Sometimes the most basic things can make the biggest impacts.
-Patricia
by Beth Loechler | The Grand Rapids Press
Monday February 02, 2009
Bobbie Fletcher, a science teacher at Chandler Woods Charter Academy in Belmont, is part of a growing trend at area districts where teachers and other school staff put an emphasis on "Capturing Kids' Hearts."
Fletcher greets each student at the door of her seventh-grade classroom. A smile. Eye contact. A firm handshake.
"Hey, Nicole."
"How ya doin', Trevor?"
"Megan, you have your hair pulled back. It almost threw me off."
Mostly, they respond with a handshake and a few words of their own.
"I'm noticing when they get haircuts or new outfits," Fletcher said. "If they are having a really bad day, you can see it on their little faces."
Fletcher believes that even the greatest teachers won't get through to students unless they establish a personal connection with each and every one.
"It's not just what we teach, it's how we teach," she said.
Ditto in Kentwood, where every teacher, bus driver, paraprofessional, administrator and board of education member has been similarly trained in "Capturing Kids' Hearts."
The Texas-based program also is used by teachers in Jenison, Thornapple Kellogg, several National Heritage Academy charters and other area schools.
"I think we were falsely under the impression that if I'm just a master of my subject matter I'm a good teacher," said Kentwood Superintendent Scott Palczewski. "You need buy-in from students. If you have a relationship and know someone cares about you, you work harder. You don't want to disappoint them."
Teachers and students share good news at the beginning of each class period and then, when the bell rings again, they exit with a high-five or some words of inspiration.
In addition to the connections made through one-on-one contact, students sign "social contracts" vowing to treat each other with respect. They learn to "self-manage" their behavior and remind their friends to do the same, Fletcher said.
Put down a classmate and you'll quite likely be "fouled," which means you'll have to say two nice things for every negative one uttered. If a friend flashes you a thumbs-up signal, that means you're not following directions and need to get back on track.
"We check each other so the teacher doesn't have to tell us," said Kevin Nguyen, a seventh grader at Chandler Woods. "It makes our class more bonded," added classmate Abby Carlson.
The difference has been dramatic at Townline Elementary in Kentwood, where teachers were trained last summer, said Principal Karen Friberg. She has seen an 85 percent reduction in the number of suspensions and detentions
"We're fostering stronger relationships, teacher to teacher, teacher to student and home to school," she said. "As a teacher you know these things, but we do them now as part of a daily routine. Then the children embrace it and start doing it with one another."
The cost of the three-day training is about $500 per teacher, according to the Capturing Kids' Hearts Web site. Districts have funded it both through grants and general fund dollars set aside for teacher training.
"In the beginning, it takes a lot of time, there's a lot of stopping," Fletcher recalled her introduction to the philosophy three years ago. "But after a while it starts to run smoother because students are checking and self-managing each other."
All this managing of behavior and boosting of self-esteem doesn't automatically make kids better learners, Palczewski said, but it does create a better environment for learning.
"If teachers aren't dealing with students in the hallway or referring them to the office, they can devote more time and energy to what they do best, which is teaching kids," he said.
Showing posts with label caring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label caring. Show all posts
Friday, February 06, 2009
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Engaging a Distant Teenager With Extended Hours
What a wonderful story. A part of this also seems to be a result of the school's support for teachers. This could benefit more students if our public school teachers were also afforded similar experiences. -Patricia
By SUSAN ENGEL | NY Times
December 26, 2007
THE PROBLEM When Andrew Coburn, a teacher at the Met High Schools in Providence, R.I., met his new ninth grader, a Cambodian immigrant, she spoke fluent English but read at a third-grade level. Her slender frame seemed to radiate depression. School, Mr. Coburn thought, seemed a place she wanted to get away from as soon as she could. Even if she lasted for four years of high school, she would have nine years of academic ground to cover. But first the teacher needed to get her to stay in school.
THE SOLUTION Mr. Coburn, who has taught for eight years at the Met, a network of six small public high schools that serve primarily a low-income and minority population, said many of the students lack academic skills, and just as many hate school. But figuring out how to help has to be tackled student by student.
This ninth grader had come to the United States as a baby with her mother and five siblings. “My sisters and I take care of our brothers,” she said in class one day. “My mother’s not really there. Let’s just say, she’s not really mother material.”
The Met schools encourage strong relationships between teachers and students, on the theory that these can help underachieving students succeed. Mr. Coburn, like all the teachers, has the same students from ninth grade until graduation.
Mr. Coburn’s first step was to make sure that within the first 30 minutes of each day, he had either a brief conversation with the girl or a look at her work. She would often answer in angry monosyllables. He didn’t give up. He included her in the jokes, plans and reviews that occurred during the group morning meeting, even if she seemed unwilling to contribute and uninterested in interacting with other students. She remained angry and tuned out. She often kept her iPod in her ear, as if to let everyone know she did not want to talk.
By early spring, Mr. Coburn realized this wasn’t enough. The girl would not budge.
“At some point, when nothing was changing,” he said, “I knew I had to do more to connect to her. I discussed it with the other teachers. Together we decided I’d have to cover her with love. I started to talk to her in the evenings. I talked to her like I was a teenage girl — 11 at night on the phone I was like: ‘Your aunt said that to you? She did what?’ I had to build trust with her.”
Although it may seem an unusual approach for a teacher, it fit in with the philosophy of the Met schools. Still, Mr. Coburn said, it wasn’t always convenient for him to make time for those calls. He’s married with young children. After he and his wife put their kids to bed, he would grade papers and call his student while his wife sat nearby reading.
The calls seemed to work. Within a few weeks, Mr. Coburn felt sure the girl would return to school each day. Although he continued the calls in her sophomore year, he began focusing more on improving her academic skills. He decided that a key was to persuade her to learn more about her birth country, which she never seemed to want to talk about but which he thought was something she could connect to.
“Cambodia just seemed like this big closed door for her,” Mr. Coburn said. “I felt that her reluctance to talk about Cambodia was part of her problem. Her curiosity and longing to know about her birth country would be part of the solution.”
So during her junior year, Mr. Coburn suggested that for her senior project, a graduation requirement, she should plan her first trip to Cambodia. He hoped her curiosity about Cambodia offered a path to her mind.
In the spring of her junior year, the girl studied a map and read about Cambodia. In the fall of her senior year, she tracked down an aunt who still lived there and arranged to stay with her on a visit. She called a travel agent to find out about flights, and she made plans to raise money for the trip by running in the annual all-schools marathon. She raised $1,300 in pledges, and began running with Mr. Coburn in preparation. The running also transformed her mood, the teacher said. Three months after she ran her first mile, she was running nearly every day, and inexplicably suddenly reading almost every day as well.
