All Inland scores lagging
Monique H. Henderson
Inland area public-school children lagged behind their peers statewide on the 2000 Stanford 9 achievement test, whether or not their first language was English. Reports released by the state Department of Education today showed that both English-proficient and limited-English groups made progress on the test this year. But when compared with statewide figures, a smaller percentage of scores from Riverside and San Bernardino counties surpassed the national average. San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools Herb Fischer said he was disappointed to see area students outperformed, but was encouraged by gains seen at the elementary level. "We've focused a great deal of our attention on literacy in the early grades," Fischer said. "I think that in time we will get where we need to. This isn't something that happens immediately . . . I'm glad we're making gains." The growth of the area's immigrant population could be one reason the area's English-learner scores are lagging. "It's very difficult for us to find enough teachers who have the training and skills needed to work with English learners," said Rocio Moss, a Riverside County Office of Education administrator who works with districts that have a high number of students learning English. "It's a challenging situation." State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin said results for subgroups were more revealing than overall Stanford 9 scores released last month, because English proficiency is weighed. "The statewide results released in mid-July did not provide a complete picture of how well our students fare as compared with those other states," Eastin said. "California's results are more comparable nationwide when shown this way. The numbers suggest that students who are proficient in English are more likely to be either at or above the national average in almost every category." Eastin said about 25 percent of California's students have limited English skills, compared with just 1.8 percent of students in the national sample. Despite gains, few of the state's English learners scored at or above the national average on the test, which measures the reading, language, math and spelling skills of pupils in grades two through 8. Students in grades 9 through 11 also are tested in science and social studies. In reading, the best showing by English learners was posted by second-graders. About 25 percent of pupils in that group scored at or above the national average. In comparison, about 61 percent of English-proficient, second-graders met or topped the national reading average. Backers of an April 1998 voter initiative that required teaching to be "overwhelmingly" in English for immigrant children said the test scores show that children learn best when they are taught in English. "Opponents of Prop. 227 said the test scores of immigrant children would drop if bilingual education came to a halt," said Ron Unz, author of Prop. 227. "These test scores show they were wrong. Instead of dropping, they have actually gone up." Because of a shortage of bilingual teachers, only about one-third of the state's 1.4 million English learners had been receiving bilingual instruction before the initiative passed. And results on the 1999 test may be skewed by the possibility that hundreds of thousands of scores for English learners were not labeled correctly. Even so, Unz, a millionaire software entrepreneur, said he will use the scores to convince Arizona voters to back a ban on bilingual education in that state. English learners in the Lake Elsinore Unified School District outscored students at many other Inland schools, especially in the early grades. Jacquie Buchanan, the district's program-improvement and evaluation specialist, said gains have been made because of special teacher-training programs. "We've taken steps to make sure our teachers know how to teach all students," Buchanan said. Teachers are expected to use visual demonstrations and other activities to help children who struggle to learn by reading or listening, she said. Temecula Valley's English learners also did better than their counterparts at many other Inland districts. This year, the district trained teachers in a new curriculum designed for English-language learners, director of special programs Gary Wilson said. The district also has literacy specialists at each school to work one-on-one with struggling students. Several of the Temecula Valley district's literacy specialists are bilingual. At San Bernardino's Belvedere Elementary School, officials say a program designed to get pupils reading and writing in English as quickly as possible has helped boost test scores. On the language portion of the test, for example, 51 percent scored above the national average. By sixth grade, 70 percent scored above the national average. Belvedere pupils are placed in regular classrooms with teachers trained to help children who don't speak English. 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, pupils leave class for small-group tutoring, including some help in their native language. |