College-Level Skill Is Goal : Writing Project Garners $25,000 for 12 Schools

For San Diego County schools, excellence in education can mean more than just having a reputation for intelligent students. It can also mean money in the bank.

English departments can reap cash benefits from their students’ successes as part of the College-Ready Writers Project, initiated in 1988 by County Supt. of Schools Thomas C. Boysen to improve college-bound students’ writing skills.

The San Diego County Office of Education on Wednesday awarded $25,000 to 12 local high schools as their reward for improving on the University of California’s mandatory entry-level writing exam from 1987 to 1988. The size of the awards was based on the number of students each school sent to UC campuses.

Extending the Limits

At a press conference Wednesday, Boysen explained that the project--based on the words of German philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein: “The limits of my language are the limits of my life”--is designed to prevent spending taxes on remedial English classes for those who fail freshman-level college writing requirements. The program is funded by California Lottery proceeds.

According to county figures, taxpayers spent $1.1 million in 1988 to staff and offer remedial classes at UC San Diego and San Diego State University for those who failed English entrance exams. College students’ having to take remedial English is an “insult to public high schools in the county and the students themselves,” Boysen said.

Of the participating high schools in the county, Madison High School, which increased the number of its UC-bound students from 42.1% to 72.4%, won the largest incentive of $7,500.

Alice Dilday, English department chairman at Madison, said the school’s success is based on increasing students’ writing levels through “cross-curriculum” teaching.

“We work together throughout all the departments to find out ways we can help each other with writing,” Dilday said. “Students begin to see that they have to write in all subjects.”

Idea Questioned at First

Although the incentive awards are helping focus attention on better writing, some at first questioned the ethics of using money as a motive for teaching.

Dr. Jesse Perry, program manager of English-Language Arts for San Diego city schools, at first had doubts about the project but now applauds it.

“At first, the program appeared to be like a contest, and I expressed that concern at first, but I’ve seen a lot of improvement in the writing ability in our students,” Perry said.

Monetary incentives, a strategy used in sports and business, can work equally well in the educational forum, Boysen said. “It makes it more exciting, it adds kind of a Super Bowl mentality.”

Lynnea Venieris, the head of the English department at El Cajon Valley High, says students themselves have incentive to do well once they understand that what they are doing is real-life preparation for college.

“Knowing that this is the kind of English placement test they’ll have to take when they get to college . . . that’s an incentive in itself,” Venieris said.

Sarah McPherson, language-arts department chairman at El Camino High School, which won $1,000, said her department has grown from the College-Ready Writers Program.

“Stimulating ideas and concepts are being filtered in the schools through the cooperation between (the Oceanside Unified School District) and the county education department,” she said. “We feel supported in what we are attempting to do, which is to raise the level of writing skills.”

COLLEGE-READY WRITERS PROJECTS These 12 high schools were given incentive award money by the San Diego County Office of Education based on the percentage of increase from 1987 to 1988 in the number of their students who met the University of California standard for writing while in high school. The schools are grouped according to the number of students each high school sent to University of California campuses in fall, 1987. Group A had more than 30, Group B had 20-29, Group C had 6-19 and Group D had 5 or fewer. Each group was allotted a portion of the $25,000 dollar fund.vl,1p GROUP A Madison: $7,500 Patrick Henry: $3,500 Mira Mesa: $2,600 GROUP B Carlsbad: $3,000 Montgomery: $1,800 Chula Vista: $1,200 GROUP C Escondido: $2,100 El Camino:$1,000 Mt. Miguel: $500 GROUP D El Cajon Valley: $1,000 Julian: $500 Mountain Empire: $300 Source: San Diego County Office of Education