By her senior year, at age 18, she read at a ninth-grade level. “She’s not able to write a 15-page research paper,” Mr. Coburn said. “But now she’s willing to try. She wants to go to college. Once they trust you, they open up to you. And that’s when the work really begins.”
Susan Engel is a psychology professor and director of the teaching program at Williams College. Contact her at e-edu@nytimes.com if you have a teaching problem to share.
By SUSAN ENGEL | NY Times
December 26, 2007
THE PROBLEM When Andrew Coburn, a teacher at the Met High Schools in Providence, R.I., met his new ninth grader, a Cambodian immigrant, she spoke fluent English but read at a third-grade level. Her slender frame seemed to radiate depression. School, Mr. Coburn thought, seemed a place she wanted to get away from as soon as she could. Even if she lasted for four years of high school, she would have nine years of academic ground to cover. But first the teacher needed to get her to stay in school.
THE SOLUTION Mr. Coburn, who has taught for eight years at the Met, a network of six small public high schools that serve primarily a low-income and minority population, said many of the students lack academic skills, and just as many hate school. But figuring out how to help has to be tackled student by student.
This ninth grader had come to the United States as a baby with her mother and five siblings. “My sisters and I take care of our brothers,” she said in class one day. “My mother’s not really there. Let’s just say, she’s not really mother material.”
The Met schools encourage strong relationships between teachers and students, on the theory that these can help underachieving students succeed. Mr. Coburn, like all the teachers, has the same students from ninth grade until graduation.
Mr. Coburn’s first step was to make sure that within the first 30 minutes of each day, he had either a brief conversation with the girl or a look at her work. She would often answer in angry monosyllables. He didn’t give up. He included her in the jokes, plans and reviews that occurred during the group morning meeting, even if she seemed unwilling to contribute and uninterested in interacting with other students. She remained angry and tuned out. She often kept her iPod in her ear, as if to let everyone know she did not want to talk.
By early spring, Mr. Coburn realized this wasn’t enough. The girl would not budge.
“At some point, when nothing was changing,” he said, “I knew I had to do more to connect to her. I discussed it with the other teachers. Together we decided I’d have to cover her with love. I started to talk to her in the evenings. I talked to her like I was a teenage girl — 11 at night on the phone I was like: ‘Your aunt said that to you? She did what?’ I had to build trust with her.”
Although it may seem an unusual approach for a teacher, it fit in with the philosophy of the Met schools. Still, Mr. Coburn said, it wasn’t always convenient for him to make time for those calls. He’s married with young children. After he and his wife put their kids to bed, he would grade papers and call his student while his wife sat nearby reading.
The calls seemed to work. Within a few weeks, Mr. Coburn felt sure the girl would return to school each day. Although he continued the calls in her sophomore year, he began focusing more on improving her academic skills. He decided that a key was to persuade her to learn more about her birth country, which she never seemed to want to talk about but which he thought was something she could connect to.
“Cambodia just seemed like this big closed door for her,” Mr. Coburn said. “I felt that her reluctance to talk about Cambodia was part of her problem. Her curiosity and longing to know about her birth country would be part of the solution.”
So during her junior year, Mr. Coburn suggested that for her senior project, a graduation requirement, she should plan her first trip to Cambodia. He hoped her curiosity about Cambodia offered a path to her mind.
In the spring of her junior year, the girl studied a map and read about Cambodia. In the fall of her senior year, she tracked down an aunt who still lived there and arranged to stay with her on a visit. She called a travel agent to find out about flights, and she made plans to raise money for the trip by running in the annual all-schools marathon. She raised $1,300 in pledges, and began running with Mr. Coburn in preparation. The running also transformed her mood, the teacher said. Three months after she ran her first mile, she was running nearly every day, and inexplicably suddenly reading almost every day as well.
By her senior year, at age 18, she read at a ninth-grade level. “She’s not able to write a 15-page research paper,” Mr. Coburn said. “But now she’s willing to try. She wants to go to college. Once they trust you, they open up to you. And that’s when the work really begins.”
Susan Engel is a psychology professor and director of the teaching program at Williams College. Contact her at e-edu@nytimes.com if you have a teaching problem to share.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
New position aims to raise attendance rates
By KATHERINE CROMER BROCK
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
GRAPEVINE -- As a member of a family of migrant workers, Marina Flores grew up all over the country -- Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, California, Arizona, Texas.
"It was hard," said Flores, now 47. "We didn't realize how hard it was at the time."
But that helps her relate to some students she meets in her new job as Grapevine-Colleyville's attendance interventionist.
"I was a student who moved around and knew what it was like to be all over the country," Flores said. "But you can overcome a little bit of harshness. I do feel that I can relate, especially to the kids who feel that they're a square peg being pushed into a round hole."
The district created Flores' job, which has a salary of $54,390, to help students who are at risk of dropping out or not graduating.
"It's providing additional support for our kids who are struggling," said Superintendent Kay Waggoner. "The greatest focus will be at the high school level. That's where the need will be the greatest."
Flores started work in August. She's rarely in her office, often racing between schools and visiting students at home.
Her priority is to find fifth-year seniors, those who did not graduate last year with the rest of their class. She has a list of 15 to 20. If they're not in school by Sept. 28, they're considered dropouts by the state, and can count against the district's state accountability rating.
Flores said the district will do whatever it takes to help these students finish their coursework, pass required classes or pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.
She expects to coordinate with social service agencies and schools to get students the tools they need to achieve those goals. They need their diploma, she said, regardless of the hardships they face.
"That one little piece of paper makes a huge difference in their lives," Flores said. "They don't see that right now."
Flores said she will also help younger students who struggle with attendance. The district's overall attendance rate is 97 percent.
Most area districts don't have a similar position. Some, like Birdville, Arlington and Fort Worth, have truancy officers who are current or former police officers.
"My job is not the truancy officer," said Flores. "I am not out here to police anything. I am an educator."
Flores has a degree in history and elementary education from the University of Texas at Arlington and a master's degree in education administration. She was a teacher's assistant at St. John the Apostle Catholic School in North Richland Hills for six years, and taught in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford district for 11 years.
In H-E-B, she taught first and third grades and worked with special-education students.
Flores is excited about what her new job can become, especially working hand-in-hand with Sharon Greene, the district's social worker.
"What we're doing is helping students to understand how we can do this together," Flores said. "It will help us, but it will ultimately benefit them and help the students be successful in the long run."
Flores said support from the community is key to the success of her mission.
"Put children first," she said, as a message to anyone in the community who has regular contact with children. "Always have respect for education. We're striving to teach and raise our children and to help society as a whole."
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
GRAPEVINE -- As a member of a family of migrant workers, Marina Flores grew up all over the country -- Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, California, Arizona, Texas.
"It was hard," said Flores, now 47. "We didn't realize how hard it was at the time."
