Schools to Steer More Minorities to Sciences

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District has outlined a plan that would increase minority enrollment in upper-level mathematics and science classes by boosting the number of bilingual teachers and steering talented students toward the subjects.

The U.S. Department of Education had ordered the district in September to increase the number of minority students in upper-level math and science classes.

The department chooses school districts at random for informal investigations and found that Newport-Mesa had unusually low numbers of minorities in courses such as physics, trigonometry and calculus.

The district will submit this plan to the Department of Education’s civil rights office by Feb. 1 and will provide regular progress reports over the next three years.

The district will make several policy changes, including giving teachers, administrators and counselors bilingual training. Teachers are also being called on to identify those students who have the potential to excel in math and science, but who have been held back because of language problems.

Supt. Mac Bernd said he believed the plan would give more minority students the opportunity to enroll in higher level courses without sacrificing the district’s high academic standards.

School district officials said the request by the federal agency caught them by surprise, but they were glad to make the changes.

Bernd said he believed some of the changes, particularly the introduction of some new teaching techniques, will benefit all students in the long run.