SAT 9 gains tied to language program
Jonna Palmer
SAN BERNARDINO---Even before Stanford 9 test scores were released earlier this week, Principal Steve Marlatt knew his school's pupils would do well. Although more than a third of the children at Belvedere Elementary do not speak English fluently, test scores at the school have been high compared with those of the rest of the San Bernardino Unified School District. Last year, the school's pupils whose proficiency in English was limited scored as much as three times as high as the district's average for such pupils. Scores for the 2000 test have not yet been broken down to show how well the limited-English pupils fared this time. But overall, the school did show improvement in most categories and scored just above the national average. Teachers and administrators say one big reason Belvedere pupils usually score well on the state standardized test is a magnet program called High-Intensity Language Training. It is designed to get children speaking, reading and writing in English as quickly as possible without losing their native language. "It's really been the way to go," said Belvedere Vice Principal Gloria Mazzola, who has watched the program develop over the past 21 years. Most Belvedere pupils in the program speak Spanish at home, although there are also a few pupils from families that speak Romanian, Eritrean or another language. Pupils are put in regular classrooms with teachers trained to help children who don't speak English, Marlatt said. Those teachers use more graphics to help explain their lessons and have classroom tutors who speak the child's language. For at least an hour a day, the pupils leave class for tutoring in small groups. In kindergarten, they get help in both English and Spanish after a regular half-day class. First- and second-graders are usually tutored in Spanish, but by third grade, the hour of language instruction is in English. Teacher Joquita Kraisosky said pulling the children out of class for extra language help gives them much-needed confidence in school. And extra confidence gets them speaking English sooner. "They can say or do anything in here, and they won't be ridiculed," she said, gesturing to the small classroom used for tutoring. When Anabel Muniz started in the program as a kindergartner, she did not speak much English, Kraisosky said. But now, 10-year-old Anabel gets along in English just fine. She is still a little shy in her regular classes, but she speaks up in her "high-intensity" sessions. "It helps me to do better," Anabel said. The program was started at Belvedere in 1979 by then principal Danny Ward, who has since retired. The program is now also offered at Arrowhead Elementary and Bonnie Oehl elementary schools. It was created after the school district was ordered to desegregate, and its purpose was to encourage parents from the west side of San Bernardino to send their children across town to Belvedere. The district provided free transportation not only to the pupils but also to their parents to enable them to get to the school for parent conferences and monthly meetings, Mazzola said. That first year, the school's minority enrollment went from 15 percent to 50 percent. Today, two-thirds of the school's approximately 840 pupils are members of minority groups, and more than one-third of the schoolchildren are enrolled in the high-intensity program. On enrollment day, parents still line up as early as 5 a.m. to try to get their children into the language program, and there is always a waiting list, Mazzola said. The program meets the requirements of Prop. 227, the voter-approved initiative that eliminated bilingual education in California public schools. Most of the instruction is in English, so parents whose children participate in the program do not have to sign waivers. The district still offers classes taught mainly in Spanish at 21 elementary schools, and the parents of children in those classes must sign waivers. Delfina Lopez Bryant, director of the district's bilingual education programs, said it is good to have different programs for different students. Ward, who created the high-intensity program, said she would like to see more schools offer similar programs. However, it is more expensive than a bilingual program because of the additional teachers needed. "Of course they are more costly than a bilingual program, but it's more successful," she said. |