But that helps her relate to some students she meets in her new job as Grapevine-Colleyville's attendance interventionist.
"I was a student who moved around and knew what it was like to be all over the country," Flores said. "But you can overcome a little bit of harshness. I do feel that I can relate, especially to the kids who feel that they're a square peg being pushed into a round hole."
The district created Flores' job, which has a salary of $54,390, to help students who are at risk of dropping out or not graduating.
"It's providing additional support for our kids who are struggling," said Superintendent Kay Waggoner. "The greatest focus will be at the high school level. That's where the need will be the greatest."
Flores started work in August. She's rarely in her office, often racing between schools and visiting students at home.
Her priority is to find fifth-year seniors, those who did not graduate last year with the rest of their class. She has a list of 15 to 20. If they're not in school by Sept. 28, they're considered dropouts by the state, and can count against the district's state accountability rating.
Flores said the district will do whatever it takes to help these students finish their coursework, pass required classes or pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.
She expects to coordinate with social service agencies and schools to get students the tools they need to achieve those goals. They need their diploma, she said, regardless of the hardships they face.
"That one little piece of paper makes a huge difference in their lives," Flores said. "They don't see that right now."
Flores said she will also help younger students who struggle with attendance. The district's overall attendance rate is 97 percent.
Most area districts don't have a similar position. Some, like Birdville, Arlington and Fort Worth, have truancy officers who are current or former police officers.
"My job is not the truancy officer," said Flores. "I am not out here to police anything. I am an educator."
Flores has a degree in history and elementary education from the University of Texas at Arlington and a master's degree in education administration. She was a teacher's assistant at St. John the Apostle Catholic School in North Richland Hills for six years, and taught in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford district for 11 years.
In H-E-B, she taught first and third grades and worked with special-education students.
Flores is excited about what her new job can become, especially working hand-in-hand with Sharon Greene, the district's social worker.
"What we're doing is helping students to understand how we can do this together," Flores said. "It will help us, but it will ultimately benefit them and help the students be successful in the long run."
Flores said support from the community is key to the success of her mission.
"Put children first," she said, as a message to anyone in the community who has regular contact with children. "Always have respect for education. We're striving to teach and raise our children and to help society as a whole."
Monday, September 03, 2007
How schools' racial achievement gap can be bridged
This is a great article. Looks like these young students of Color aren't asking for any more than most other students whose voices have been documented: caring, respect, belonging, resources and support. -Patricia
By Susan Sandler / San Jose Mercury News
09/02/2007
The release of the latest test results from California schools highlights the persistence of the racial achievement gap for California students. These results clearly show that race is a factor in education. Race matters, and it's not going away.
Over the years, the California school system has undertaken a series of steps to eliminate achievement gaps, setting goals, applying sanctions, implementing tightly specified curriculum packages, calendars, and other guidelines. Most school staffs are now very focused on achievement gaps. But with all this attention, the racial achievement gap is not budging. And it won't - until policy addresses race.
It's time to take a step back and see what's missing from how California has attacked this problem. One vital perspective has been consistently overlooked: the student's. What does the school system look like through the eyes of students of color? Does it foster learning and belonging, or alienation and failure?
When Justice Matters, a research and policy institute focused on racial justice in education, has asked students of color about what is important in supporting their success in school, here is what they have told us. First, they need to be comfortable at school, which means that the school is a welcoming, caring place where they are respected, and which takes their education seriously. This means having both the tangible resources of quality books, materials, computers and adequate facilities and the less tangible resources of teachers and leaders who value them, see their talents and support their aspirations.
Second, the learning experience needs to engage their interest and curiosity and also to challenge them. This requires a curriculum that is rigorous and relevant - that engages them in authentic problems and meaningful work - and teachers who are knowledgeable and skilled in how to teach their content to their students.
Third, they need to see that they have a place in the school system - that their culture, language and history are recognized and included in the learning experience.
Finally, students learn best when they have close, positive relationships with their teachers and when their families do, too. This means not only having teachers and leaders who are caring but also the sort of environment - small classes, advisory systems and multi-year assignments - that allows teachers to know students well.
Seeing schools through the eyes of students of color makes it pretty clear that California's efforts to eliminate the racial achievement gap haven't focused on many of the policies that would most support their success.
Justice Matters will soon be releasing a study conducted by a team of researchers at Stanford University that details these policies. "High Schools for Equity: Policy Supports for Student Learning in Communities of Color" examines five California public high schools that have attributes such as those described above and that send nearly all of their graduates to college. The study focuses on which policies would be needed to enable all California schools to do what these schools are doing. These policies include:
• More equitable distribution of resources in California schools and better alignment of resources to support the practices that are most important for the education of students of color.
• Deeper investments in teacher education so that teachers can provide rigorous, culturally rich, relevant and responsive classrooms.
• Testing and accountability policies that better support high-quality learning experiences for students of color.
As state schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell said when speaking about the racial gaps in student learning, "We cannot afford to accept this, morally, economically or socially." He's right. We need to do more than wring our hands; we need to make major policy changes so that California schools can provide students of color the education they deserve.
SUSAN SANDLER is president of Justice Matters. She wrote this article for the Mercury News.
By Susan Sandler / San Jose Mercury News
09/02/2007
The release of the latest test results from California schools highlights the persistence of the racial achievement gap for California students. These results clearly show that race is a factor in education. Race matters, and it's not going away.
Over the years, the California school system has undertaken a series of steps to eliminate achievement gaps, setting goals, applying sanctions, implementing tightly specified curriculum packages, calendars, and other guidelines. Most school staffs are now very focused on achievement gaps. But with all this attention, the racial achievement gap is not budging. And it won't - until policy addresses race.
It's time to take a step back and see what's missing from how California has attacked this problem. One vital perspective has been consistently overlooked: the student's. What does the school system look like through the eyes of students of color? Does it foster learning and belonging, or alienation and failure?
When Justice Matters, a research and policy institute focused on racial justice in education, has asked students of color about what is important in supporting their success in school, here is what they have told us. First, they need to be comfortable at school, which means that the school is a welcoming, caring place where they are respected, and which takes their education seriously. This means having both the tangible resources of quality books, materials, computers and adequate facilities and the less tangible resources of teachers and leaders who value them, see their talents and support their aspirations.
Second, the learning experience needs to engage their interest and curiosity and also to challenge them. This requires a curriculum that is rigorous and relevant - that engages them in authentic problems and meaningful work - and teachers who are knowledgeable and skilled in how to teach their content to their students.
Third, they need to see that they have a place in the school system - that their culture, language and history are recognized and included in the learning experience.
Finally, students learn best when they have close, positive relationships with their teachers and when their families do, too. This means not only having teachers and leaders who are caring but also the sort of environment - small classes, advisory systems and multi-year assignments - that allows teachers to know students well.
