FULLERTON : Students Stay Late to Get Ahead

Staying after school can be a powerful form of punishment, but at Topaz Elementary, students wait on a long list for the chance to stay late.

As part of a federally funded program for schools with low-income students, Topaz has started an after-school study program. Three days a week, students stay for 45 extra minutes of tutoring, computer lessons and help with their homework. Not surprisingly, they are becoming better students.

“I’ve noticed my students (in the after-school program) are more confident, they are starting to participate in class,” said Phyllis Van Dyke, a fourth-grade teacher. “They get their homework done and the quality has improved.”

The program is run with so-called Chapter 1 funds, which were first made available in 1965 under President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty. The program’s goal is to help “educationally disadvantaged” students, defined as those from low-income households.

According to Marth Slater, who oversees Chapter 1 programs for the Placentia Yorba Linda Unified School District, the district chose to distribute its $776,000 allotment to five elementary schools: Topaz, which is in Fullerton but is part of the Placentia Yorba Linda district, John O. Tynes, Ruby Drive, Rio Vista, and Glenview.

Although other district schools have students who would qualify under Chapter 1 income guidelines, those schools do not receive any funding from the program because they do not have as many eligible children.

“We chose the schools where we saw the greatest need,” Slater said. “Chapter 1 guidelines say we have to make the funds concentrated enough to have an impact.”

The 175 Topaz students who stay after school Tuesdays through Thursdays participate in one of three activities.

About half work with their classroom teachers in small groups of five or less. Thirty-four third-grade students work in the computer lab on language arts assignments such as reading a story on the computer and answering questions about what they have read.

The remaining students are in the Homework Club, where they work on math, social studies and other homework assignments. A bilingual aide answers questions and keeps the students focused on their work.

Without the distraction of siblings and television, the students produce more complete, higher-quality assignments, Van Dyke said. The program is especially important for students whose parents speak only Spanish or lack the time to help them with the homework, she said.

Jeff Allen, 9, who is in Van Dyke’s class, agreed that he does a better job on his homework when he stays after school to do it.

“At my baby-sitter’s house there’s a bunch of kids running around,” Jeff said. “It’s impossible to do (homework) there.”

Individual schools have some discretion in how they spend money, but must follow the program’s education plan. And while the money must directly benefit qualified students, other students may receive an “incidental benefit,” Slater said.

These programs “help bring students up to grade level, which helps the classroom teacher,” said Principal Kjell Taylor. “Anytime you help the classroom teacher, all the students benefit.”

Chapter 1 funds are also used for teacher training, to hire additional teachers and to purchase equipment and materials.