LAAMP LIGHTS STUDENTS' WAY EDUCATION PROJECT POINTS TO SUCCESSES IN NORTH HOLLYWOOD'S SCHOOLS.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - As it prepares to hand school reform to two sister organizations, an academic advocacy group is sizing up its success after spending four years and $5 million trying to fix failing North Hollywood schools.

Operating at 12 campuses in the North Hollywood cluster, the Los Angeles Annenberg Metropolitan Project worked hand in hand with school officials to spawn projects tailored specifically for low-income, underachieving students.

There have been literacy programs for elementary schools, college prep courses for middle school students and efforts to boost teacher skills, parent involvement and college readiness at North Hollywood High.

As a result, officials said, students are showing higher standardized test scores, better study skills and improved morale.

``The way to make change in a big, complicated high school is to try small programs that give teachers a chance to have a close, personal bond with the students,'' said John Hyland, principal of North Hollywood High. ``The No. 1 problem in any high school is the large number of alienated kids filled with malaise who are just kind of wandering about.''

Since 1997, the Los Angeles Annenberg Metropolitan Project, or LAAMP, has infused money and resources into North Hollywood's elementary and secondary schools - among more than 240 schools throughout the region that have shared more than $50 million in LAAMP funding.

The funding was part of a $500 million donation made in 1993 by Walter Annenberg - a humanitarian and former ambassador to Great Britain - to improve education nationwide.

After raising more than $50 million in matching grants and dispersing the funding it received from the Annenberg Challenge, LAAMP is now passing on its efforts to the Los Angeles County Alliance for Student Achievement and Families in Schools.

By targeting the root causes of academic failure in North Hollywood schools - unskilled teachers, disconnected parents and alienated students - LAAMP set out to improve a system in which surveys showed 80 percent of North Hollywood High graduates were unprepared for college-level courses.

``If you go through 12 years of the school system and come out an idiot, it's a social justice issue because you will never be able to participate in the American dream,'' said Maria Casillas, president of LAAMP.

``Poor parents don't always know how to advocate for their kids, and they don't always have access to books, computers, good health care and good nutrition. So their children start out at a disadvantage.''

With LAAMPS's help, North Hollywood High has put in place a summer bridging program to help prepare incoming freshmen for the challenges of high school. It has also created small clusters of freshmen led by teachers who serve as yearlong academic advisers.

Incoming freshmen say the personal attention has made them feel more comfortable with high school and helped them gain a better understanding of how to advance to college.

``I thought high school was going to be hard, but now it's, like, easy,'' said 13-year-old Peter Herrera, who says he wants to be the first in his family to go to college. ``I took a tour and got to know my way around, and they helped me a lot in math.''

The school has also created a new School for Social Justice, a small ``learning community'' designed to promote cultural understanding and leadership skills.

Because boosting the achievement of underprivileged students requires that parents not only become involved, but engaged in their children's education, Hyland said parent meetings are an integral part of all of the new programs. He added that the school has tried to make the meetings more inviting to parents intimidated by bureaucracy by holding the gatherings in parents' homes.

Parents who have become involved say the meetings have helped them grow closer to their children academically and personally.

``Before, my daughter didn't trust me or talk to me, but when I started to get more involved with her life, we became friends,'' said Lorena Hernandez of North Hollywood, whose 14-year-old daughter is enrolled in the School for Social Justice. ``It's amazing how staying on top of what your kid's doing can change your life.''

Hernandez said the parent meetings have even inspired her to enroll in computer classes at Los Angeles Valley College this fall.

``I hope my daughter sees that if I can go to college, she can too,'' Hernandez said.

At nearby Reed Middle School, getting parents and students more comfortable with the college experience is the goal of Project STEPS, a federally funded initiative that sprang from the LAAMP collaboration.

Through the program, parents and students visit local college campuses, and attend academic workshops and seminars about enrolling in college.

A joint effort among the middle school, California State University, Northridge, and Valley College, the program began two years ago with the seventh-grade class at Reed Middle School and has continued each year with the same group of students. This year, the class is entering North Hollywood High.

Since the program began, members of the class have increased their Stanford 9 test scores up to 16 percentile points and are now scoring near the national average. In two years, the students' scores have jumped from the 34th percentile in reading and 39th percentile in math, to the 50th percentile in reading and the 49th percentile in math.

``Parents and teachers want what's best for kids, but they don't always know how to help them,'' said Susan Bonoff, director of Project STEPS. ``Our goal is simple. We want to get more low-income students prepared for college and make them feel more comfortable on a college campus. A lot of these kids aren't really sure what college is.''