Early Start on Achievement

For students at 10 elementary schools in South-Central Los Angeles, classrooms will open two weeks early this year. The extra days that start next Monday are part of a new program aimed at building a better foundation for life.

For two decades the targeted schools have turned out students who score poorly on standardized tests. Experts hope to demonstrate with the new program that every child can learn. They believe so strongly in the possibility that they are willing to put the district’s reputation on the line.

Handpicked administrators have prepared new curricula that emphasize language skills. Because language is where it all starts, children who master communication skills and develop strong vocabularies are better able to learn to read, to think critically and to solve problems effectively.

Handpicked teachers have been encouraged to expect mmore from their students, take an interest in all of them and search out ways to motivate them. Teachers spent much of the summer learning the new program. They are asked not to judge a child by his or her appearance or speech patterns,and not to assume that a child cannot achieve.

The children, who are pre-kindergarten through sixth grade, will be grouped in small classes to increase their opportunities to express themselves and to make possible more individual attention. The youngsters can also expect more attention at home.

Teachers will go out of their way to make parents feel comfortable at school. Parents will be asked to make sure that children turn off television sets to concentrate on homework, get enough sleep every night and attend school every day--rules appropriate for all young students.

The Los Angeles Unified School District has committed $5 million over a period of five years to the special program. Nearly 7,800 children will start the special classes on Monday. School officials expect no quick pay-off, no sudden and dramatic rise in test scores. What they do anticipate, in the long run, is that more of these youngsters will move more smoothly into the higher grades, perhaps into higher education, and from there into their adult lives better prepared to succeed.