Compton NAACP Chief Blasts Tutoring Plan

A tutoring program to boost reading and math scores in the beleaguered Compton schools was blasted Thursday by the president of the local NAACP, who said it will benefit only one in 10 students and is an affront to teachers.

“I think it is a slap in the face to the good teachers who are teaching the students,” said Walter Goodin, president of the Compton chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People. “It says to the teachers that they are not doing their jobs so we have to bring in outside people.”

In February, the Compton Unified School District, which has 29,400 students, signed a $5.4-million contract with Sylvan Learning Systems to tutor 1,200 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The contract is the first major one in California for the company, but the Los Angeles Unified School District is considering a $10-million deal with Sylvan.

Goodin would like to see the money spent in Compton used to upgrade teachers’ skills instead of going to private tutors who will be paid more. Approximately half the teachers in Compton Unified do not have teaching credentials.

“Whatever the Sylvan Learning Systems is going to institute, why can’t the district develop a curriculum similar to that and have our teachers educate the kids?” Goodin asked.

Compton school officials were not available for comment.

The schools were taken over by the state in 1993 as a condition for extending a $20-million emergency loan. The district has some of the lowest test scores in California. It also has some of the most neglected school facilities in the county.

On Tuesday, Compton voters are being asked to approve a $107-million bond issue.

The tutoring program is just one way the district is trying to improve its students’ education level. The district is also implementing a program requiring students to attend summer school if their reading skills need improvement.

Compton will pay for Sylvan’s services with some of the $9.3 million it gets in federal funds.

State Supt. of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin said Thursday that teachers were convened by Compton’s state-appointed administrator, Randy Ward, and given a choice about what kind of tutoring program they wanted.

“I think this is a legitimate way to improve Compton Unified,” she said.