Limited-English-speaking students' scores drop in Vista
Michael Buchanan
VISTA ---- Local students who speak little or no English did not make the grade this year on the Stanford Achievement Test-Ninth Edition. According to results released Monday, scores for students not fluent in English in the Vista Unified School District dropped in 27 of 43 scoring categories, which are divided by grade-level performance in reading, math, language, spelling, science and social science. The scores for English-speaking students were released a month ago. Nearly all school districts in the state saw gains among students who speak limited English this year. While scores in North County remained below the national average in most subject areas, students still improved in most categories from last year. But scores in the Vista school district did not reflect the same trend. Students not fluent in English in grades five through 11 scored lower than last year in every category except ninth-grade math, which rose 1 percentile point to the 25th percentile; 10th-grade math, which stayed at the 21st percentile; and ninth-grade social science, which remained at the 24th percentile. State officials consider the 50th percentile average. It is the point at which half those tested did better and half did worse. Vista schools Superintendent Dave Cowles said he was not alarmed by the scores because the district moved 512 limited-English-speaking students into mainstream English classes. He says the scores likely dropped because the students who would have brought those scores up are no longer designated "English language learners." "The group that is left in that reporting category are the newest students and struggling the most with acquiring the English language," Cowles said. "The ones we successfully taught English to are not in that category." The number of students not fluent in English that were tested in the district dropped from 4,223 in 1999 to 2,939 in 2000. Cowles said it's too soon to determine whether that drop is significant enough to explain why students scored so low, but "it's something to be considered." Cowles said he will be asking for a "school-by-school and class-by-class" review of the scores to determine where the shortcomings are. Still, a Vista school board trustee said Tuesday that the results are "unacceptable." Trustee Jim Gibson, who has criticized the district's bilingual education program, said the district should not be satisfied with these scores. "When I see students in the 11th grade scoring at the 5th percentile, that's shocking," Gibson said. "If a kid (leaves) our school district not knowing how to read and write English, they're doomed." The school district's bilingual program has many critics. Community members have criticized the district for not following the spirit of Proposition 227 ---- the 1998 voter initiative that supposedly ended bilingual education in California. The district is often contrasted with the Oceanside Unified School District, which took a hard-line approach to the new law. Students who speak limited English in the Oceanside school district improved their scores in 38 of 43 categories this year. Cowles said it isn't fair to compare the two districts because while Oceanside's scores are higher, Vista has a higher percentage of students moving on to mainstream English classes. A county official agreed that transition rates are a big factor in determining how a district is teaching students who aren't fluent in English, but test scores are an important piece of the pie. Jack Tierney, the assessment coordinator for the San Diego County Office of Education, said the scores show the Vista school district has "a problem." "When you look at these scores, the (limited English) kids didn't make as much progress in Vista as they did in Oceanside," Tierney said. "That's the bottom line." Contact Michael Buchanan at (760) 631-6621 or buchanan@nctimes.com. |