HAYWARD -- Unable to improve student performance at Tennyson High School, the Hayward Unified School District has started the process of surrendering academic control of the 1,900-student campus to the state.

The planning process for state oversight of the campus has begun and will continue as administrators begin working on a site plan for the 2004-05 academic year.

The decision to let the state overhaul the academic infrastructure of the campus comes after Tennyson failed to reach Academic Performance Index growth targets for the third consecutive year.

"It (Tennyson) did not reach its achievement goal," interim Superintendent Janis Duran said Monday. "They had a plan and they still were not able to."

The same fate could await Mt. Eden High School, another Hayward campus that failed to meet testing projections. Mt. Eden has a year to comply or the district will concede academic control of the campus to the state, Duran said.

The board on Wednesday is expected to approve a plan by the School Assistance and Intervention Team (SAIT) of the Napa/Solano County Offices of Education that will rehabilitate Tennyson. SAIT was hired by the district earlier this year to oversee the campus during the next three years.

The board also will hold a hearing on Mt. Eden High's dilemma.

"It's tough," said school board President Paul Frumkin III, a Tennyson High graduate. "I think it's indicative of what hasn't worked for students. Staff at the school has worked real hard."

Debbie Bradshaw, executive director of student assessment, research and evaluation, said Tennyson was required to demonstrate a 1 percent growth in the areas of English/language arts and mathematics on the California standard tests.

Based on the district's calculations, Bradshaw said the state-monitored school actually saw student performance slip the past two years. "The issue at Tennyson is pretty big," Bradshaw said. "I think it's significant."

Both Tennyson and Mt. Eden high schools entered the school year designated as Immediate Intervention Underperforming School Program (II/USP) schools and thus have received additional funding to improve test scores.

Tennyson High, for example, received $295,800 in II/USP funding last year, Bradshaw said.

II/USP schools have 36 months to demonstrate improvements in the Academic Performance Index. II/USP schools that fail to meet annual growth targets are redesignated as SAIT campuses after three years and are given another three years to improve.

If Tennyson High fails to make needed improvements outlined in SAIT's plan by 2007, the district can either reconstitute the school, close it altogether or apply to have it converted into a charter school.

SAIT representatives have spent the past several weeks analyzing the school's curriculum and developing a strategic plan that would bring the campus into compliance with the Tennyson High School Liaison Team.

Recommendations that will be brought before the board include:

A comprehensive review of math and English textbooks

Development of a plan that would ensure freshmen and sophomores receive appropriate instruction or intervention in English and math

The implementation of a support system for ninth- and 10th-grade math and English teachers

Implementation of a student assessment and monitoring plan for English and Algebra I.

"Our local governing board remains in control," Bradshaw said. "But we do have to implement the plan that the SAIT team comes up with."

The state's academic control of the campus will be felt most prominently in the areas of math and English.

Presently, 86 percent of the English teachers and 56 percent of the math instructors at Tennyson high are fully credentialed. SAIT has recommended increasing the number of credentialed teachers in English/language arts and math.

"Every teacher at Tennyson has to be properly credentialed and certified," Bradshaw said.

The problem at 2,263-student Mt. Eden isn't as serious.

Bradshaw said Mt. Eden was targeted for "corrective action" because it didn't have enough students take the API test in 2003. Under state guidelines, 90 percent of a school's students have to take the test or test scores are invalidated.

"Mt. Eden didn't get enough students tested," said Lea Lloyd, a principal on special assignment. "For some reason, students don't realize the importance of it. It's very important to get students to understand it's really important."