Seeing schools through the eyes of students of color makes it pretty clear that California's efforts to eliminate the racial achievement gap haven't focused on many of the policies that would most support their success.
Justice Matters will soon be releasing a study conducted by a team of researchers at Stanford University that details these policies. "High Schools for Equity: Policy Supports for Student Learning in Communities of Color" examines five California public high schools that have attributes such as those described above and that send nearly all of their graduates to college. The study focuses on which policies would be needed to enable all California schools to do what these schools are doing. These policies include:
• More equitable distribution of resources in California schools and better alignment of resources to support the practices that are most important for the education of students of color.
• Deeper investments in teacher education so that teachers can provide rigorous, culturally rich, relevant and responsive classrooms.
• Testing and accountability policies that better support high-quality learning experiences for students of color.
As state schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell said when speaking about the racial gaps in student learning, "We cannot afford to accept this, morally, economically or socially." He's right. We need to do more than wring our hands; we need to make major policy changes so that California schools can provide students of color the education they deserve.
SUSAN SANDLER is president of Justice Matters. She wrote this article for the Mercury News.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Program offers help to students falling behind
This is such a positive benefit for the students who are still in school, a definite sign of caring. -Patricia
CCISD officials hope to enroll 100 in Horizons
By Adriana Garza (Contact)
August 28, 2007
About 100 CCISD high school students who are more than two grade levels behind are getting a new chance at academic success through the district's new Horizons Program.
Corpus Christi Independent School District trustees received an update on the district's newest program based on smaller classrooms and individualized instruction at the Solomon Coles High School and Education Center at Monday night's regular school board meeting.
The program focuses on providing students, many repeating one grade level more than twice or several grade levels once, with the opportunity to catch up on course work through accelerated and condensed individualized instruction.
Once the students are caught up, the goal is to get them to graduate, possibly with their originally assigned graduating class, said Bernadine Cervantes, assistant superintendent for school leadership.
"Solomon Coles will shine like a beacon of hope for these students who need a change," Cervantes said.
This spring school administrators reviewed enrollment information to identify ninth- and 10th-grade students who were between 17 and 18 years old -- the age of an average graduating senior.
For the majority of the students, earning high school credits hasn't been easy. Most have earned fewer than five, Cervantes said.
As of Monday, the first day of school for CCISD, about 70 of the 100 students identified were enrolled at Coles.
"We are the last hope, last option, for many of these students," said Monica Bayarena, principal at Coles.
Students in the Horizons program can expect different, hands-on instruction, with an emphasis on reading, writing and math.
Students also will have a smaller student-to-teacher ratio, which will allow teachers and counselors to have a better understanding of individuals needs.
Other goals include improving Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills scores, increasing attendance rates and making key connections to local colleges.
"We want to make our students feel welcome and give them an education environment where everyone knows their names," Bayarena said.
CCISD officials hope to enroll 100 in Horizons
By Adriana Garza (Contact)
August 28, 2007
About 100 CCISD high school students who are more than two grade levels behind are getting a new chance at academic success through the district's new Horizons Program.
Corpus Christi Independent School District trustees received an update on the district's newest program based on smaller classrooms and individualized instruction at the Solomon Coles High School and Education Center at Monday night's regular school board meeting.
The program focuses on providing students, many repeating one grade level more than twice or several grade levels once, with the opportunity to catch up on course work through accelerated and condensed individualized instruction.
Once the students are caught up, the goal is to get them to graduate, possibly with their originally assigned graduating class, said Bernadine Cervantes, assistant superintendent for school leadership.
"Solomon Coles will shine like a beacon of hope for these students who need a change," Cervantes said.
This spring school administrators reviewed enrollment information to identify ninth- and 10th-grade students who were between 17 and 18 years old -- the age of an average graduating senior.
For the majority of the students, earning high school credits hasn't been easy. Most have earned fewer than five, Cervantes said.
As of Monday, the first day of school for CCISD, about 70 of the 100 students identified were enrolled at Coles.
"We are the last hope, last option, for many of these students," said Monica Bayarena, principal at Coles.
Students in the Horizons program can expect different, hands-on instruction, with an emphasis on reading, writing and math.
Students also will have a smaller student-to-teacher ratio, which will allow teachers and counselors to have a better understanding of individuals needs.
Other goals include improving Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills scores, increasing attendance rates and making key connections to local colleges.
"We want to make our students feel welcome and give them an education environment where everyone knows their names," Bayarena said.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Teaching Secrets: Students Behave When Teachers Engage
By Anthony Cody / Teacher Magazine
August 21, 2007
I started teaching at a middle school in Oakland, Calif., about 20 years ago. My first year was pretty rough. I was prepared to teach science, but my first semester I was given two periods of beginning Spanish, one of English, and two of science. My credential program had not really dealt much with behavior issues. The idea was to deliver a rich curriculum, and the management would take care of itself. If you are already teaching, you know this does not always work.
I floundered a bit the first year or two, and took help wherever I could find it. My best resources came from my colleagues down the hall. They had been at the school a few years and passed along valuable ways to make things work.
Here are a few of the things I learned:
• I learned to post a short list of clear, unambiguous rules and enforce them consistently. This is much harder to do than it sounds, and it took me many years to master.
• I learned how important it was to phone parents early in the year, with positive news if at all possible. Then the first phone call would not be one from me complaining about their child's behavior. One parent I phoned in September told me that mine was the first positive call she had ever received about her child. When I had to call about some problems a few months later, she was there to back me up 100 percent.
• I learned to balance a negative phone call with a positive one. The days after I would make phone calls, the students would often come in and ask me, "Why did you call my house?" It was great to be able to point out that I was working with their parents in their best interests, and that I would make positive calls when behavior improved. I also found that my own disposition greatly improved after I made a positive call.
• I learned to keep a record of student behavior, along with any referrals to the office, so that the problems I had with a few students were clearly documented. I kept a record of phone calls home in the same book.
• I learned how easy it was to get into entertaining but fruitless dialogues with students when I was trying to enforce rules. It took me a while, but eventually I learned the best method was to give a warning or consequence clearly, and allow for discussion only after class.
• I learned it was important for students to understand that I cared about their well-being, and that I was on their side. This was done through caring communication and showing an interest in them as individuals by giving attention to their interests and abilities. And also through developing assignments that gave them more than one way to demonstrate their knowledge. Some students shine when speaking to the class, others excel at creative projects that illustrate what they've learned.
• I tried using the textbook quizzes and tests, but found my students were performing miserably. These tests featured 40 multiple-choice questions that required memorization. My students refused to memorize the textbook facts—they were bored with that, and their behavior reflected their boredom. So I began to think about the main points I was trying to get across and looked for engaging ways to make those main points stick. Then I made my tests reflect those main points and found the students did much better. I also looked for different ways for students to demonstrate their understanding through more creative projects, and I found the students became even more engaged.
