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.
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