this summer to conduct a training
institute July 25 and 26 in the desert. To learn more
about their program and institute, visit their website
at www.turnaroundschools.com.
Pushing AVID program into middle schools ensures college preparation
The mission of the AVID (Advancement Via Individual
Determination) program is to “close the achievement gap by
preparing all students for college readiness and success in a global society.”
In a dawning age like this one, when nations half a world away
are providing the assembly-line and factory jobs that once sustained America’s middle class, when students in other nations are
claiming academic superiority, what’s more important than that?
Success in a global society today demands a standing commitment to higher educational goals. It demands that of our schools
and of our students. And, as we recognize increasingly, it calls for
higher educational goals earlier.
That’s why the Riverside County Superintendent of Schools
commends those districts which have extended the AVID program
from high school down into middle schools. Particular congratulations are due to those where middle school programs have won
AVID National Model Demonstration School standing. Those districts are Desert Sands, Hemet, Riverside and Alvord.
AVID has been a powerful success among its original target
audience, high school students for whom college once might have
been considered a longshot. In fact, six Riverside County districts
have AVID national demonstration high schools, too: Palo Verde,
Hemet, Val Verde, Moreno Valley, Alvord and Riverside. Riverside
Unified boasts the largest and most successful AVID program in
AVID
4,678 middle school students
74% complete Algebra 1 with a grade of “C” or
better
87% recommended for a college-preparatory
courses
99.5% will graduate
87% will be accepted to a four-year university
the country, at Ramona High.
But why wait until high school to plant the expectation – not
just the dream – of higher education? Students who grow up
believing that high school is their portal to education, not their exit
door, are most likely to graduate and continue their learning. The
earlier that notion is created and nurtured, the better.
In Riverside County, 4,678 middle school students are now
enrolled in the AVID elective program. Of those, 74% complete
Algebra 1 with a grade of “C” or better; 87% are recommended for
a college-preparatory sequence of courses in high school. And
when graduation day rolls around, 99.5% of them will march in
commencement; 87% will be accepted to a four-year university.
Those statistics bear out the value of bringing AVID to younger
students. Middle School AVID motivates students to hold college
as their educational goal. It sets them up to be successful on a
college preparatory track in high school that will eventually lead to
a college degree. It does that through its focus on the building
blocks for academic success: reading, writing, critical thinking,
communication, note-taking, organization and study habits. With
support and mentoring, these AVID middle-schoolers arrive at high
school believing in themselves as students. That’s the key to lifelong learning and a brighter future for them all.
Billboards helping bring dropouts back to school
Leslie Garcia dropped out of high school in the 10th grade. She
was working in a warehouse, but her options for a career were limited. Life as a dropout was not what she thought it would be, and
she began to think she would never get a chance to earn a high
school diploma. But one day she spotted a billboard on the 215
Freeway near Perris.
Huge white letters said: “High School Dropout? Get Your
Diploma or GED, No Cost. Call (877) 726-3225.”
It was a moment that changed her life. “I called the number,
they invited me to an orientation,” said Garcia. “I registered and I
am in classes now. I will finish this year.”
Garcia is one of hundreds of former dropouts enrolled in Come
Back Kids (CBK), a program offered by the Riverside County Office
of Education (RCOE) to help young people ages 16-22 finish their
high school studies and earn a diploma or GED.
“Many do not want a GED – only a high school diploma will
do,” said Administrator Debra Sacks. CBK was launched three
years ago to help dropouts return to school, and is now using federal grant money to attract students, some of which is used for
billboards.
www.rcoe.us
There are two billboards – one is on the 215 Freeway near
Oleander Avenue in Perris and the other is on the 60 Freeway near
Valley Way in Rubidoux – and more are planned.
The billboards have generated more than 300 telephone calls
for the program since September 2010. The program started with
300 students enrolled the first year, which rose to 600 last year.
This year, the numbers will be higher.
Students attend classes at regional learning centers or RCOE
classrooms in Banning, Indio, Lake Elsinore, Moreno Valley,
Riverside, Rubidoux, Palm Springs, San Jacinto, Val Verde/Perris,
and Temecula. It’s a different experience from a regular high
school. They work one-on-one with their teachers, receive counseling on catching up on their credits and preparing for careers.
