Students on the Move Face Special Hurdles

At the beginning of this school year, Cynthia Gonzales, a sixth-grade social studies teacher at Mary McLeod Bethune Middle School in South Los Angeles, made out a seating chart and learned her students’ names -- there were 20 of them.

Then, one by one, week after week, she added new students -- their families moved to the neighborhood from another state, or from Mexico or from across town. In a two-month period at the end of the academic year, 15 students came into Gonzales’ class.

Last year, more than a quarter of all Los Angeles Unified School District students changed schools after the school year began, according to district statistics. About 40% of the students at Bethune Middle School, which is at 155 W. 69th St. and has one of the district’s highest transiency rates, enrolled after the academic term started.

Educators say such mobility hinders children’s academic success and creates serious challenges for teachers.

“Every time I get a new student, I have to start from scratch,” said Gonzales, who is in her first year of teaching. “It means that the dynamic we had in the first semester is lost and we have to build a different sense of community in the classroom. And because I’ll have to spend more time with those new students, it means I can’t do as much as before.”

A recent statewide study showed that children who frequently change schools are more likely to fail a grade than more stable students. The study, which was conducted by UC Santa Barbara professor Russell W. Rumberger, also found that schools with high transiency rates scored lower on standardized tests overall than campuses where fewer students moved during the year. And in high school, students who make midyear school changes are 27% more likely to drop out before graduation.

The Jimenez family was one of seven waiting in Bethune’s attendance office Monday morning to enroll their children -- only two months before the end of the year. Rosaria Jimenez said she moved her family from Great Bend, Kan., to Los Angeles in the middle of the school year to take care of a sick relative.

“I’m kind of worried about making friends,” said Davis, Jimenez’s 13-year-old son.

Students who enroll so late often have difficulty adjusting, said Steve Blustajn, a pupil services and attendance counselor at Berendo Middle School near Koreatown. His school had a transiency rate of 25% last year.

“Teachers don’t know the student, and in the middle of the year they are going to have a tough time spending individual time with the new kid,” Blustajn said. “In some cases, if the kid can’t catch up, you’ll see behavioral changes as they become frustrated and act out.”

Los Angeles schools’ Deputy Supt. Merle Price said economic and social reasons fuel much of the movement of families.

Los Angeles has the second-lowest rate of home ownership among large U.S. cities, and that makes families less anchored to a neighborhood. Unemployment rates have been on the rise throughout the state, and wages have been stagnant. “The economy plays a big role in where people can get jobs, where people can afford to live,” Price said.

“Also, Los Angeles is a port of entry for many immigrant populations, the first place that populations out of Central or South America come. So they might land in the low-rent district for a little while, get some employment, better themselves and move into better areas and get more space” and different schools.

Josefina Tarazon was in Bethune’s attendance office Monday to check two of her children out of the school. They are moving to Bakersfield, she said, to get away from gang violence, and they were rushing in the middle of the year because she needed to handle funeral arrangements for a brother there.

In some cases, children are transferred to different campuses because of behavioral problems. The district’s Opportunity Transfer is intended to remove disruptive students and give them another chance at a different school. Parents also use the program to protect children who are targeted by gangs or other peers.

Sometimes parents opt to change schools midyear if an opening is offered for their children to enroll in magnet schools or specialized campus programs, educators said.

Price said the district has begun several initiatives that may lower transiency rates or mitigate the impact of moves. The new schools building program will ease overcrowding at campuses, and more rigorous academic programs might make them more attractive to parents thinking about moving to other schools.

The district’s new reading and math standards are helping children who move within the Los Angeles system, Price said.

“We have a much more coherent curriculum across the district now,” Price said. “In the past, a youngster who changes schools might be going into a different reading program or math program.”

Now, for example, any two schools using the district’s highly scripted Open Court literacy program probably would be on the same lesson plan during the same week.

No such coherence exists in the upper grades yet, but Price said that new standards will be implemented at high schools soon.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles schools will keep enrolling new students until three weeks before summer vacation. If families try to come after that, officials tell them to wait till the next academic year.

“It’s so hard with these kids coming in the middle of the year,” said Bethune English teacher Shawnee Trujillo. “It takes time away from the rest of the class, but we have to take them.”