Partnership Aims to Lift East Valley Test Scores

Hoping to improve student achievement in an area where two-thirds of the elementary students do not read at grade level, the Los Angeles Unified School District is teaming with private foundations and businesses to launch a curriculum reform measure in some eastern San Fernando Valley schools.

The program would affect students in grades kindergarten through 12, provide teachers with scripted lesson plans and promise thousands of dollars in scholarships to high school students who meet academic requirements.

Started in Houston in 1993, Project GRAD (Graduation Really Achieves Dreams) draws on national reform programs that research has shown to be effective in boosting reading and math test scores, reducing dropout rates and motivating more students to attend four-year colleges and universities.

So far, 12 schools in the eastern San Fernando Valley plan to implement the program, which takes effect this summer. Five of those schools have already started the reading portion, with administrators confident that by this time next year, students will score higher in reading on the Stanford 9, the state’s standardized test.

In Houston, Project GRAD is used by 25 public schools. In one cluster, elementary students posted an 18% increase in reading scores on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills.

“This is major, major reform,” said Mary Louise Reza, administrator of the district’s San Fernando cluster. “It will definitely be a role model for other schools in the district.”

The program, one of the reform initiatives presented Friday at an education summit sponsored by the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, costs a steep $40 million for four years. The district, the Ford Foundation and other private groups and businesses have contributed half, thus far, and Project GRAD coordinators said they hope to raise the remainder.

Jim Ketelsen, founder of Project Grad, is a retired chairman of Tenneco Inc., an oil company that began offering college scholarships in 1989. Frustrated that many students couldn’t take advantage of the scholarships because they failed to meet eligibility requirements, Ketelsen began culling successful learning strategies into Project GRAD.

College scholarships totaling $6,000 per student for four years will be offered to San Fernando High School’s class of 2003. Students must achieve a minimum 2.5 grade point average, take college preparatory classes, such as algebra II, and during school break enroll in at least two university classes.

For some low-income students and their families, “the scholarships motivate them to succeed in school,” Ketelsen said. “It makes college within their reach.”

The program would be phased into the schools during the next three years. Other components include full-time social workers who can address problems such as truancy or substance abuse and home visits by school and parent volunteers who can pass along information on scholarships and other opportunities.

It also includes at least 105 hours of teacher training, assigning students classroom responsibilities, such as sharpening pencils or cleaning the blackboard, and a math program that brings algebra into elementary grades and uses children’s literature and blocks to understand numerical principles.

The cornerstone is the reading curriculum, called “Success for All,” which was first implemented locally at Morningside Elementary School in San Fernando, where less than 20% of the students read at grade level in English.

All students begin their day with 90 minutes of reading in small groups of peers who have similar abilities. Each student has a partner to discuss stories with. They sound out vocabulary words, repeat them and use them in sentences. They read to their partners, listen to teachers read and are always asked to explain and answer questions about what they’ve just read.

Each teacher is required to follow a timed script. For example: Read a story from 8:15 a.m. to 8:35 a.m.

Every eight weeks, students are retested to see if they’re ready for the next level. If they are, they move to a new group; if not, they repeat the same level and receive additional tutoring.

Critics of Project GRAD worry that students are being over-tested, possibly discouraging some students. Others, particularly teachers, worry that the rigid scripts do not allow for creativity or control.

“This has been a big issue with a lot of teachers and schools,” said Nick Vasquez, principal at Morningside. “But I think the testing motivates students, and teachers can still use creativity in the lessons.”

The scripts also work, say administrators and Project GRAD organizers, because they provide structure to teachers, a large percentage of whom are new or on emergency credentials.

“It gives teachers a unified vision,” Vasquez said. “I know some teachers are exhausted learning new methods, but [Project GRAD] works, and we have to start using it right away. It’s only fair to the children.”

* PLEA FOR HELP: Valley educators and businesspeople met in Universal City to discuss ways the private sector might help public schools. B4