The individual attention works. More than 200 young people have
picked up diplomas or are in line to get one through CBK.
“I am very happy,” said Garcia. “I want to go to college, enroll
in criminal justice. I wouldn’t have achieved this any other way.”
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Our Pledge
The mission of the Riverside County
Office of Education is to ensure the success of all students through extraordinary
service, support, and partnerships. Our
Pledge contained within this mission is
that all students in Riverside County will
graduate from high school well-prepared
for college and the workforce. The following statistics relate to student academic
performance, graduation, college and
workforce readiness for Riverside County.
High School Graduation Rate
Riverside County
State
80.5%
78.6%
College Going Rate
Riverside County
State
35.1%
39.4%
No Child Left Behind
Increase in Percent Proficient
English Language Arts
Riverside County
2.3%
State
1.8%
No Child Left Behind
Increase in Percent Proficient
Mathematices
Riverside County
2.5%
State
2.1%
Academic Performance Index
Percent Increase
Riverside County
9%
State
9%
Riverside County has history of sending
grads to elite military academies
In 1944, Admiral
Jesse Oldendorf commanded a task group of
U.S. battleships and
cruisers that defeated
the Japanese Southern
Fleet in Surigao Strait.
He won this classic
naval engagement by
employing textbook tactics he learned as a
midshipman at the
United States Naval
Academy, Class of
1909.
Today, that’s worth remembering because Admiral Oldendorf
was one of ours. He was born in Riverside in 1887, and he is at
the forefront of a long line of Riverside County youth who have
attended West Point, Annapolis, the Air Force Academy, or the
Coast Guard and Merchant Marine academies.
Because congressional nominations are usually a requirement for admission, congressional offices are the gatekeepers
for applicants. Riverside County’s gates are busy. The offices of
our Congressional representatives have sent more than 40 stuAdmiral Jesse
dents to the academies in the past 5 years. For graduating high
Oldendorf
school seniors nationwide, these academies are much soughtafter. On Newsweek’s latest list of the “most desirable colleges” in America, Navy, Air
Force and Army all rank in the top 15. They typically rank among the nation’s best engineering institutions as well. At each school, the education, generally valued around
$400,000, is free. But that’s free with an asterisk: It is repaid with military service.
The academies are highly selective. Army, Navy and Air Force typically draw some
17,000 applicants a year. But when the freshman class forms up, it’s only about 1,250
strong. A majority of those who are admitted finished in the top 10% of their high school
graduating class. Ninety percent of them won high school varsity athletic letters. Most also
displayed leadership, community service and strength of character.
What does all this say about the communities that produce these students? It speaks of
strong families, and values. It speaks of the dedicated support of members of Congress,
and efficient congressional staffs which help guide the truly committed candidates on the
admissions quest. It signals the presence of strong Junior ROTC programs, and the professionalism of counselors, at many schools.
Perhaps most of all, this is irrefutable evidence that a truly high-quality education is
available in Riverside County’s public schools. Our schools are producing young men and
women who can succeed is such a rigorous environment, all with the confidence, tools and
encouragement they acquired in Riverside County’s public educational system.
Golden Bell Awards contribute to exemplary educational programs
Workforce Skills Attainment Rate
Riverside County
State
“All
18.4%
13.8%
students in Riverside County will graduate from high school well-prepared for college and the workforce.”
Page 2
The Golden Bell Awards
program, sponsored by the
California School Boards
Association, has recognized
outstanding educational programs for the past 31 years.
This awards program contributes to the development
and evaluation of curriculum,
instruction and support services by seeking out and recognizing sustainable, innovative or exemplary programs which have been developed and successfully implemented by
California teachers and administrators; recognizing and supporting educators who invest
extra energy and time to make a demonstrated difference for students; promoting models
which have made a difference for students; and focusing on the commitment to ensure that
the needs of all students are met.
