HONORING EDUCATION; LEARN SCHOOLS GET GOOD GRADES.Byline: Sherry Joe Crosby Daily News Staff Writer Leaders of LEARN claimed success Thursday at 70 of the reform movement's 161 oldest schools but acknowledged many others still are struggling to improve test scores, attendance and English fluency among bilingual students. ``For a million-dollar organization, we think we're doing a good job of what people want,'' said Mike Roos, president and chief executive officer of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Educational Alliance for Restructuring Now. But he added: ``We think clearly there's a problem. A third need more support, another third are moving, but they could move a little faster, and a third are doing well. It's as good as can be expected.'' More than 100 educators - along with community and elected officials including state Sen. Diane Watson Diane Edith Watson PhD (born November 12 1933), American politician, has been a member of the United States House of Representatives since 2001, representing the 33rd District of California (map). , D-Los Angeles, and Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa Antonio Ramon Villaraigosa (born Antonio (Tony) Ramon Villar, Jr. on January 23, 1953) is the mayor of Los Angeles, California. He is the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles since Cristobal Aguilar in 1872. , D-Los Angeles - attended a morning rally at the Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Griffith Park Griffith Park is a large public park at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains. It is situated in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The park covers 4,210 acres (17 km²) of land, making it one of the largest urban parks in North America. to honor schools with high test scores, improved attendance rates and successful bilingual programs. ``You're reaching the golden ring of success,'' Watson said. ``LEARN is the program I've been looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. , and you have succeeded.'' Fifty schools, including 23 in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. , were honored for raising standardized scores above the national average. The top-scoring schools included Woodland Hills Elementary, Topanga Elementary, Carpenter Elementary in Studio City and Van Gogh Elementary in Granada Hills, as well as Taft and El Camino Real high schools. ``Real strong community and an ever-strengthening staff'' is the secret of El Camino's success, Principal Ron Bauer said. Los Angeles Board of Education member David Tokofsky said the reform movement has yet to prove itself. He said because LEARN is paired, in many cases, with other reform plans, it is difficult to determine its impact on student achievement. ``LEARN has made a difference in this district in terms of attitudes that will affect results, but a green banner does not necessarily maketh a set of banner test scores,'' Tokofsky said, referring to the colorful signs that grace LEARN campuses. ``It's not determinant of success. There is no direct causality toward significant improvement.'' Despite gains on some campuses, nearly 40 percent of the 161 that joined LEARN in its first three years remain at or below the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. average in standardized test A standardized test is a test administered and scored in a standard manner. The tests are designed in such a way that the "questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent" [1] scores, while nearly a third have failed to significantly improve bilingual transition rates. LEARN also unveiled school profiles for each of the 161 schools. The two-page reports feature standardized test scores, the school's enrollment, teaching staff and annual budget as well as its mission statement and summary of focus areas and goals. However, officials released only partial summaries for four schools: Community Magnet Elementary in Los Angeles, Topanga Elementary, El Camino Real El Camino Real (Spanish for The Royal Road or The King's Highway) was the name of a series of pre-automobile highways linking the various New World colonies of Spain:
``We were compiling and mailing them out for schools,'' said LEARN spokesman Bill Bergstrom, who said it would be premature to release the reports before schools received them. He also said that distributing profiles of each school would be too impractical. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. El Camino's profile, 19 percent of the 3,094 students were classified as limited English-speaking, yet nearly 43 percent attended community college in 1996-97, the latest year for which data were available. ``We've been able to rally around LEARN and use it as the driving force in changing the classroom,'' Bauer said. Twenty schools, including seven in the Valley, were recognized for most-improved attendance and bilingual-transition rates from 1994 through the 1997-98 academic year. In the Valley, three schools were honored for improved attendance rates: Olive Vista Middle School in Sylmar, one of the district's 100 poorest-performing campuses; Cohasset Elementary School elementary school: see school. in Van Nuys; and Columbus Middle School in Canoga Park. Cohasset and Columbus also were recognized for their successful bilingual programs, as was Mulholland Middle School in Van Nuys. ``The LEARN process is where you merge content with good teaching, and you get good student results,'' said Gene McCallum, administrator of the Kennedy and Monroe cluster. Several schools in that cluster were honored Thursday. While some LEARN schools made significant strides, others have faltered. Of the 161 schools, 62 remained at or below the district average in standardized test scores, 42 failed to improve redesignation rates, and nine campuses failed to improve attendance rates. Improving troubled schools starts with the principal, Roos said. ``We're increasingly finding that (the principal is) the glue and magic of high-performing school communities,'' he said. ``We need the imagination and creativity that the central office can muster to give support to the cluster leader to support the schools.'' Starting in January, LEARN plans to pair low-performing schools with successful campuses to help with information on curricula, hiring practices and training for teachers and administrators. HEAD OF THEIR CLASS The following are San Fernando Valley schools that participate in the LEARN reform movement and were honored for improved test scores, attendance or moving youngsters from bilingual programs to English-only instruction: Elementary schools: Apperson Street School, Sunland Calabash calabash Tree (Crescentia cujete) of the trumpet-creeper family (Bignoniaceae) that grows in Central and South America, the West Indies, and extreme southern Florida. It is often grown as an ornamental. Street School, Woodland Hills Calvert Street School, Woodland Hills Carpenter Avenue School, Studio City El Oro Way School, Granada Hills Lockhurst Drive School, Woodland Hills Nestle Avenue School, Tarzana Pomelo pomelo (pŏm`əlō'): see grapefruit. Drive School, West Hills Serrania Avenue School, Woodland Hills Superior Street School, Chatsworth Topanga Elementary School, Topanga Van Gogh Street School, Granada Hills Welby Way School, Canoga Park Wilbur Avenue School, Tarzana Woodland Hills School, Woodland Hills Middle and high schools: El Camino Real High School, Woodland Hills Robert Frost Middle School Robert Frost Middle School may refer to one of the following:
Patrick Henry Middle School, Granada Hills Alfred B. Nobel Middle School, Northridge Francis Parkman Middle School, Woodland Hills Walter Reed Middle School Walter Reed Middle School is a year-round school located in North Hollywood in Los Angeles, California. Its original name was North Hollywood Junior High School. The school is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. , North Hollywood Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies (also Sherman Oaks CES or SOCES) is a (magnet) public school in the San Fernando Valley, Southern California, United States. , Sherman Oaks William H. Taft High School, Woodland Hills CAPTION(S): Photo, Box PHOTO (color) Teacher Ann Matsuyama works with her first-grade students at Topanga Elementary School, one of the schools honored Thursday. Evan Yee/Daily News BOX: HEAD OF THEIR CLASS (see text) |
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