A PLAN FOR SCHOOLS ZACARIAS SHARES VISION FOR LAUSD.

Byline: Sherry Joe Crosby Daily News Staff Writer

Los Angeles schools Superintendent Ruben Zacarias presented an ambitious reform plan Thursday to raise standardized test scores by 25 percent over four years and give all schools more autonomy over their budgets and operation.

In doing so, parents, teachers and principals will have more decision-making power at their schools, Zacarias said. In return, he said he is demanding improvements - with rewards for those who make the grade and sanctions for those who fall short.

``It's going to be challenging,'' Zacarias told the audience of about 150 people, made up of parents, educators and community members. ``The word `accountability' ruffles feathers, but we need to deal with it. We need to honor those schools and employees who show improvement and give them incentives, and for those schools in crisis, we need to give them support.

``Ultimately, there has to be consequences, and yes, there will be personnel changes,'' Zacarias said, speaking before his presentation at the Los Angeles Unified School District's headquarters. ``We need to honor schools that show some success, and we need to help schools that are in crisis.''

While Zacarias' plan drew widespread support from many in attendance, leaders of a campaign to break San Fernando Valley schools away from the nation's second-largest school district said they intend to proceed with their push for secession.

``I applaud the superintendent's efforts, but he's standing in the way of history,'' said Scott Wilk, executive director of Finally Restoring Excellence in Education, which wants to form two Valley school districts by fall 2000.

``This district is going to implode,'' Wilk said, adding that Zacarias will ``be remembered as the Mikhail Gorbachev of L.A. Unified'' because, like the Soviet Union, it will split into many parts.

Zacarias' announcement comes as he faces unprecedented pressure to boost test scores and hold school employees accountable for student achievement. The Los Angeles Board of Education does not need to approve Zacarias' reform plan, which he already has begun to enact, through his identification of the 100 worst-performing campuses and directives for them to improve.

But, Zacarias said, his reform effort extends to every school.

``This is not about the 100 worst schools,'' he said. ``Every school, including my office, needs to improve.''

Reform already under way

Zacarias already is working to tie student achievement to employee evaluations for all nine bargaining units and plans to meet with the school board Monday to begin discussing negotiation strategies, district officials said.

While not providing details, Zacarias said he is willing to consider merit pay for teachers, placing failing campuses on probation and dismissing or demoting ineffective administrators and teachers if they fail to shape up.

Not all supported Zacarias' efforts to boost accountability.

Mike Cherry, vice president of United Teachers Los Angeles/American Federation of Teachers, said he supports many of the reform plans but disagrees with financial rewards for teachers as incentives.

``We are absolutely tying employee accountability to student test scores because of variables across the district. It is just too crazy,'' Cherry said after the presentation.

Eli Brent, president of the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, said he wholeheartedly endorses a system of rewards and penalties for district employees.

``There has to be some rewards, some kind of interventions and some kind of sanctions; we are in a job market,'' Brent said.

For the 100 low-performing schools, Zacarias pledged to use federal funds to hire private tutorial companies to work with students after school and Saturdays. He said 75 schools already have accepted his offer and that he expects more to follow this week.

The superintendent also wants all schools to follow the principles of reform programs including LEARN, or Los Angeles Educational Alliance for Restructuring Now. Also, he said schools should follow the examples of other reform movements in the district, including charter schools and school-based management, which all emphasize decision-making at the school level.

``I intend to see that every school, whether it's participating in a formal reform program or not, (embraces) those reform principles,'' he said.

Widespread support

Zacarias' plans struck a chord with his audience.

``I felt very good,'' said school board President Julie Korenstein, who represents the Valley. ``It left me feeling very invigorated and charged up.

``There's a lot that needs to be done. This is the first time in 10 years that I've been on the board that I feel confident we're moving in the right direction.''

Mike Roos, chief executive officer of LEARN, the district's largest reform program, also praised Zacarias' plans.

``I haven't heard a speech like this in all the time I've been in (the) LAUSD,'' Roos said. ``He's really notching up the stakes. This is what leaders do. It's nice to see a huge leap forward to raise student achievement.''

University of California, Los Angeles Vice Chancellor Ted Mitchell, who sits on a joint city-LAUSD task force, lauded Zacarias' reform efforts.

``It was a tour de force,'' Mitchell said. ``He's a student of reform and he articulated well the universal values of school reform.''

The Details

LAUSD Superintendent Ruben Zacarias outlined a comprehensive plan to turn around student test scores and boost teacher and school performance. His plans and goals include:

Raising reading and math scores by 25 percent, or eight percentile points over the next four years.

Giving all schools budget flexibility much like LEARN campuses.

Forming a task force of parents, teachers and administrators to study ways of eliminating social promotion.

Accelerating the transfer of bilingual education students into English-only classrooms from seven years to three years.

Establishing a districtwide reading program that would require all children to read by third grade.

Creating teacher and administrator training academies.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, box

PHOTO Ruben Zacarias

Demanding improvements

BOX: The details (see text)