Riverside County schools won five prestigious Golden Bells this year:
1: Implementation of Professional Learning Communities to Support Students with Severe
Disabilities – Riverside County Office of Education
2: AVID: Bridging the Achievement Gap and Delivering the Dream, Diamond Valley Middle
School – Hemet Unified School District
3: Come Back Kids Dropout Recovery Program – Riverside County Office of Education
4: Student Assistance Program Community Connection, Norco High School – CoronaNorco Unified School District
5: Breakthrough Student Assistance Program – Murrieta Valley Unified School District
www.rcoe.us
Governor’s
budget puts
schools at risk
Governor Jerry Brown released his 2011-12
state budget on January 10, and, as he warned it
would, it contained deep cuts to all manner of
public programs and services. The new governor
wants to solve once-and-for-all the state’s ongoing multi-billion budget gap (currently estimated
at over $25 billion). To do that, he is making the
hard decisions he promised – proposing $12.5
billion in cuts mostly to health and human service programs, but also including the elimination
of almost all state funding to public libraries,
closing many state parks, and deep cuts to higher education, including community colleges.
But those cuts only take care of about half of
the problem. So, he is proposing that a proposition be put before the voters in June, asking
them to approve the extension of about $10 billion in taxes that are currently in place, but about
to expire.
Expressing strong concern that K-12 schools
have “borne the brunt” of spending cuts over the
past few rounds of multi-billion state budget
reductions, the governor is trying to find a way
to avoid additional cuts to schools.
The budget adds yet another payment delay
to schools – adding to the $7 billion in late payments already in place. Both of these actions
will result in additional local costs to schools.
Districts must find ways to absorb all inflationary
increases for the third year in a row; and the
additional state payment delays will increase
local borrowing costs, as schools are forced to
cover costs as they await what will now be
almost $10 billion in deferred or late state reimbursements.
But it is the threat of far greater cuts embedded in this budget proposal that has schools
most concerned. The governor has made it
clear that without a voter-approved tax extension,
he must call for significant additional cuts to K12 education. In other words, the protection of
school funding will be left up to California voters.
The governor said that additional savings
would have to be found in the absence of voters
approving tax extensions. Federal law prevents
deeper cuts to human and social services
beyond those already proposed. Accordingly,
the only other places to get the amount of additional savings needed to balance the budget –
would be from K-12 education, higher education, and Department of Corrections. Because
the state’s education funding is at more than
three times that provided for each of those other
two sectors, it will be K-12 education where the
primary cuts will have to be levied to balance
the budget. Current estimates are that without tax
extensions, cuts to local schools would be in the
$2-$4 billion range, or about $300-$600 per
student.
RCOEFeb2011:Layout 1 1/31/11 12:43 PM Page 3
2010 was big year for Riverside County high school sports
In prep sports, 2010 was the best kind of year
for Riverside County. Championships were won,
records were set. But perhaps more important,
there were dramatic demonstrations of the lessons
we hope all our young athletes will take away
from competition.
Here is a 2010 sampler:
Riverside Arlington High Boys Tennis
After a powerful season, the Arlington High
team was on the verge of losing the CIF Division
5 Championship contest to El Monte Arroyo. But a
determined doubles team of Mason Biddle and
Ramon Soto reversed the momentum of the
match. Their win gave Arlington the championship. It was the first-ever boys tennis title for
Arlington. And the first for a Riverside city school
in 29 years.
Palm Desert High Baseball
The Aztecs put together a streak that prep
baseball fans will remember for years. They were
15-0 in league, marched through the playoffs and
won the CIF Division IV finals game 9-0 over a
great Torrance team. How does it get better than
that? The 2010 Aztecs were the first desert team
ever to win a CIF title.
Centennial High Football
Centennial’s football team was the favorite to
win Division 1 CIF again this year. Still, at halftime in the championship game, Palo Alto was
winning, 15-0. But the Huskies came pounding
back in the second half, and the score was 15-13
when, with just 30 seconds left, Centennial
missed a very long field goal attempt. Yes, it was
a loss, but it was also a tremendous season
capped by a valiant comeback attempt.
School Districts
Palm Desert High Girls Golf
In the Desert Valley League, the Palm Desert
girls’ golf team made the state championships
tournament for the first time, and they made a
grand entrance, finishing third. With their performance, they became the first desert prep golf
team – boys or girls – to play for the state title.
Beaumont Girls Wrestling
Amanda Hendey, a Beaumont High junior,
opened 2010 by winning the 126-pound division
at the California Girls Wrestling State
Championships in Hanford. With that, she became
the first athlete from Beaumont High to win a state
championship in any sport. As the year 2011
started, she was unbeaten in girls’ competition.