For example, when learning about states of matter, I had students team up and design their own experiments focusing on dry ice. They came up with ideas like measuring the amount of time the dry ice took to turn to vapor in different liquids; attempting to measure the temperature of the dry ice; or collecting and testing the vapor that the dry ice produced. After a review process, the teams carried out their experiments. Then, each team created a display and presented their results to their classmates. In the process, they all learned about the properties of dry ice—that it turns to vapor much more quickly in water than in air, that frozen carbon dioxide is much colder than water ice, and that the vapor is heavier than air and puts out a candle. Their findings led us into other explorations of the states of matter. They were having too much fun to misbehave!
The secret to behavior management is really about having the students fully engaged in the learning process, and it involves more than just rules and office referrals. After all, the whole point of getting the class to focus is to do some meaningful work—to reach new understandings, to create new expressions of their knowledge, and to build new skills. But we have to know how to manage our teacher-student relationships in order to get there.
An awarding winning middle school science teacher, Anthony Cody is now the secondary science content coach for the Oakland, Calif., Unified School District, where he is also a leader in the Partnership for Oakland Science Inquiry Teaching (Project POSIT), which improves science instruction for grades 4-8 in partnership with local science agencies.
August 21, 2007
I started teaching at a middle school in Oakland, Calif., about 20 years ago. My first year was pretty rough. I was prepared to teach science, but my first semester I was given two periods of beginning Spanish, one of English, and two of science. My credential program had not really dealt much with behavior issues. The idea was to deliver a rich curriculum, and the management would take care of itself. If you are already teaching, you know this does not always work.
I floundered a bit the first year or two, and took help wherever I could find it. My best resources came from my colleagues down the hall. They had been at the school a few years and passed along valuable ways to make things work.
Here are a few of the things I learned:
• I learned to post a short list of clear, unambiguous rules and enforce them consistently. This is much harder to do than it sounds, and it took me many years to master.
• I learned how important it was to phone parents early in the year, with positive news if at all possible. Then the first phone call would not be one from me complaining about their child's behavior. One parent I phoned in September told me that mine was the first positive call she had ever received about her child. When I had to call about some problems a few months later, she was there to back me up 100 percent.
• I learned to balance a negative phone call with a positive one. The days after I would make phone calls, the students would often come in and ask me, "Why did you call my house?" It was great to be able to point out that I was working with their parents in their best interests, and that I would make positive calls when behavior improved. I also found that my own disposition greatly improved after I made a positive call.
• I learned to keep a record of student behavior, along with any referrals to the office, so that the problems I had with a few students were clearly documented. I kept a record of phone calls home in the same book.
• I learned how easy it was to get into entertaining but fruitless dialogues with students when I was trying to enforce rules. It took me a while, but eventually I learned the best method was to give a warning or consequence clearly, and allow for discussion only after class.
• I learned it was important for students to understand that I cared about their well-being, and that I was on their side. This was done through caring communication and showing an interest in them as individuals by giving attention to their interests and abilities. And also through developing assignments that gave them more than one way to demonstrate their knowledge. Some students shine when speaking to the class, others excel at creative projects that illustrate what they've learned.
• I tried using the textbook quizzes and tests, but found my students were performing miserably. These tests featured 40 multiple-choice questions that required memorization. My students refused to memorize the textbook facts—they were bored with that, and their behavior reflected their boredom. So I began to think about the main points I was trying to get across and looked for engaging ways to make those main points stick. Then I made my tests reflect those main points and found the students did much better. I also looked for different ways for students to demonstrate their understanding through more creative projects, and I found the students became even more engaged.
For example, when learning about states of matter, I had students team up and design their own experiments focusing on dry ice. They came up with ideas like measuring the amount of time the dry ice took to turn to vapor in different liquids; attempting to measure the temperature of the dry ice; or collecting and testing the vapor that the dry ice produced. After a review process, the teams carried out their experiments. Then, each team created a display and presented their results to their classmates. In the process, they all learned about the properties of dry ice—that it turns to vapor much more quickly in water than in air, that frozen carbon dioxide is much colder than water ice, and that the vapor is heavier than air and puts out a candle. Their findings led us into other explorations of the states of matter. They were having too much fun to misbehave!
The secret to behavior management is really about having the students fully engaged in the learning process, and it involves more than just rules and office referrals. After all, the whole point of getting the class to focus is to do some meaningful work—to reach new understandings, to create new expressions of their knowledge, and to build new skills. But we have to know how to manage our teacher-student relationships in order to get there.
An awarding winning middle school science teacher, Anthony Cody is now the secondary science content coach for the Oakland, Calif., Unified School District, where he is also a leader in the Partnership for Oakland Science Inquiry Teaching (Project POSIT), which improves science instruction for grades 4-8 in partnership with local science agencies.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Mentoring program brings positive outcome
Julian Cavazos / The Monitor
August 24, 2007
MISSION — The Mission school district is working to keep students from falling through the cracks.
The district received a new grant of $570,000 over the next three years for its mentorship program for at-risk students.
The program, about to begin its second year of full implementation, serves students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
“It provides guidance by mentors so they’ll develop better relationships with their peers, teachers and family members,” said U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, who helped the district get the grant. “It will also help reduce the dropout rate.”
Though some school districts may disagree, Hispanics in Texas are said to have a high school dropout rate of 49 percent, much higher than the 27 percent for Anglos and 34 percent for blacks, Cuellar said.
At Alton Memorial Junior High School in Mission, mentors help students who failed the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test.
“I meet with mine during advisory period and we discuss the challenges of the test,” said Norma Vento, a testing strategist at the school. “We also do lessons on decision-making, conflict resolution and confidence building. I also review their attendance, grades and behavior.”
However, the district doesn’t want people to get the wrong idea about who needs mentorship.
“We aren’t saying they all come from bad homes,” Vento said. “Many come from wonderful homes. They just may have some things they’re struggling with academically.”
The district prefers the mentors be campus personnel such as elective teachers, coaches or counselors, who can provide the students with guidance and personal attention, said Superintendent Oscar Rodriguez Jr.
Each student has a mentor who stays with him through elementary school, a second one who follows him through middle school, and a third one who stay with him through graduation. The school district’s 1,200 to 1,500 mentors each have between one and five mentees, Rodriguez said.
Vento, who has five, said she has seen a difference in the students since she began working with them.
“It’s really had an impact on them,” she said. “There’s been an overall improvement of attendance and less failure overall in their classes.”
The simple display of caring on the part of the mentors toward their students makes all the difference to the children, Rodriguez said.
“If done correctly, we’ll see a difference in their child behavior,” he said. “They’ll be good students, citizens and productive, ready college graduates. We all like for people to care about us.”
August 24, 2007
MISSION — The Mission school district is working to keep students from falling through the cracks.
