CTA has released the results of an exhaustive study comparing various indicators of the lowest- and the highest-ranking schools under the state's Academic Performance Index (API).
This study starkly demonstrates real members their students dealing with every day greatest need, says President Wayne Johnson. Most of issues are factors outside our direct control, and so far Legislature has a large degree missed boat its approach helping us improve things for kids in schools. CTA is committed to making sure these schools get the help they need.
In response to the study results, CTA has made additional help for California's schools of greatest need its top budget priority for this year, and has called on the Legislature to offer special assistance to those schools that need greater resources. The study findings clearly indicate that the Legislature's current approach of more testing and teacher/school bonuses is not going to get to the real reasons many of our schools are not doing as well as might be hoped. Even the Immediate Intervention/ Underperforming School Program (II/USP), while recognizing the fact that these schools have special problems, doesn't really address the root causes of those problems.
The study focused on several areas that appear to correlate to a school's standing on the API. Among the areas compared in the study:
Poverty
Not surprisingly, students in the bottom 10 percent of elementary schools were socioeconomically disadvantaged. The study found 94 percent of the children in the lowest scoring elementary schools were living in poverty, while only 7 percent of the students in the top schools were considered economically disadvantaged. "Rich kids aren't smarter than poor kids," says Johnson, "and teachers of rich kids aren't better than teachers of poor kids. But the reality is many of the students in these schools are showing up to class with baggage some of us can't even imagine."
Language barriers
Sixty-two percent of the students in the lowest-scoring elementary schools were English language learners while none of the students in the top schools were struggling with English as a second language. Obviously, students who don't yet speak English well are not going to do well on a test given in English like the SAT- 9, upon which the API is based.
Teacher training
Twenty-five percent of the teachers in low-performing schools were teaching with an emergency credential while only 4 percent of the teachers in the top schools were not fully credentialed. "We're not using these findings to criticize emergency credentialed teachers," says Johnson. "We desperately need them, and bless them for being here. But experience and training count, and it's only common sense that students learning from better trained and more experienced teachers are going to be more successful. We need to find a way to attract and retain fully credentialed teachers, and to assist those working under an emergency permit to clear their credentials as quickly as possible."
Ethnicity
Reflecting the fact that minority communities are disproportionately affected by poverty and language barriers, the study showed that 96 percent of the students in the lowest schools were members of ethnic minorities, with Latinos constituting the largest group. In contrast, 71 percent of the students in the top-performing schools were white.
School calendars
Fifty-eight percent of the lowest-performing elementary schools were on a year-round calendar while 97 percent of the top-performing schools operated on a traditional September-June schedule. These figures reflect not only the disruptiveness of many year-round configurations, but also the overcrowded conditions that force many schools to go year-round.
School size
Schools in the bottom 10 percent tended to be larger. The average enrollment in the lower-performing elementary schools was 568, while the top schools averaged 411 students. Lower-performing middle and high schools also had significantly higher enrollment than their top-scoring counterparts.
Looking at a map, it's easy to see where the lowest-performing schools are concentrated. Fifty percent of the schools scoring in the lowest 20 percent on the API were in rural areas of the San Joaquin and Imperial valleys, while the other 50 percent were in the inner cities of San Diego, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland and San Francisco. All of these areas are impacted by poverty and language barriers.
Although the study data is new, CTA has been actively helping underperforming schools since the inception of the II/USP program two years ago. The Staff Workgroup on Accountability and Testing (SWAT) has developed a three-hour training program and has reined in CTA staff throughout the state to deliver the program to chapters and school sites in need. The SWAT team includes CTA Board members Angela Marese-Boyle, Dayton Crummey, Dianne Jones and Bob Nichols. In addition, many CTA leaders and staff have provided ongoing assistance to school sites struggling under the low-performing schools program.
However, many of the lower-performing schools are not part of the II/USP program, which is limited in its scope. CTA has now broadened its focus to help all lower-performing schools, whether or not they are formally part of the II/USP program.
After the study was released, CTA began airing the fourth in its series of radio spots for this school year. The ad has Johnson saying:
"California has some of the most crowded schools in America. And the evidence is clear: students at crowded schools perform least well on standardized tests. School crowding is a special problem here because many of our kids live in poverty and others have limited language skills. Crowding, language difficulties, and poverty combine to make success very hard for some students.... Our legislators need to raise California school funding now. And the place to start spending new money is in the schools most at risk, to give kids in our most crowded schools a better chance to succeed."
CTA Secretary-Treasurer David A. Sanchez narrated the Spanish version. Korean, Japanese, Mandarin and Vietnamese versions also aired.
To focus attention on schools of greatest need, CTA officers took a bus tour of the state in April during which they met with members of the media and made the case for more support. It is hoped that it will generate public support that will influence the deliberations over the governor's budget and increase the allocation of resources to schools in need of extra help.
CTA is urging the Legislature to:
- Assist parents and students by providing the support they need.
- Reduce class size, especially in schools of greatest need, and provide the districts with the funding to add more classrooms.
- Ensure that schools of greatest need have well-trained and fully credentialed teachers and that teachers on emergency credentials and beginning teachers get the support they need to remain in the classroom.
- Target funding to improve the overall physical condition of schools of greatest need and to provide needed instructional materials.
Polling and focus group interviews with CTA members show that teachers support the idea of more support for the schools that need it most.
"It's about making some attempt to level the playing field," says Johnson. "Our members understand that these kids go to school under conditions that really hinder their ability to succeed. It's going to take special effort by the Legislature, parents and the community, as well as by teachers, to make sure they get the education they deserve."
Frank Wells