Elsinore High Football
Throwback football. Old-school game. That’s
what the Elsinore High School football team carried onto the field in 2010. And as the Tigers
themselves put it: Team beats talent. They went
12-2 in league, and their relentlessly grinding
style carried them to a 21-7 win in CIF finals. It
was an old-school triumph in another way, too: It
was Elsinore High’s first CIF championship in the
school’s 83 year history.
Riverside County Football All-Stars
Everybody loves a comeback win. In the Inland
Empire All-Star Classic, you couldn’t ask for a
bigger one. This is the annual contest that pits
Riverside County’s 2010 stars against San
Bernardino County for Inland bragging rights. It
was all San Bernardino County at halftime, 28-0.
But the second half was epic turnaround. Final
Elementary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
High School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Unified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Schools
Charter Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Elementary Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Middle/Junior High Sites . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Continuation/Adult Ed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
High School Sites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Total K-12 Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
score, Riverside 34, San Bernardino 31. Arlington
High’s Superiorr Reid, game MVP, had two 25yard touchdown runs, including the one that won
the game in overtime. He gave the credit to his
linemen.
Going Pro
Finally, let’s hear it for some Riverside County
high school grads who made it to the Big Time in
the last year.
• Rickie Fowler, Murrieta Valley High Class of
2007, was Rookie of the Year on the PGA golf
tour, had seven Top 10 finishes, and made the
U.S. Ryder Cup team.
• Toby Gearhart, Norco High Class of 2006,
then Stanford, debuted last fall as a running back
with the Minnesota Vikings. His rookie stats: 322
yards rushing, averaging 4 yards per carry,and
one touchdown.
• Lucas Duda, Riverside Arlington High Class of
2004 and then USC, debuted with the New York
Mets last September. Playing just the last month
of the season, he hit four home runs.
Autism teacher wins statewide acclaim
A Riverside County special education teacher
who created an award winning program for autistic children won statewide acclaim this year. Ruth
Prystash, who works with children in a Riverside
County Office of Education (RCOE) classroom at
the Rob Reiner Center in Perris, was selected as a
semi-finalist for State Teacher of the Year.
Prystash has been a teacher for 30 years, six
at Rob Reiner. She is best known for founding the
Reach Autism Program. This innovative program
has been studied and duplicated across the
county – and country -- to benefit autistic children. She has literally trained hundreds of teach-
ers in the Reach program.
It is estimated by the Centers for Disease
Control that one in 10 children born in the United
States will have behaviors that fall in within the
autism spectrum, or 36,500 children born each
year. The CDC estimates that 730,000 people
born in the last two decades will fall in the spectrum.
Prystash was one of three Riverside County
Teachers of the Year. The others were Melissa
Casady, an English teacher at Great Oak High
School in Temecula. She has been a teacher for
nine years, starting at Chaparral High School,
Simply put, PLCs are a group of individuals
working collaboratively to do everything they can to
achieve optimal results. In this case the individuals
collaborating are school teachers, site administrators
and district office leadership. The optimal results are
the academic success of students—all students.
Schools and districts across Riverside County
have seen significant increases in their student
academic achievement scores on the California
Standards Tests, with accompanying increases in
state Academic Performance Index and No Child
Left Behind scores as a result of PLC implementation. Many have been recognized by the
California Distinguished School Awards program
for their success, and others have been acknowledged through RCOE’s Models of Excellence program and the Title I Blue Ribbon Schools program. The laser-like focus on student learning in
Professional Learning Communities across
Riverside County signals a brighter future for the
students we serve.
PLCs are grounded in three big ideas: (1) a
focus on learning, (2) a commitment to working
collaboratively, and (3) a focus on student results.
The focus on learning is founded on a belief that all
children can learn at high levels and will do whatever it takes to ensure that they do. The commitment to working collaboratively emerges from the
recognition that it takes a team of educators working together toward common academic goals to be
successful in meeting the needs of all students.