The district received a new grant of $570,000 over the next three years for its mentorship program for at-risk students.
The program, about to begin its second year of full implementation, serves students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
“It provides guidance by mentors so they’ll develop better relationships with their peers, teachers and family members,” said U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, who helped the district get the grant. “It will also help reduce the dropout rate.”
Though some school districts may disagree, Hispanics in Texas are said to have a high school dropout rate of 49 percent, much higher than the 27 percent for Anglos and 34 percent for blacks, Cuellar said.
At Alton Memorial Junior High School in Mission, mentors help students who failed the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test.
“I meet with mine during advisory period and we discuss the challenges of the test,” said Norma Vento, a testing strategist at the school. “We also do lessons on decision-making, conflict resolution and confidence building. I also review their attendance, grades and behavior.”
However, the district doesn’t want people to get the wrong idea about who needs mentorship.
“We aren’t saying they all come from bad homes,” Vento said. “Many come from wonderful homes. They just may have some things they’re struggling with academically.”
The district prefers the mentors be campus personnel such as elective teachers, coaches or counselors, who can provide the students with guidance and personal attention, said Superintendent Oscar Rodriguez Jr.
Each student has a mentor who stays with him through elementary school, a second one who follows him through middle school, and a third one who stay with him through graduation. The school district’s 1,200 to 1,500 mentors each have between one and five mentees, Rodriguez said.
Vento, who has five, said she has seen a difference in the students since she began working with them.
“It’s really had an impact on them,” she said. “There’s been an overall improvement of attendance and less failure overall in their classes.”
The simple display of caring on the part of the mentors toward their students makes all the difference to the children, Rodriguez said.
“If done correctly, we’ll see a difference in their child behavior,” he said. “They’ll be good students, citizens and productive, ready college graduates. We all like for people to care about us.”
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Kids, grownups in school showdown
What, if anything, is the problem with the quality of teachers in the LAUSD, and what can be done about it? All this week, former LAUSD board member David Tokofsky and a group of Los Angeles high school students debate the future of the school district.
August 20, 2007 / LA Times
Today, Tokofsky and five L.A.-area high school students who have researched student disengagement at Crenshaw High School discuss teacher motivation. Later in the week, they will debate class sizes, bogus grade-promotions and more.
Credentials can't cause caring
By Carla Hernandez
Thank you, Mr. Tokofsky, for having this debate with youth. Nobody ever really listens to our opinion, when in fact we do have some important things to say.
Most teachers in our schools don't know, or want to learn, how to change the problems in our communities.
More than 60% of students in schools like ours — mostly black and brown — are dropping out (or, are being "pushed out" systemically) of school and relying on their streets to provide answers. Teachers are not trying hard enough to prevent students in our communities from falling into these traps.
If you look at it, most of our teachers can't make a subject interesting. (They're boring!!!) And to make it worse, most of us are learning from uncaring teachers who don't support us in our learning. Seeing life through the students' eyes, you'll see that they find what they don't get in school in the streets. When this happens, you have students interested in a life that has nothing to do with what they learn in school. This results in students falling into the school-to-prison pipeline.
This is our reality! Because of this, we need teachers who can create activities that involve their students, their communities and their problems. This will attract the students' attention instead of causing them to daydream in classrooms over-packed with unqualified and overworked teachers.
The No Child Left Behind Act and its definition of a highly qualified teacher does not work well in our communities. The act defines a teacher as "highly qualified" when he or she has subject-matter qualifications and university teaching credentials. But how about communication qualifications and culturally empowering credentials? If you don't have credentials we can respect, then you don't have the quality we need.
We need teachers who can prepare us to resist failure and transform our communities. A qualified teacher can go beyond teaching us how to read and write. Quality teachers can empower us to make a change. According to our research in the Crenshaw High School community, a highly qualified teacher can also 1) motivate students, 2) care about the problems in students' lives and 3) have a passion for teaching students of color.
Our community wants teachers who care about us. We are struggling in our communities and we need teachers who can understand that. Most teachers in our schools don't have that quality. Teachers need to take time out of their schedule to share ideas with their students, and to be able to encourage us when we are in need of support. Teachers should worry about problems beyond the school, helping their students feel safe with them and one another, prove to us that they are people we can rely on when everything in our world seems wrong. As Crenshaw High School teacher Monique Lane said, we need to "replace teachers with people who care!" Do you think it's fair for students to go through schools where no one seems to believe in them? Or seems to care? We don't! Would that motivate you, or your children, to keep striving for more, when all you see is failure and poor teaching around you?
Carla Hernandez is a 10th-grader at King/Drew Medical Magnet High School, and an active member of the Watts Youth Collective.
The teacher challenge
By David Tokofsky
Carla, thank you very much for being involved in school and community issues. You are to be commended for your engagement, and I respect your feelings, thoughts and research. Above all, you are right to focus on the quality of teachers as the core issue for P-12 education.
You are lucky to attend King/Drew Magnet. We can be proud of its successes. The recent closing of the county government's King/Drew Hospital reminds us that although challenges in public education are numerous, in many ways the school system is doing better than other areas of government service.
Let me start with a few key facts. California has had tremendous population growth over the last 20 years. With population growth comes a requirement to find a sufficient number of teachers. When I first came to L.A. Unified as a teacher in 1983, the pay was $13,000 a year and the district needed to find 12,000 new teachers for that year alone (the state of California as a whole was short 150,000 teachers). At that pay, and the low pay over the last 20 years, we have not been able to attract enough new -- let alone quality -- teachers. While the search for a massive quantity of teachers is not an excuse for the quality question, we must be aware of the magnitude of the problem.
Your references to No Child Left Behind are misplaced on the local level. These are federal regulations and rules. We in the local school boards have opposed such laws from afar as they do not take into account local circumstances. Yet we locals embrace the higher standards and increased accountability of NCLB. We also know that NCLB is really the same federal involvement that brings Title I money and other entitlements that we use in our urban schools.
School districts can do a lot to excite teachers to teach passionately, but ultimately that goal rests with the adult teachers themselves. Now that we only have a need for 2,000 new teachers a year, you are right to ask all L.A. County school boards to raise the requirements to become a teacher in urban and inner-city settings.
But students also need to shoulder a lot of the responsibility for learning. You casually say that 60% of kids drop out or get pushed out. First of all, that figure is inaccurate. Many students in L.A. County's overcrowded system fall into a variety of categories such as continuation schools, independent study, community day schools, adult schools, and so on. They also move frequently from district to district, making their status harder to measure.
Students may in fact have too many alternative choices for schooling in California, which is the conclusion that the State Legislative Analyst reached in February of this year. Students want choices, but much of schooling requires discipline.
