Welcome to the 2009-2010 school year. I’d like to share some exciting news regarding our student achievement from the past school year (2008-2009). Every spring, students across the state take the STAR Exam; the score each school receives is called the API (Academic Performance Index). The API is used to measure a schools improvement from year to year, and to compare schools across the state. The API for WCHS from last spring’s STAR Exam is a 748 which is a 22 point improvement from the prior year. 22 points is an amazing improvement, especially at the high school level. Below is a comparison of our API over the past 5 years.

720 (2005), 739 (2006) 729 (2007),  726(2008),  748 (2009)

All students in the state of California must pass the High School Exit Exam in order to receive a high school diploma. The test is taken beginning in 10th grade, and is continued until the student passes the exam. Our goal is for students to pass the exam the first time they take it in 10th grade. Last spring, our 10th graders taking the Exit Exam for the first time experienced a pass rate of 88% in English (a 4% increase over the prior year) and 87% in Math (a 5% increase over the prior year). Below you can see our pass rate for our first time Exit Exam test takers compared to the pass rate statewide.

English: Sate Pass Rate = 79%, WCHS = 88%
Math: State Pass Rate = 77%, WCHS = 87%

AP Exams are the culmination of year long AP classes offered here at WCHS. AP classes are college level classes; “passing” an AP exam allows students in many cases to have those classes waived once they reach college. Below you can see the growth of our AP program; this shows the number of AP exams taken by our students over the past 3 years

585 Exams (2007), 745 Exams (2008), 945 Exams (2009)

Our AP program is one of the largest in the country, in fact, based on our AP program; Newsweek Magazine and the Washington Post have named West Covina High School as one of the “Top 4% of High Schools in the Nation”.
We are very proud of the performance of our students and our instructional program. When you add the high level of our athletic programs, our fantastic music, dance, and arts programs, and our large and vibrant activities programs; it is easy to see that West Covina High School is a great place to be!

We are convinced that by raising expectations school-wide, our school becomes more proficient, our school climate improves, and our student’s lives are improved. We are very pleased that in addition to our program improvements, discipline referrals and suspensions are down significantly, as are the frequency of truants and tardies. We feel that we can raise the bar even higher and demand more from our school. To that end, we are pleased to let you know that we have been offered the services of the West Covina Police Departments “drug sniffing” dogs. These dogs are non-invasive; they merely alert their handler if they sense the presence of drugs or gun powder. The dogs will be utilized from time to time on our campus and will initiate random searches of classrooms, locker rooms, and parking lots. We are very fortunate that we have few instances of drugs on our campus, and we have had no instances of gun powder on our campus. We feel utilizing the dogs is a preventative measure that will give us one more tool to insure a safe and productive environment.
We are also updating our tardy/truant policies, as well as our extra-curricular eligibility policy; please read the attached policy statements and let us know if you have any questions. We feel the updated policies will “raise the bar” for our students, yet the expectations are reasonable.

Our goal is to make West Covina High School the best high school in the San Gabriel Valley!