Finally, a focus on results means that educators use
student performance data to evaluate their own
effectiveness and drive teacher instruction. In
schools that function as PLCs, all adults assume
responsibility for the learning of all students. The
State Funding Per Pupil
$
Elementary Districts . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,011
$
High School Districts . . . . . . . . . . . 6,022
$
Unified Districts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,239
Student Diversity
African American.....................7.1%
American Indian ......................0.6%
Asian.......................................1.0%
Filipino....................................2.0%
Hispanic or Latino .................58.4%
Pacific Islander........................0.4%
White ....................................27.4%
Other.......................................3.1%
21% of Riverside County students are
not fluent in English. These students come
from homes where more than 53 different
languages are spoken.
Student Enrollment
also in the Temecula Valley Unified School
District, and Kevin Roughton, a Social Studies
and AVID (Advancement Via Individual
Determination) seventh-grade teacher at Jurupa
Middle School. He has been a teacher for seven
years.
Professional Learning Communities help educators boost achievement
In Malcom Gladwell’s New York Times Best Seller The
Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference,
he discusses the idea that major changes can come about
through the continuing efforts of a few when they eventually affect enough people to form a critical mass. In public
education across Riverside County, Professional Learning
Communities (PLCs) have clearly reached the “tipping
point” and the results are very impressive.
Public Schools and School Districts
in Riverside County – 2010
ultimate goal is to change the school culture so that
no student can possibly fail.
The Riverside County Office of Education
(RCOE) works with schools and districts to develop their ability to function as PLCs through a wide
variety of professional development opportunities.
For the past nine years, RCOE has partnered with
Rick and Becky DuFour, national leaders in the
PLC concept, bringing them to Riverside County
for two-day workshops at least annually. In 14
events, more than 8,400 educators have had the
privilege of learning first-hand what a PLC is, why
it is important, and how it functions. RCOE has
then followed up with customized, on-site support
at both the school and district levels to assist with
PLC implementation. In addition, programs such
as School Leadership Teams and the Good to
Great Academy, sponsored by RCOE’s Educational
Leadership Services Division have provided ongoing venues for principals and their leadership
teams to refine their PLC journeys.
www.rcoe.us
District
2009-10
2010-11
Alvord . . . . . . . . . . 19,951 . . . . . . . 19,765
Banning . . . . . . . . . 4,691 . . . . . . . . 4,608
Beaumont . . . . . . . . 8,313 . . . . . . . . 8,514
Coachella Valley . . 18,416 . . . . . . . 17,551
Corona-Norco . . . . 52,914 . . . . . . . 53,153
Desert Center. . . . . . . . 20. . . . . . . . . . . 18
Desert Sands . . . . 29,338 . . . . . . . 29,172
Hemet. . . . . . . . . . 22,265 . . . . . . . 22,268
Jurupa . . . . . . . . . 20,384 . . . . . . . 20,051
Lake Elsinore. . . . . 21,975 . . . . . . . 21,799
Menifee Union . . . . 9,419 . . . . . . . . 8,884
Moreno Valley. . . . 36,598 . . . . . . . 36,221
Murrieta Valley . . . 22,079 . . . . . . . 22,363
Nuview Union . . . . . 1,991 . . . . . . . . 2,016
Palm Springs . . . . 23,988 . . . . . . . 22,901
Palo Verde. . . . . . . . 3,556 . . . . . . . . 3,567
Perris Elementary . . 5,700 . . . . . . . . 5,600
Perris Union . . . . . 10,497 . . . . . . . 10,610
Riverside. . . . . . . . 42,726 . . . . . . . 42,580
Romoland . . . . . . . . 2,933 . . . . . . . . 2,995
San Jacinto. . . . . . . 9,663 . . . . . . . . 9,672
Temecula Valley . . 30,186 . . . . . . . 29,365
Val Verde . . . . . . . 19,407 . . . . . . . 19,678
Riverside COE. . . . . 6,976 . . . . . . . . 3,388
Total. . . . . . . . . . 430,319 . . . . . . 424,086
Charters . . . . . . . . . 6,333 . . . . . . . . 7,317
Page 3
RCOECoverFeb2011:Rcoe cover 1/31/11 12:35 PM Page 2
Career Technical Education (CTE) prepares students for the workforce
Almost a year ago, in March 2010, a firm that was about to open a
senior assisted living facility in Palm Desert held a job fair to fill 100
openings. More than 2,000 people showed up to apply. One month
earlier, the City of Murrieta held its first job fair at its Community Center, and 850 people stood in line, hoping for an opportunity.
