School Reform:

How Long Beach Unified ended social promotion and began a 'classical' high school.



By Kevin O'Leary
Orange County Monitor

Kerrill Kephart of Santa Ana and Heather Magner of Huntington Beach are English teachers. They are two of the reasons why the Long Beach Unified School District is making headway teaching children and earn-ing national recognition for education reform.

Kephart teaches Advanced Placement English to 12th-grade honor students at Long Beach Polytechnic High School. Today, the class is discussing a short story by David Guterson entitled "Wood Grouse on a High Promontory Overlooking Canada." Kephart begins by telling her students that Guterson is best known as the author of the novel "Snow Falling on Cedars," a beautifully written story of the impact of World War II on a small community in the Pacific Northwest and, in particular, about the coming of age of an Anglo boy and a Japanese American girl.

Only four pages, "Wood Grouse" involves similar themes. It is the story of two brothers hiking in the mountains of Washington shortly after the eldest has returned from the Vietnam War. Kephart calls on different groups of students to discuss the plot line, imagery, difficult words ("Give us the definition in your own words," she reminds one student. "You know how I feel about dictionary definitions"), character development, conflict and meaning.

This honors English class is part of the Program of Additional Curricular Experiences (PACE) program at Poly ­p; a top notch college prep program that prepares 185 students a year for a slew of Advanced Placement exams and then acceptance by elite colleges from UC Berkeley to Northwestern to MIT. As one might expect, it is a quiet, serious class. On a blackboard in the back of the room is a diagram ­p; "Structure of Short Story" ­p; showing exposition (rising arrow), culminating in a climax, and then resolution (declining arrow).

Early in the story, Gary, the older brother, refers to Canada as "draft-dodger heaven." Ross Cuff, 17, tells the class that Canada symbolizes the innocence that Gary has now lost.

The climax in the story comes when the younger brother, Bud, throws a rock and fatally injures a bird. Gary is appalled that his younger brother shows so little respect for life. "Look what you did," Gary shouts. Seeing the bird is beyond help, