Zacarias’ 100 Tough Assignments

As Ruben Zacarias takes on the job of running the Los Angeles Unified School District today, he faces a tough first test: Can he improve the 100 worst schools?

Acting as his own demanding teacher, Zacarias assigned himself the challenge as part of his campaign for the city’s top schools’ post. But completing the assignment will be complicated by the very nature of those campuses and their students.

A Times analysis of the preliminary ranking based on standardized test scores alone--a list that Zacarias said is currently being honed by district administrators--indicates that all 100 schools are in the region’s poorer neighborhoods, largely in South Los Angeles.

By the measure of the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills and a similar test given to Spanish-speaking students, these schools manage to stand out in a district where test scores are notoriously low, and falling. They are schools such as Jordan High on East 103rd Street, where last year’s CTBS scores hovered near the 15th percentile mark compared to the national median of 50, and Hyde Park Elementary, which landed at the 10th percentile.

Even those schools that at first glance appear to buck that trend, on closer review actually follow the same pattern. Just seven from the preliminary list are in the San Fernando Valley--five in the impoverished northeast Valley and two in a poor stretch of Van Nuys.

Recognizing the political pitfalls of targeting the poorest schools first, Zacarias is increasingly emphasizing that the singling out should be viewed as help, not punishment.

“This is not meant to be a punitive action on my part,” he said. “It does not necessarily imply incompetence. . . . I don’t want people to think that these are all bad people, that they just don’t care about the kids.”

He will begin, he said, by sitting down with each principal to determine where the problems lie, then help them plot a repair plan and schedule.

But even gentle handling may not soothe the sting.

“Emotionally, it’s hard on the staff to be named lowest,” said Cynthia Dugan, principal at 102nd Street School, which is 19th on the preliminary list. “We know that people will not look at many of the factors we face.”

The very things that make the low performers alike, and different from other schools, also will make it difficult for Zacarias to lift their test scores. Viewed as a group, they contain every factor that statistically drag scores down: their students are far more likely to be poor and minority than students at other district schools. The campuses also tend to be more crowded and have less-experienced teachers.

The Times analysis found that more than 42% of the students at the 100 schools came from families on welfare, compared to 30% at 465 other district schools. Collectively, their ethnic breakdown was 72% Latino, 23% black and less than 2% white, compared with other schools at 66% Latino, 10% black and 14% white.

In addition, nearly twice as many of the 100 low-performing schools operate on year-round schedules because they could not otherwise accommodate all the neighborhood’s children, and they tended to fall below the average spending level for teacher and administrative salaries, an indicator that they employ more novice teachers.

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Although language barriers are often cited by principals as the largest hurdle they face, overall the proportion of non-English speaking students at the 100 schools was not significantly higher than at other campuses.

Studies have consistently shown that the greatest predictor of a student’s success in school is the economic and literacy level of the parents--both of which are likely to be higher in middle-class suburbia than in the inner city. Last year, the national Education Trust reported in alarm that the gap separating low-income and minority students from other students had begun widening again after two decades of improvement.

In its 1996 report, the Washington-based think tank castigated school districts for staffing low-income schools with fewer qualified teachers and allowing them to water down their curriculum. It slammed California for being among the worst in these regards, spotlighting its second-to-last ranking in fourth-grade reading scores.

“There are a lot of suburban schools that provide terrible education too, but there, families have the means and the know-how to make up the difference,” said Education Trust Director Kati Haycock. “Poor schools have to be twice as good, but instead they are half as good.”

The 100 lowest-performing schools represent the challenge laid out before most of the nation’s big-city school districts. Nowhere have urban superintendents found a quick fix.

* Not in Chicago, where more than 1,000 public school teachers and principals were removed from seven high schools last week because they had not met performance expectations set shortly after the mayor took over the district two years ago.

* Not in San Francisco, where similar whole-school “reconstitutions” have occurred for more than a decade, with mixed results on test scores.

* Not in New York, where schools Chancellor Rudy Crew resolved in mid-1995 that “no child will leave third grade who cannot read at grade level,” but amended his ambitious goal last month when just half the students met that mark.

Zacarias’ colleagues in those cities and elsewhere have found negotiating the political reality treacherous.