This is the state of unemployment in Riverside County. As of December, the seasonally adjusted national unemployment rate was
9.4%. California’s rate was 12.5%, second worst among states. Riverside County’s rate was a staggering 14.2%.
This is not just an employment issue in Riverside County. It's an
education issue, and an urgent one.
The pledge of the Riverside
County Office of Education (RCOE) is
that all students in Riverside County
will graduate from high school well
prepared for college and the workforce. But that pledge means something entirely different than it did just
two years ago. It means county educators must prepare students to succeed in a new workforce, one that’s
never existed here before, one that’s
just beginning to take shape.
It’s a tremendous challenge. And
the Riverside County Superintendent of Schools is forging new alliances across the region to better meet it.
We count powerful allies among Riverside County’s business leadership. In the desert, we’re engaged with the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership. In the western county, we have joined with the
Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce to imagine a more ambitious role for the chambers’ Business Education Partnership. Year in
and year out, one of our strongest partners is Riverside County’s
Workforce Investment Board.
At the grassroots level, we have a small army of allies -- the 2,000
businesses which provide internships for our Career Technical Education students and those who take part in our Summer Work Experience
Program.
We also have established a partnership with the San Manuel Band
of Mission Indians and tribal Chairman James Ramos – newly appointed to the California State Board of Education – to provide Career
Technical Education to students at Sherman Indian High School.
Foremost, we bring to this challenge the talented leaders and educators of RCOE’s Career Technical Education unit.
RCOE’s Career Technical Education program
– incorporating traditional ROP courses – is
highly successful because it delivers not just
what students want, but what they need.
The CTE program of RCOE offers more than
553 classes to 33,000 students in 50 career
areas, and more than 2,000 places of employment. The courses are constantly evolving to
meet the needs of a changing economy, and
they’re widely available across the county. The
program is fully accredited. Our teachers have
had work experience in the subjects they teach.
The courses are articulated with community
colleges to provide clear paths to vocational
growth. And by the latest measurements of workforce readiness, our
program is one of the state’s leaders. Among California’s 16 largest
counties, we rank fifth in terms of CTE enrollment, third in terms of
successful “capstone” students. And our students’ Technical Skills Attainment Rate is 18.4%, second only to Los Angeles among the state’s
largest counties.
In short, the Riverside County Superintendent of Schools is working to create the start of a long-term upside for this down economy.
We are building our county’s future.
The Role of the Riverside County Superintendent of Schools
California has 58 counties, each with a County Superintendent of Schools and a County Board of Education.
The role of each county superintendent is consistent
across the state and adapted to meet the needs of all students, based on the capacity of the local school districts
in each county. The duties of county superintendents are
divided into five primary areas; (1.) providing overarching
educational leadership to the schools and school districts
in their county, (2.) ensuring the fiscal solvency of each
school district in their county, (3.) ensuring all teachers in
their county are properly credentialed for the courses they
teach, (4.) providing direct classroom instruction for pre-
school children, special needs students, highly at-risk students in alternative education settings, high school students in career and technical education classes and, (5.)
providing academic and administrative support to the
classrooms, schools and school districts in their county.
The Riverside County Superintendent of Schools is assisted in carrying out these statutory responsibilities by a
team of dedicated classroom teachers and instructional
aids, administrators, operational and academic support
staff. This team serves our county’s 23 local school districts, more than 431,000 students and 467 schools
across Riverside County’s 7,200 square miles.
Budget: $265 million
Total Employees:
1,657
Sites: 191
About Riverside
County
Size: 7,200 square
miles, equal to the size
of the state of New Jersey.
Population: 2,130,000
The
REPORT TO THE COMMUNITY IS A PUBLICATION OF THE OFFICE OF THE
RIVERSIDE COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.
Kenneth M. Young
Riverside County Board of Education
Riverside County Superintendent of Schools
Mrs. Betty Gibbel, President
Mrs. Lynne Craig, Vice President
Mr. Gerald P. Colapinto
Dr. Vick Knight, Jr.
Dr. Lisa Conyers
Mrs. Elizabeth R. Toledo
Informe de la comunidad disponible en español en www.rcoe.us
www.rcoe.us
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