New state law tightens education standards

Jessica Garrison

NEWPORT-MESA -- The stakes are very high.

Because of a new state law that takes effect this year, students who

perform poorly in school and also score below the 40th percentile on

standardized tests will have to attend after-school programs or summer

school, and could even be held back a year in school.

School officials say they do not know how many Newport-Mesa students

are in danger of being held back, but if last year’s test scores are any

indication, it’s a sizable minority.

At three Costa Mesa elementary schools -- Wilson, Whittier and Pomona

-- average scores in most grades are between the teens and the 30s.

Several other schools posted an average score low.

This means teachers, principals, parent volunteers and district

officials are going to have to work hard -- incredibly hard -- to get

students caught up.

But along with these harsh consequences for underachieving students,

the state also is providing money and programs to get students caught up,

said Julie Chan, who is charge of literacy in the district and is heading

up many of the programs.

This fall, to help these students, many Costa Mesa elementary schools

will be unveiling intensive after-school programs. TeWinkle Middle School

is also starting a state-funded after-school program for 120

low-performing students, probably at the end of September, said Principal

Sharon Fry. And Whittier Elementary School has joined a risky state

program that gives extra money for achievement, but threatens a state

takeover if scores do not go up.

“We need to do everything we can to support literacy development for

our children,” said Whittier Principal Sharon Blakely. Nearly 95% of

students at the school are not native English speakers, and many come

from poor families in which their parents work two or more jobs to make

ends meet.

Over the summer, district officials for the first time held elementary

summer school, an intensive reading program for some low-achieving

students intended as a trial run for next summer.

Chan said the results were encouraging.

Take Heredira Capristo, a fourth-grader at Wilson Elementary School.

A hard-working, enthusiastic student from a poor, Spanish-speaking

family that values education above all else, Herendira was struggling,

despite hours spent bent over the books with her mother and her teacher.

After five weeks in the summer program, she had made substantial

improvements, according to her summer school teacher, Caryn Broesamle.

And now in her third week of school at Wilson Elementary, Herendira,

who lagged near the bottom of the class last year, is squarely in the

middle, said her teacher, Sharon Spring-Shepherd.

“It thrilled me to hear that,” said Chan, adding that she plans to

study the results of all the students who took summer school this year in

order to figure out how best to help the district’s students.

Herendira, too, is determined to see herself succeed: “I want to study

more,” she said, in her softly-accented English. “Read more.”