While money is not the answer to all these recruitment, retention and training issues, we must remember that California ranks in the bottom third of states in funding. Recently, education activists passed SB 1133, which took money from good schools and gave it to some of the state's lowest performers. This transfer of the limited existing monies exacerbates the funding problems at quality campuses like King/Drew, a school with the highest API in the inner-city southern parts of L.A. County.
We need this extra money to pay all teachers more, and to establish higher standards and training for content instruction. I think you are right that teachers should know more about students' communities, but they ought to know Science, Literature, Math and Social Students first and foremost. Good teachers will know their subject matters well; great teachers will, as you rightly say, will also know their students well.
David Tokovsky is a former board member of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
August 20, 2007 / LA Times
Today, Tokofsky and five L.A.-area high school students who have researched student disengagement at Crenshaw High School discuss teacher motivation. Later in the week, they will debate class sizes, bogus grade-promotions and more.
Credentials can't cause caring
By Carla Hernandez
Thank you, Mr. Tokofsky, for having this debate with youth. Nobody ever really listens to our opinion, when in fact we do have some important things to say.
Most teachers in our schools don't know, or want to learn, how to change the problems in our communities.
More than 60% of students in schools like ours — mostly black and brown — are dropping out (or, are being "pushed out" systemically) of school and relying on their streets to provide answers. Teachers are not trying hard enough to prevent students in our communities from falling into these traps.
If you look at it, most of our teachers can't make a subject interesting. (They're boring!!!) And to make it worse, most of us are learning from uncaring teachers who don't support us in our learning. Seeing life through the students' eyes, you'll see that they find what they don't get in school in the streets. When this happens, you have students interested in a life that has nothing to do with what they learn in school. This results in students falling into the school-to-prison pipeline.
This is our reality! Because of this, we need teachers who can create activities that involve their students, their communities and their problems. This will attract the students' attention instead of causing them to daydream in classrooms over-packed with unqualified and overworked teachers.
The No Child Left Behind Act and its definition of a highly qualified teacher does not work well in our communities. The act defines a teacher as "highly qualified" when he or she has subject-matter qualifications and university teaching credentials. But how about communication qualifications and culturally empowering credentials? If you don't have credentials we can respect, then you don't have the quality we need.
We need teachers who can prepare us to resist failure and transform our communities. A qualified teacher can go beyond teaching us how to read and write. Quality teachers can empower us to make a change. According to our research in the Crenshaw High School community, a highly qualified teacher can also 1) motivate students, 2) care about the problems in students' lives and 3) have a passion for teaching students of color.
Our community wants teachers who care about us. We are struggling in our communities and we need teachers who can understand that. Most teachers in our schools don't have that quality. Teachers need to take time out of their schedule to share ideas with their students, and to be able to encourage us when we are in need of support. Teachers should worry about problems beyond the school, helping their students feel safe with them and one another, prove to us that they are people we can rely on when everything in our world seems wrong. As Crenshaw High School teacher Monique Lane said, we need to "replace teachers with people who care!" Do you think it's fair for students to go through schools where no one seems to believe in them? Or seems to care? We don't! Would that motivate you, or your children, to keep striving for more, when all you see is failure and poor teaching around you?
Carla Hernandez is a 10th-grader at King/Drew Medical Magnet High School, and an active member of the Watts Youth Collective.
The teacher challenge
By David Tokofsky
Carla, thank you very much for being involved in school and community issues. You are to be commended for your engagement, and I respect your feelings, thoughts and research. Above all, you are right to focus on the quality of teachers as the core issue for P-12 education.
You are lucky to attend King/Drew Magnet. We can be proud of its successes. The recent closing of the county government's King/Drew Hospital reminds us that although challenges in public education are numerous, in many ways the school system is doing better than other areas of government service.
Let me start with a few key facts. California has had tremendous population growth over the last 20 years. With population growth comes a requirement to find a sufficient number of teachers. When I first came to L.A. Unified as a teacher in 1983, the pay was $13,000 a year and the district needed to find 12,000 new teachers for that year alone (the state of California as a whole was short 150,000 teachers). At that pay, and the low pay over the last 20 years, we have not been able to attract enough new -- let alone quality -- teachers. While the search for a massive quantity of teachers is not an excuse for the quality question, we must be aware of the magnitude of the problem.
Your references to No Child Left Behind are misplaced on the local level. These are federal regulations and rules. We in the local school boards have opposed such laws from afar as they do not take into account local circumstances. Yet we locals embrace the higher standards and increased accountability of NCLB. We also know that NCLB is really the same federal involvement that brings Title I money and other entitlements that we use in our urban schools.
School districts can do a lot to excite teachers to teach passionately, but ultimately that goal rests with the adult teachers themselves. Now that we only have a need for 2,000 new teachers a year, you are right to ask all L.A. County school boards to raise the requirements to become a teacher in urban and inner-city settings.
But students also need to shoulder a lot of the responsibility for learning. You casually say that 60% of kids drop out or get pushed out. First of all, that figure is inaccurate. Many students in L.A. County's overcrowded system fall into a variety of categories such as continuation schools, independent study, community day schools, adult schools, and so on. They also move frequently from district to district, making their status harder to measure.
Students may in fact have too many alternative choices for schooling in California, which is the conclusion that the State Legislative Analyst reached in February of this year. Students want choices, but much of schooling requires discipline.
While money is not the answer to all these recruitment, retention and training issues, we must remember that California ranks in the bottom third of states in funding. Recently, education activists passed SB 1133, which took money from good schools and gave it to some of the state's lowest performers. This transfer of the limited existing monies exacerbates the funding problems at quality campuses like King/Drew, a school with the highest API in the inner-city southern parts of L.A. County.
We need this extra money to pay all teachers more, and to establish higher standards and training for content instruction. I think you are right that teachers should know more about students' communities, but they ought to know Science, Literature, Math and Social Students first and foremost. Good teachers will know their subject matters well; great teachers will, as you rightly say, will also know their students well.
David Tokovsky is a former board member of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Students teach educators about schools
This is an interesting account of the condition of L.A. schools in the voices of the students themselves. Students really do need to have a voice and exercise it if we are to bring about constructive change. -Angela
Students teach educators about schools
Teens research some of L.A.'s most troubled schools and report to the mayor's team.
By Duke Helfand / Los Angeles Times
August 11, 2007
Educators and politicians who fret about Los Angeles' high school dropout crisis might want to heed the advice of 15-year-old Carla Hernandez: Hire more teachers who care. Slash overcrowded classrooms. Stop sending failing students to the next grade.
Hernandez and nearly two dozen other teenagers spent part of the summer studying several of the city's most troubled high schools with the guidance of a UCLA research program. On Friday, they delivered their findings to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's education advisors at City Hall.
Much of what the students found mirrors data reported by professional researchers -- namely, that half or more students at some schools drop out before graduation.
