CLEVELAND HIGH REFUSES EXCUSES SCHOOL CHURNS OUT WHIZ KIDS WITH FRESH 'TUDE.

Byline: Sonia Giordani Staff Writer

RESEDA - Tucked into a working-class neighborhood, with 80 percent of its 2,000 students living near the poverty line, Cleveland High School could suffer from an inferiority complex.

Instead, Principal Allan Weiner was recognized as one of 10 outstanding Educators of the Year by the California League of High Schools.

The Reseda campus was honored by Gov. Gray Davis for its academic rigor and success in sending its mostly poor and minority students to college - an achievement that earned it a top ranking from a national nonprofit education group.

And 45 of the school's seniors have been accepted into the University of California at Berkeley, putting Cleveland second only to Van Nuys High in the number of LAUSD students admitted to the prestigious public university.

``In all our classrooms we try to build in from the beginning that kids are going to college and they are going to be exposed to the standards and meet a bar that's way up there,'' said Rita Hall, head of Cleveland's Language Arts program and a teacher at the school for 18 years.

Indeed, students at Cleveland are pushed to excel.

Each sophomore is expected to take college preparatory English. Advanced-level courses are open to all students - not just those in the school's vaunted Humanities Magnet Program, where teachers eschew bland textbooks for select reading materials and their own well-researched lectures.

And all students are expected to prepare for a post-secondary education. The school teams up, for instance, with the Boeing Co. in Canoga Park for a job shadowing program that offers students vocational training for high-tech jobs in the region.

The school even offers a child-care center for teen parents to prevent them from dropping out.

``We're not accepting any excuses for not succeeding,'' said Weiner, who believes the primary obstacle to academic success is inadequate access to demanding, high-quality education.

``Our kids are learning,'' he said. ``The group going to college crosses the whole spectrum, and it really shows that kids must get the access to classes they need to be competitive.''

Academic observers say Cleveland's success underscores their belief that poor children of color can compete with their white suburban peers - if given the right tools and support.

``There's a pervasive and destructive belief that poor and minority children can't perform at the same high rate as their peers,'' said Russlynn Ali, executive direct of the Oakland-based nonprofit Education Trust West, which twice named Cleveland one of the state's top academic powerhouses for poor and minority students.

``We know we have to provide better access to a high-rigor curriculum to poor and minority students - and to all students,'' Ali said.

Students at Cleveland said they're encouraged to stretch themselves academically.

``I found I could take all the AP classes I wanted. I never felt limited by my school or its programs,'' said senior Kristen Hart, who was accepted into UC Berkeley but plans to attend Smith College, a small liberal arts college in Northampton, Mass.

Students also credit their teachers, noting that many have years of experience in the classroom.

``They don't just teach you the facts. They teach you how to think for yourself and how to look at life,'' said senior Joseph Lin, 18, who plans to study medicine this fall at UC Berkeley or at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Teacher Neil Anstead has been in the classroom for more than four decades and helped found Cleveland's Humanities Magnet. The 20-year-old program - which combines philosophy, literature, art and sociology - draws students from neighborhoods around Los Angeles Unified, promoting racial, ethnic and socioeconomic integration.

Anstead said the number of seniors accepted to UC Berkeley is another benchmark that exemplifies the school's success.

``It validates that many times we sell students short. Students can study anything any adult can study. We don't talk down to them. We're expecting them to know advanced ideas,'' Anstead said.

To that end, teachers don't often rely on textbooks. Rather, they spend their summers studying and designing their own course syllabus, selecting material for reading and preparing material for lectures. The instructors also coordinate their lessons so, for instance, a lesson in Greek idealism would be discussed in history, philosophy, literature and visual arts classes.

``The curriculum is thematic. There's no textbook that would be comprehensive enough to duplicate the kinds of material we cover,'' Hall said.

Graduating seniors said they work hard, but the payoff is worth it.

Senior Nick Dies has attended Cleveland all four years despite a crosstown trek from his Silver Lake home. He's spent the last several weeks wading through college acceptance letters.

``My brother is coming here next year,'' said Dies, who plans to attend UC Berkeley in the fall. He said he hopes his younger brother gets as much out of high school as he did in and out of the classroom.

``I would not let him go to any other school,'' he said.

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Cleveland High School has 45 seniors accepted to the University of California at Berkeley. Principal Al Weiner has also been recognized for his success.

(2) Joseph Lin, 18, reviews material before an AP history exam at Cleveland High. The senior is one of 45 at the school who has been accepted to UC Berkeley.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer