PLACENTIA, YORBA LINDA : Schools Considering Raising of Standards

Students in the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District could be facing tougher classes and higher standards in a few years as part of a districtwide plan to improve schools.

Focus on Students-Leaders of Tomorrow is a long-range plan to determine the district’s strengths and weaknesses and to identify what teachers, students and the community think schools should be doing for students.

“This process is basically . . . raising the bar,” Supt. James O. Fleming told the Board of Trustees on Tuesday. “It’s an extremely important undertaking.”

The plan is being initiated districtwide, but each of the 28 schools will decide what steps it needs to take to prepare students for life after high school. For instance, one high school is considering increasing the math requirement so that all students take algebra before graduating.

Assistant Supt. Sharon McHolland said the district is in the fact-finding phase, including tabulating responses to a survey that was sent last spring to every family in the district.

“We’re using lots of measures to get a lot of data about who our students are and how they are doing,” McHolland said. “We will then look at all those indicators to find out what we need to be doing.”