Number of students held back triples

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT-MESA -- The number of students held back in Newport-Mesa

schools because of poor academic performance more than tripled this year

after new stringent state laws demanded an end to “social promotions.”

Historically, students in California have almost automatically

advanced to the next grade level, with parents having the final say.

But three bills signed by Gov. Gray Davis in 1998 called for some

drastic changes in policy. He put the power of student retention in the

hands of school districts and mandated that students meet certain state

standards before advancing.

In kindergarten through sixth grade, 175 of about 14,000 students were

retained in Newport-Mesa this year. Last year, only 49 children were held

back and 59 the year before.

The number of students being retained in the seventh and eighth

grades, which fall under secondary education, have not been made

available by the district.

“I think certainly what this tells us is the policy is working,” said

Susan Despenas, assistant superintendent for elementary education.

While imposing the new mandates, district and school officials have

also stepped up their intervention and identification programs, Despenas

said.

Students who are having trouble and are “at risk” of retention, are

now identified and their parents notified by January.

During the spring semester, teachers develop an individualized

learning plan for each “at risk” student in an attempt to help them get

up to speed.

At the end of the school year, those children are then reevaluated and

their Stanford 9 test scores are taken into account.

In January, 499 students were in danger of being held back. That

number dropped to 175, but the intervention doesn’t stop there.

There is also a monthlong summer school program in August for students

who need to prepare for the upcoming year.

Summer school should prevent those students from being “at risk” in

the coming school year, and it will also give students in

Spanish-speaking homes a chance to return to an English-language

environment a full month before school begins, Despenas said.

There are 879 “at risk” students enrolled in Newport-Mesa’s new summer

intervention program.

“What we did was we raised the bar as to what they had to do to

graduate or be promoted. But we realize you can’t raise the bar without

offering more help,” said Supt. Robert Barbot. “I am quite candidly

pleased that the numbers are as low as they are.”

With the upcoming year being the first with the complete intervention

program in effect, district officials expect the number of retained

students to decline again.

“I’m optimistic that whatever we can do to serve children, that’s what

we should do,” said school board member Martha Fluor. “If that means

retaining them so they’ll be successful, that’s great.”