But Hernandez and her friends were able to articulate the crisis in the most personal terms, explaining, for example, how students lose interest in school because they don't get a chance to learn about their own heritage. Or how even the best students struggle to learn in unruly and overcrowded classrooms. Or how others give up and disappear when they fall behind in credits.
The young researchers painted a grim picture of the downward spiral that often haunts dropouts: They said 80% of California's prison population did not graduate from high school, a statistic that has appeared elsewhere in published reports. "You're all sitting here listening to the research, but if you don't do anything about it, then you're part of the problem," Hernandez, who researched Crenshaw High in South Los Angeles, told Deputy Mayor Ramon Cortines and other members of Villaraigosa's education team, which pledged to incorporate the students' ideas into plans for partnering with schools.
Hernandez and the other students from Los Angeles-area high schools conducted their research through UCLA's Institute for Democracy, Education and Access.
During the five-week program that included classes at UCLA, the teenage investigators conducted surveys and interviewed students, teachers and administrators at several Los Angeles schools, including Locke High near Watts and Wilson High in El Sereno. They also spoke to Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. David L. Brewer and school board President Monica Garcia.
Two of the groups explored Crenshaw High and Roosevelt High in Boyle Heights, two campuses now under consideration by Villaraigosa as he prepares to announce a partnership with the district later this month that will allow him to play a role in running some schools.
They presented their findings Friday in PowerPoint computer presentations and video documentaries.
"It's hard to concentrate at school when you're thinking about the rival gangs surrounding Jordan [High] and Locke," said Earl Moutra, 17.
"It's taking a risk just to walk to school."
Moutra was part of a group that studied Locke High.
The four students on his team spoke about the influence of violence and broken families, called for greater collaboration between teachers and schools and urged instructors to listen more to students.
Notably absent from the City Hall meeting were L.A. Unified leaders, who had been invited.
A spokeswoman for Brewer said the superintendent was attending a meeting in San Diego. A spokesman for Garcia said she had a family commitment that could not be avoided.
Still, at least one school administrator said she welcomed the students' feedback. Roosevelt Principal Sofia Freire cited many of the same concerns raised by the students when ticking off the factors that lead to dropouts.
She said her campus of 5,200 students has been carved into 12 academies of 350 to 400 students so that teachers can get to know their students better.
"I believe that creating small learning communities is a way to personalize education for our students and make sure they don't fall through the cracks," Freire said.
Villaraigosa missed the five presentations, held on the top floor of City Hall. He showed up at the end for about 15 minutes and gave the students a pep talk, reminding them that he had dropped out of Roosevelt but returned, graduated on time and eventually made it to UCLA and law school.
"Who is better to ask about why kids drop out than young people," he said.
Seventeen-year-old Raquel Castellanos, who researched Roosevelt High, said she appreciated Villaraigosa's words but suggested that he spend more time in the schools to fully understand the depth of the crisis.
"He needs to go see for himself . . . from the students' perspective and the teachers' perspective," Castellanos said.
"He needs to get involved."
duke.helfand@latimes.com
If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives.
Article licensing and reprint options
Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times
Students teach educators about schools
Teens research some of L.A.'s most troubled schools and report to the mayor's team.
By Duke Helfand / Los Angeles Times
August 11, 2007
Educators and politicians who fret about Los Angeles' high school dropout crisis might want to heed the advice of 15-year-old Carla Hernandez: Hire more teachers who care. Slash overcrowded classrooms. Stop sending failing students to the next grade.
Hernandez and nearly two dozen other teenagers spent part of the summer studying several of the city's most troubled high schools with the guidance of a UCLA research program. On Friday, they delivered their findings to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's education advisors at City Hall.
Much of what the students found mirrors data reported by professional researchers -- namely, that half or more students at some schools drop out before graduation.
But Hernandez and her friends were able to articulate the crisis in the most personal terms, explaining, for example, how students lose interest in school because they don't get a chance to learn about their own heritage. Or how even the best students struggle to learn in unruly and overcrowded classrooms. Or how others give up and disappear when they fall behind in credits.
The young researchers painted a grim picture of the downward spiral that often haunts dropouts: They said 80% of California's prison population did not graduate from high school, a statistic that has appeared elsewhere in published reports. "You're all sitting here listening to the research, but if you don't do anything about it, then you're part of the problem," Hernandez, who researched Crenshaw High in South Los Angeles, told Deputy Mayor Ramon Cortines and other members of Villaraigosa's education team, which pledged to incorporate the students' ideas into plans for partnering with schools.
Hernandez and the other students from Los Angeles-area high schools conducted their research through UCLA's Institute for Democracy, Education and Access.
During the five-week program that included classes at UCLA, the teenage investigators conducted surveys and interviewed students, teachers and administrators at several Los Angeles schools, including Locke High near Watts and Wilson High in El Sereno. They also spoke to Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. David L. Brewer and school board President Monica Garcia.
Two of the groups explored Crenshaw High and Roosevelt High in Boyle Heights, two campuses now under consideration by Villaraigosa as he prepares to announce a partnership with the district later this month that will allow him to play a role in running some schools.
They presented their findings Friday in PowerPoint computer presentations and video documentaries.
"It's hard to concentrate at school when you're thinking about the rival gangs surrounding Jordan [High] and Locke," said Earl Moutra, 17.
"It's taking a risk just to walk to school."
Moutra was part of a group that studied Locke High.
The four students on his team spoke about the influence of violence and broken families, called for greater collaboration between teachers and schools and urged instructors to listen more to students.
Notably absent from the City Hall meeting were L.A. Unified leaders, who had been invited.
A spokeswoman for Brewer said the superintendent was attending a meeting in San Diego. A spokesman for Garcia said she had a family commitment that could not be avoided.
Still, at least one school administrator said she welcomed the students' feedback. Roosevelt Principal Sofia Freire cited many of the same concerns raised by the students when ticking off the factors that lead to dropouts.
She said her campus of 5,200 students has been carved into 12 academies of 350 to 400 students so that teachers can get to know their students better.
"I believe that creating small learning communities is a way to personalize education for our students and make sure they don't fall through the cracks," Freire said.
Villaraigosa missed the five presentations, held on the top floor of City Hall. He showed up at the end for about 15 minutes and gave the students a pep talk, reminding them that he had dropped out of Roosevelt but returned, graduated on time and eventually made it to UCLA and law school.
"Who is better to ask about why kids drop out than young people," he said.
Seventeen-year-old Raquel Castellanos, who researched Roosevelt High, said she appreciated Villaraigosa's words but suggested that he spend more time in the schools to fully understand the depth of the crisis.
"He needs to go see for himself . . . from the students' perspective and the teachers' perspective," Castellanos said.
"He needs to get involved."
duke.helfand@latimes.com
If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives.
Article licensing and reprint options
Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times
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