ENGLISH A STRUGGLE FOR SPANISH-SPEAKERS STUDY: PARENTS' INCOME, EDUCATION KEY.

Byline: Jennifer Radcliffe Staff Writer

Low family income and education levels are slowing the ability of the state's Spanish-speaking students to master English, according to a study released today.

Spanish-speaking youngsters were among the lowest performers on state language tests in fall 2003, lagging behind those who speak Korean, Mandarin and Russian as their native language, according to the study by the Public Policy Institute of California.

The report linked Census data with the test results and also found that the state's 1.4 million Spanish-speaking students come from families with average annual income of $40,676 and parents who only finished their freshman year of high school.

Students who speak Mandarin Chinese showed the largest gains on the California English Language Development Test, and came from families with more than 16 years of education and incomes of $92,189 a year, according to the study.

``I was surprised that there was such a stark difference between groups of students,'' said Christopher Jepsen, co-author of the report. ``The hope would be that policy-makers could target aid to the students that seem to need it more.''

Jepsen and researchers at the San Francisco-based foundation spent a year studying the issue. Among other findings:

--Girls typically outperform boys on the English-proficiency test.

--Students at high-performing schools learn English faster.

--Students with teachers trained to teach English as a second language make larger gains.

For the Los Angeles Unified School District, the study highlights the continuing challenges of educating the district's nearly 300,000 English learners, most of whom are Spanish-speaking. Statewide, there are an estimated 1.5 million English learners.

The LAUSD showed gains that outpaced state averages in CELDT results released in February. Created in 2001, the test measures the listening, speaking, reading and writing skills of students who are learning English.

But the study suggests that intervention for struggling students also must be targeted at students' specific needs, including helping those whose families are poor and whose parents might have little education.

``These parents who have not had a high level of education themselves need support,'' school board President Jose Huizar said. ``They want to get involved, but they don't have the know-how because they didn't personally experience it.''

Huizar said he's trying to make the nation's second-largest school district more accessible to immigrant parents.

And today's study quantifies what many educators say they have suspected: that poverty impacts student achievement more than how long they have lived in the U.S. The Public Policy study found that 85 percent of the students learning English were born in the United States.

Because these students live in homes where little English is spoken, educators have to do double the work.

``When they go home for the weekend ... We have to start from scratch on Monday,'' said Antonia Gutierrez, bilingual coordinator at Fernangeles Elementary School in Sun Valley, where 900 of 1,200 students are English-learners. ``Their only education sometimes is TV.''

Achievement is also heavily impacted by a student's foundation in his native language. To that end, parents are encouraged to read to their children in their native languages, if that's the only language they speak.

``When there's literacy at home ... the kids are going to read,'' Gutierrez said.

With the drastic differences between the families and performance of different language groups, board member David Tokofsky said the district must craft its intervention programs carefully.

``You can't do the one-size-fits-all approach because there's so many different students, so many different states, so many different types of immigrants,'' he said.

One way to improve performance could be to extend the school day for children learning English, he said. ``It seems to me that we ought to explore getting funding to run a solid six-day school week for these children,'' Tokofsky said.

Saturday classes have helped increase test scores at Canterbury Avenue School, said Danny Alvarez, the school's bilingual coordinator. About 80 of the school's 450 English-learners attend the weekend classes.

``I think it's really important,'' he said. ``You have all the kids and they're focusing on one goal and that's English-language acquisition.''

At the Multicultural Learning Center in Canoga Park, a charter school where both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking children are taught to be bilingual, parent workshops are key to overcoming socioeconomic problems.

``It's a tremendous challenge,'' Principal Toby Bornstein said. ``I think low-socioeconomic parents don't believe they have the ability to help their children, especially when the children are learning in a language other than their own.''

And students who come from poor families often are behind before they even enter kindergarten, educators said. Many don't have books in their homes, haven't stepped foot in a library and have never seen a beach or museum.

MLC administrator Gayle Nadler said schools must help close the gaps.

``It's our job at the school to empower all the parents to help their children learn English,'' she said.

Jennifer Radcliffe, [phone]

jennifer.radcliffe(at)dailynews.com

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LEARNING ENGLISH

SOURCE: Public Policy Institute of California based on 2000 Census data and California English Language Development Test data.

Gregg Miller/Daily News