Zacarias soon will share that struggle because two-thirds of the schools lie in the districts governed by just two of the school board members. Will those schools feel unfairly singled out for scrutiny or will others feel they are getting more than their share of help? Experience elsewhere indicates both reactions are likely.

However, school board Member Barbara Boudreaux, whose district includes 33 of the 100, said she welcomes the intervention, which she believes will validate her position that the problem is not socioeconomic status but inexperienced and disaffected teachers.

“It has been a practice in the district that must stop, that you will not assign unsatisfactory teachers, marginal teachers, insensitive teachers all to one school,” she said.

Another problem concentrated in Boudreaux’s district and board member George Kiriyama’s, she said, is the practice of using substitutes to fill vacant teaching positions.

“Most of the calls I get from people who are enraged about the instructional program are from parents who say, ‘My child has not seen a regular teacher for six months or the whole year,’ ” she said. “Those children have been failed by our system.”

On Zacarias’ side is the apparent support of union leaders representing both teachers and principals, who have agreed--in a pact woven by former Supt. Sid Thompson--to form an intervention team that would tackle schools with the most perplexing problems. The district’s largest reform effort, LEARN, is poised to offer advice and assistance in areas such as teacher training.

Even so, the size of Zacarias’ self-assigned target group drew gasps from reformers across the country.

Robert Schwartz, a professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education who is heading a new national education reform group called Achieve, said the greatest successes have occurred when districts blanketed a small number of schools with attention and resources.

“The notion of taking 100 schools at a time and really expecting to make changes--one really has to be skeptical about that,” Schwartz said.

One of the reasons smaller is better, at least at the start, is that finding the key to fixing a failing school is enormously complex, experts said.

Stanford University economist Henry Levin helped improve two low-income Bay Area schools 12 years ago, an effort that gradually grew into the nationwide Accelerated Schools Project that now boasts 1,200 campuses. The project’s lofty philosophy is to treat every student as if he were gifted. But the practice can begin with something at once simple and unusual in education circles.

For instance, Levin said, “the reaction to kids not learning to read isn’t, ‘Oh, we need a new reading series,’ but that’s often how it’s handled. You need to ask things like, ‘Do the kids have library cards? Are they using them?’ If you depend on schools alone to teach reading, kids are never going to be good readers.”

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Zacarias need look no further than his own district for evidence of how hard the job ahead would be even with a far smaller group. A decade ago, 10 of the district’s lowest-scoring elementary schools with high African American enrollments were grouped in a program called “Ten Schools.”

Tens of millions of dollars have been pumped into those schools to shrink class size, extend the school year, train teachers and provide more support staff, such as a counselor and a psychologist.

Those efforts have paid off in better test scores and attendance, more parent participation and fewer discipline problems. But even with the intense focus on the Ten Schools, none have achieved the original goal of reaching national test averages and three still rank in the bottom 100 districtwide, including 102nd Street.

Dugan, the principal at 102nd, noted that none of the outside help ended the high teacher turnover and rampant student transiency. On Monday, she found waiting on her desk rejection notes from two teachers she thought she had hired as replacements.

“They want to work closer to their homes . . . and no one can fault them for that,” she said.

Principals of some of the other 100 schools questioned whether test scores alone provide an adequate measure of performance.

At Miller Elementary School on West 77th Street, Principal Nathalee Evans said many students “just sort of freeze up on tests,” even when they understand the concepts.

But she acknowledged that the school could better with more experienced teachers. Short of that, she hopes that Zacarias’ focus on her school will bring support for training inexperienced teachers.

“One of our pitfalls is that we do tend to attract a lot of new teachers who are enthusiastic but just don’t have the skills,” Evans said.

This year, Miller brought 17 new teachers onto its staff of about 50, Evans said. Combined with last year’s crop, the school has had a nearly 50% turnover in two years.

The district provides substitutes to allow each teacher four days a year off from teaching duty for training, and eight days for schools in the district’s LEARN reform program. Eight days for the 100 schools would begin to budge test scores, Evans said.

At Fremont High School, Principal Rosa Morley said she believes Zacarias could use his political influence to address some of the social factors that hurt students’ performance.

“They live in an area where there are fewer recreational facilities,” Morley said. “Someone in the city needs to come up with some other alternative.”

Lawrence Gonzales, principal of Pacoima Elementary School, said that even students whose families don’t move frequently and who attend the school for long periods have trouble keeping up because they often get little support from parents who work outside the home.

What’s needed to turn the situation around at Pacoima, he said, “is some very serious family attention to better prepare our children for learning.”

Times staff writer Duke Helfand contributed to this story.

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Targeted for Improvement

New Supt. Ruben Zacarias has pledged to make marked improvements at the 100 Los Angeles schools with the worst performance records. A Times analysis of a preliminary list shows that those schools are concentrated in the districts poorest communities, with higher minority enrollments.

Total of 465 Other Schools

Latino: 66.4%

White: 14.1%

Black: 10.4%

Asian/Pacific Islander: 8.5%

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Worst 100

Latino: 72.3%

Black: 23.2%

Asian/Pacific Islander: 9%

White: 1.6%

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Sources: Los Angeles Unified School District

Schools Likely to Face Scrutiny

Here are the 100 poorest-performing Los Angeles Unified schools , with No. 1--99th Street Elementary--being the school with the worst ranking on a preliminary draft of new Supt. Ruben Zacarias’ report card on the district. Zacarias says he will issue his final report during his first few days in office and then demand improvements from the bottom 100.

Elementary Schools

18 6th Ave Elem.

81 28th St. Elem.

66 54th St. Elem.

32 59th St. Elem.

24 52nd St. Elem.

93 68th St. Elem.

29 75th St. Elem.

95 74th St. Elem.

48 95th St.. Elem.

1 99th St. Elem.

19 102nd St. Elem.

3 107th St. Elem.

20 116th St. Elem.

41 112th St. Elem.

11 118th St. Elem.

73 122nd St. Elem.

98 Ambler Elem.

70 Arlington Hts. Elem.

94 Bassett Elem.

71 Hughes Elem.

82 Bridge Elem.

59 Broadway Elem.

60 Budlong Elem.

50 Cohasset Elem.

40 Elizabeth St. Learning Ctr.

97 Euclid Elem.

33 Figueroa Elem.

52 Broadous Elem.

96 Garvanza Elem.

87 Glenwood Elem.

42 Graham Elem.

8 Grape Elem.

86 Hawaiian Elem.

10 Hillcrest Drive Elem.

39 Holmes Elem.

100 Hooper Elem.

5 Hyde Oark Elem.

78 La Salle Elem.

76 Logan Elem.

53 Manchester Elem.

61 Menlo Elem.

2 Miller Elem.

85 Murchison Elem.

58 Normandie Elem.

56 Park Western Elem.

37 Pacoima Elem.

74 Parmee Elem.

35 Purche Elem.

9 Raymond Ave Elem.

14 Russell Elem.

89 Santa Monica Elem.

80 McKinley Elem.

47 Shenandoah Elem.

16 Sierra Vista Elem.

77 South Park Elem.

46 Weemes Elem.

83 Utah Elem.

13 Virginia Elem.

68 Wadsworth Elem.

25 Weigand Elem.

44 West Vernon Elem.

49 Westminster Elem.

23 Woodcrest Elem.

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Middle Schools

26 Adams Middle School

88 Audubon Middle School

51 Bethune Middle School

30 Carver Middle School

67 Clay Middle School

72 Curtiss Middle School

7 Drew Middle School

38 Edison Middle School

21 Gompers Middle School

64 Harte Prep Middle School

69 Le Conte Middle School

36 Maclay Middle School

28 Markham Middle School

84 Mt. Vernon Middle School

34 Muir Middle School

65 Nimitz Middle School

54 Olive Vista Middle School

92 Webster Middle School

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High Schools

91 Banning High School

57 Bell High School

62 Belmont High School

31 Crenshaw High School

27 Dorsey High School

63 Franklin High School

6 Fremont High School

99 Gardena High School

90 Garfield High School

55 Hollywood High School

45 Huntington Pk. High School

15 Jefferson High School

4 Jordan High School

12 Locke High School

75 Los Angeles High School

17 Manual Arts High School

43 Roosevelt High School

22 Washington Prep High School

79 Wilson High School