Fewer children left behind in Newport

Marisa O’Neil

Student testing data presented to Newport-Mesa district officials

last week show a clear division between scores at Westside schools

and schools in the more affluent Newport Beach.

Three Costa Mesa schools -- Whittier, Wilson and Pomona elementary

-- fell into the Program Improvement category under the federal No

Child Left Behind Act, forcing them to revise academic plans and take

other action.

It is a mandate of legislative broad strokes that, some argue,

doesn’t fit every school, especially those with high English-language

learner populations, such as the schools on the predominantly Latino

Westside.

“It’s a frontal assault on schools,” said Suzanne Charlton,

lecturer in English language development and multicultural education

at UC Irvine. “In fact, schools like Wilson have been doing excellent

work, everything they can to bridge the gap for their English

learners, but based on scores like No Child Left Behind, they find

themselves under siege by bureaucracies that are removed from their

reality.”

High test scores don’t necessarily mean a school is better, only

that the students know enough English to do well on standardized

tests, Charlton said.

Whittier, Wilson and Pomona each reported fewer students than the

13.6% required by No Child Left Behind tested at the proficient or

advanced level required for English, though all met math

requirements.

Both Whittier and Wilson reported that approximately 80% of their

students are English learners. At Pomona, 98% of students are Latino.

DIFFICULT GOALS

Charlton said that, on average, it takes a student between three

and seven years to become proficient in English. Therefore, test

scores, especially ones for schools that only serve kindergarten

through third-graders, such as Whittier and Pomona, will have

difficulty reaching those goals.

“The testing mania that is sweeping the nation with No Child Left

Behind, on one hand, it does draw attention to schools that might not

be serving some children,” Charlton said. “But then there’s a strong

natural tendency to say that [a school] didn’t meet their target so

they’re not doing good job. That’s too short-sighted, to look at a

score for just one or two years.”

Data from the state’s Academic Performance Index follows the

east-west boundaries. The only schools to exceed the target base

score of 800 were in the more affluent areas, in Newport Beach and

Corona del Mar.

Schools with a subgroup of Latino or socio-economically

disadvantaged students also reported lower base scores for those

students than for the general population.

Many of the lower-testing schools also reported a high population

of socio-economically disadvantaged students.

Sharon Blakely, principal at Whittier Elementary, said that

students from households that don’t have books, or in which the

parents are not literate, come into school with two strikes against

them. She said that getting students into preschool and teaching the

parents to read and write in English through adult education programs

at the school helps students catch up more quickly and therefore test

better.

However, in areas with shifting demographics, students might

always have to play catch-up on standardized tests.

MOVING TO 100%

According to the No Child Left Behind Act, signed by President

Bush in 2002, schools must meet proficiency levels in English and

Math each year. The goals will increase until schools must have 100%

of students proficient by 2014.

If new families who don’t speak English move into the district

each year, hitting 100% may not be possible, district spokeswoman

Jane Garland said.

According to the Education Data Partnership Web site, which

reports California school data, the number of Latino students in

Newport-Mesa schools has more than doubled since 1988, to 37.5%.

Schools that don’t meet the standards two years in a row -- such

as Whittier, Wilson and Pomona -- get marked for Program Improvement.

That means they have to revise their academic plans, use 10% of funds

for staff professional development and offer parents the choice to

move their children to other district schools.

Garland said that letters will be going out to parents at the

three schools, notifying them of their status. Because all district

schools are full, she said that moving students may not be possible.

Blakely said that she will meet with concerned parents personally

to assess their children’s performance individually and that she

doesn’t expect many to want to leave Whittier.

Wilson Elementary Principal Candy Sperling said that each of the

three schools already has programs in place to increase literacy

among English learners, such as the Rotary Club’s Reading by 9.

Getting parents involved in their children’s education also helps,

she said.

Comparing economically disadvantaged students who speak English as

a second language to native speakers who have many resources

available to them might not be fair, Blakely said. But helping to

level the playing field with extra time and effort is part of the job

of educators.

“It’s our responsibility to take each student, no matter how he

comes to us, as far as we can,” Blakely said. “We just have to work

harder to make a difference.”

* MARISA O’NEIL covers education and may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@latimes.com.