Honig Praises Newport-Mesa Drive Toward Excellence : Schools to Sharpen Writing Skills

State schools chief Bill Honig on Monday praised a move by Newport Beach and Costa Mesa schools to beef up their already above-average English and writing programs.

“I think it’s terrific,” said Honig, superintendent of public instruction. “We hope it’s a harbinger for other districts.”

Honig referred to the recent hiring of 10 additional English teachers by the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. The teachers will begin their classes in September, Newport-Mesa Supt. John W. Nicoll said.

Improving the Output

They will have “the specific responsibility of working to improve the quality and quantity of written work by our students,” he added.

Nicoll, a former English teacher, pointed out that such teachers frequently become overwhelmed in grading and critiquing students’ written work. “If an English teacher has classes of up to 30 students, which is not unusual, and teaches the average load of five classes a day, that means that the teacher has 150 papers to grade if he gives one written assignment a week,” he said.

The additional teachers are expected to allow a slight reduction in English class sizes, easing the load for all English teachers in the Newport-Mesa upper grades. Nicoll said he could not predict the new class sizes exactly.

Each of Newport-Mesa’s four high schools will get two of the 10 teachers, and the remaining two new teachers will work at the junior high level, Nicoll said. The result, he added, will be renewed emphasis on writting assignments and critiques.

“It’s no good to have (students’) writing without the proper kind of critique of their work,” Nicoll declared.

Newport-Mesa’s four high schools--Corona del Mar, Newport Harbor, Estancia and Costa Mesa High--already score fairly high in state-administered California Assessment Program (CAP) tests of students’ writing ability. In the 1984-85 tests of seniors at the four schools, CAP scores in written expression exceeded the state and countywide averages.

Nicoll said the additional teachers will cost about $350,000 a year in combined salaries and benefits, adding that school board managed the hirings “by planning far in advance and arranging the general fund (regular budget) to cover the expense.”

Although Newport-Mesa is in an affluent area, the school district’s per-student tax income is only slightly higher than the statewide average. In 1973, the state imposed a revenue limit on high-income school districts. That move resulted from the (Serrano-Priest) state Supreme Court decision aimed against unequal funding of schools in the state. In the 12 years since, Nicoll said, Newport-Mesa’s income has not kept up with inflation.

Honig said he applauded districts such as Newport-Mesa that assign and fund English teaching as a major priority, despite tight school budgets.

Hart Bill Supported

“We’ve been supporting and suggesting moves in this direction,” Honig said. “We’ve stressed the need for more (student) writing.” Honig said he strongly supports a bill by state Sen. Gary Hart (D-Santa Barbara) that would provide funding to allow teachers who give written assignments to have smaller classes.

Honig said that improving written skills is a basic need in California schools. “We need to get more money into this kind of thing,” he stressed.

Nicoll said: “Our most important single job is to teach kids to communicate properly, and one of those tools of communication is the ability to write a meaningful sentence.”