Graduate School of Education: 0606stevenson.html

Angela Stevenson

The California Department of Education honored Principal Leadership Institute graduate Angela Stevenson on May 2 for her efforts in helping Pittsburg’s Los Medanos School become one of the top performing Title I schools in the state, and the only Contra Costa school to receive an academic achievement award.

Los Medanos was one of just 310 out of about 5,900 state Title I schools to receive an academic achievement award. The school’s Academic Performance Index (API) rose 41 points from last year, to 757 this year. To qualify for the award, schools must have showed adequate yearly progress two years in a row, among other criteria.

The turnaround didn’t happen overnight according to PLI Coordinator Lynda Tredway. She credits "the presence and high expectations and professionalism that Angela has carried at her school for years and years."

Stevenson, a December 2002 PLI graduate, credits the turnaround to a dedicated staff that collaborates, cultural training and the use of data to drive instruction.

"The most important thing I’ve presented is that teaching is not about high stakes testing, but about life long learning," said Stevenson, who became principal of Los Medanos in fall 2005 but has worked there since 1988. "We teach the standards with 'no excuses and no blame.' So much of what we learned in PLI about 'high poverty, high performance' is relevant at my school. I'm constantly bringing that research to my staff and they are now seeing just how much of an impact our expectations make on students."