Help Offered to Struggling Students

Responding to statewide reforms aimed at boosting high school achievement, Ventura County’s educators are pressuring low-performing students to bring their grades up and are offering a host of new programs to help.

In Oxnard, expelled and habitually truant students must attend a new alternative school full time. In Moorpark, ninth-graders who scored poorly in reading on a standardized state test will be required to enroll in a catch-up class.

In Fillmore, struggling students spend 90 minutes a week in a computer lab to improve their reading skills. And low-achieving students in Simi Valley and the Conejo Valley are urged to participate in after-school tutoring programs.

The new focus on boosting achievement is spurred by statewide education reforms that begin to take effect this school year. Educators were also motivated by poor results on standardized tests that measure academic skills.

Math and language results released in July hovered around the national average, but reading scores on the Stanford 9 test were significantly lower--at the 42nd percentile in both ninth- and 11th-grade and at the 39th percentile in 10th-grade.

Some educators blamed the low reading scores on a flaw in the test, while others attributed the results to a large number of students in some districts who come from poor families or speak limited English. But several school officials said districts shouldn’t justify low scores and instead set about finding ways to raise achievement.

As the school year gets underway, administrators in some districts are implementing a host of new programs for low-performing teens. And that parallels a statewide push toward more rigorous requirements for students.

“When you expect a lot out of kids, you get a lot out of kids,” Moorpark High School Principal Anna Merriman said. “These are kids who are capable of achieving, but for one reason or another, they haven’t bought into the school system.”

For the first time this year, students who do not master math, reading and writing will be held back a grade. In the past, the vast majority of students were promoted even if they were failing.

And next year, beginning with ninth-graders, schools will phase in Gov. Gray Davis’ exit exam. By 2004, all students will be required to pass the exam, which measures proficiency in several subjects, before they can graduate.

Some educators are worried the statewide initiatives could accelerate dropout rates throughout California if low-achieving students don’t receive enough support. Ventura County Supt. of Schools Chuck Weis said districts need to aggressively target students who traditionally slip through the cracks.

“We can’t lose any kids,” Weis said. “I think you are going to see alternative programs blossom.”

The Oxnard Union High School District has taken the lead in developing innovative programs. Last year it instituted a mandatory summer school program for ninth-graders who were reading two or more years below grade level.

This year it started a community day school for students who are on probation, are habitually truant or have been expelled from a traditional high school. Pacific View High School opened Monday with about two dozen students. Many are one or two years behind in their credits.

Students must attend school full time, but they decide on their individual courses of study. Some are catching up on credits so they can return to a mainstream school, while others are studying for the high school equivalency exam.

“I try to give them options--whatever is best to make sure that child will be successful in school,” Principal Daisy Tatum said.

Salvador, a 17-year-old who is more than one year behind in his credits, said he wants to take the high school equivalency test so he can join the Marines.

“I’m gonna take advantage of this opportunity and do my best,” he said.

On opening day, about a dozen students--wearing white polo shirts emblazoned with a the Pacific View logo--meandered into Marcus Turner’s science class. He immediately told the students now was the time to stop dodging responsibility.

“Regardless of the reasons you’re here, the main thing is getting out of here,” Turner told the students. “We’re going to be changing attitudes and changing ideas.”

Other Ventura County districts are also trying to raise students’ performance.

Fillmore reduced the size of its 10th-grade English classes from 30 to 20 students, and instituted after-school tutoring programs for low-performing students.

The key is to get the teens to buy in, said Susan Dollar, director of personnel for the Fillmore Unified School District.

“If we get their effort, coupled with these programs, I think we’ll be quite successful,” she said.”

In Moorpark, students who scored below the 35th percentile in reading comprehension won’t be able to take an elective. Rather, they will be required to enroll in a remedial reading class. And the 25 lowest achieving ninth- and 10th-graders will take all of their core subjects with one teacher rather than four.

“If they can’t read, it doesn’t make sense to put them in other classes where they read all day,” Merriman said. “That one teacher may be able to see where the strengths and weaknesses are, and may be able to address those with both the student and the parent.”

The Ventura Unified School District recently expanded its corps of reading specialists. Last spring the specialists identified freshman who needed help with reading. This year those students will be enrolled in an additional literacy class with 19 other students.

Robert Milazzo, a teacher at Pacific View High, said it’s time for districts to try new approaches for students who aren’t traditionally successful.

“What are you going to do? Abandon them?” Milazzo said. “If you want these kids educated, you have to try all these kinds of programs.”