REPORT RIPS MYTH OF LEARNING AND POVERTY.Byline: Mariel Garza Staff Writer RESEDA - By all accounts, the odds are stacked against Cleveland High School. Located in working-class Reseda, about 80 percent of its 3,000 students live below the poverty line; about 75 percent are Latino and 10 percent African-American. But that hasn't stopped Cleveland from sending a whopping 88 percent of its graduates on to two- and four-year colleges - an accomplishment that helped earn it a ranking in the top one-third of all California schools, 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. a report released Thursday. According to the report, 512 poor, minority schools statewide are performing in the upper third, including 40 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. and Ventura County. Cleveland Principal Allan J. Weiner attributes the school's success to many factors, including tough academic standards that are applied to all students - regardless of their socioeconomic background. ``We don't accept the whole concept of poverty being the single determinant of academic success,'' he said Thursday. The study, ``Dispelling the Myth in California,'' was conducted by researchers at the Oakland-based Education Trust West who examined 2001 Stanford 9 Achievement Test scores of more than 8,000 elementary, middle and high school students statewide. Their chief aim was to show that schools don't have to be located in white, middle-class suburbs to excel academically. ``It was important for us to do what the (report) title says: dispel the myth that poor and minority children can't learn at as high a level as their peers,'' said report author Russlynn Ali, director of Education Trust West, a nonprofit group that promotes academic achievement among all students. Genethia Hayes, a member of 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. board, said the results reinforce what she has believed all along - that poor, minority children can learn if given the opportunity. ``What I suspect (we'll find) is they have people who don't make the assumption that because children are poor or because they are black and brown that they can't learn,'' Hayes said. For a school to be considered for the study, at least half of its students must be low-income or Latino and African-American. A school also must have standardized reading or math scores in the top third of all schools statewide for its grade level. In the LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) , 33 schools met the guidelines. Among the top performers was Cleveland High, which achieved a similar-schools ranking of 7 on the latest Academic Performance Index. Teachers at the school said they constantly enforce rigorous academic standards for all students, and conduct early intervention ear·ly intervention n. Abbr. EI A process of assessment and therapy provided to children, especially those younger than age 6, to facilitate normal cognitive and emotional development and to prevent developmental disability or delay. when a student falls behind. In addition, the school offers a number of partnerships with local businesses, such as Boeing and the Westfield malls, and programs such as desktop publishing desktop publishing, system for producing printed materials that consists of a personal computer or computer workstation, a high-resolution printer (usually a laser printer), and a computer program that allows the user to select from a variety of type fonts and sizes, and video production to give students real-life experience. But, mostly, the faculty sets their sights high. ``When the complexion of a school changes, the curriculum often gets watered down, people's expectations are lowered and they want to make kids empower their self-esteem and want to do all those wonderful things,'' said Rita Hall, head of Cleveland's Language Arts language arts pl.n. The subjects, including reading, spelling, and composition, aimed at developing reading and writing skills, usually taught in elementary and secondary school. Program and a teacher at the school since 1984 when the school was mostly white. ``And that's great. But that's not what we're focusing on at this school,'' Hall said. ``We want students to achieve.'' Senior Boris Linares, a child of Guatemalan immigrants, exemplifies the low-income minority student at Cleveland who thrives in the school's rigorous academic climate. In Don Runyan's drafting class, Linares designed a dream house for his parents in Guatemala. But he didn't stop there. He took the assignment out of the classroom and spent a year building the four-bedroom house. ``They're proud,'' said Linares, who lives with an older brother in Reseda. ``They live in it now.'' This June, Linares will graduate. He plans to attend a two-year college before continuing his studies at the University of Southern California The U.S. News & World Report ranked USC 27th among all universities in the United States in its 2008 ranking of "America's Best Colleges", also designating it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 8,634 of the almost 34,000 who applied for freshman admission . Ultimately, Education Trust West intends to use its data to duplicate such high achievement at poor and minority schools that haven't done well academically. ``We hope that it will defy expectations,'' report author Ali said. ``We hope it will provide hope to educators and to the countless folks teaching these kids and provide them with a source of inspiration.'' AT A GLANCE More than 500 poor, minority schools rank in the top third of all schools in California, according to a study released Thursday. Below are local schools that met the criteria in the San Fernando Valley area and in Ventura County: San Fernando Valley: Canoga Park High; Cleveland High, Reseda; Disney Elementary, Burbank; Evergreen Continuation, Sylmar; Franklin Elementary, Glendale; Glendale High; Harding Street Elementary, Sylmar; Lassen Elementary, North Hills; Grey Continuation, Reseda; North Hollywood High
San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. Street Elementary, Mission Hills; Shirley Avenue Elementary, Reseda; Stagg Street Elementary, Van Nuys; Toll Middle, Glendale; Tulsa Street Elementary, Granada Hills; Valley Magnet, Van Nuys; Van Nuys High; Vanalden Avenue Elementary, Reseda; Verdugo Hills High. Ventura County: Blanchard Elementary, Santa Paula Santa Paula (săn`tə pôl`ə), city (1990 pop. 25,062), Ventura co., S Calif., on the Santa Clara River in a fertile valley that yields citrus fruits, avocados, vegetables, flowers, nursery products, and walnuts; laid out 1875, inc. ; Briggs Elementary, Santa Paula; El Rio Elementary, Oxnard; Lemonwood n. 1. hard tough elastic wood of the lemonwood tree; used for making bows and fishing rods. 2. A South African evergreen having hard tough wood. Noun 1. Elementary, Oxnard; Manzanita manzanita: see bearberry. Elementary, Newbury Park; Mar Vista Elementary, Oxnard; Olivelands Elementary, Santa Paula; Parkview Elementary, Port Hueneme Port Hueneme (wī'nē`mē), city (1990 pop. 20,319), Ventura co., S Calif., on the Pacific coast; founded 1870, inc. 1948. It has an artificial deep-sea harbor and is the site of a huge naval construction-battalion (Seabee) center. ; Rio Rosales Elementary, Oxnard; Rose Avenue Elementary, Oxnard; Sierra Linda Elementary, Oxnard; Tierra Vista Elementary, Oxnard; Williams Elementary, Oxnard; Will Rogers Elementary, Ventura. Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley is the valley of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. It stretches through Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita. The valley was part of the 48,612-acre (19,672. : Newhall Elementary. Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley : Hearns Charter, Littlerock; Lancaster Discovery and Achievement Center. CAPTION(S): photo, box, chart Photo: (color) Cleveland High School drafting student Boris Linares designed and built a home for his parents in Guatemala. A new report dispels the myth of a connection between poverty and learning. Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer Box: AT A GLANCE (see text) Chart: HIGH-FLYING CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS SOURCE: The Education Trust West |
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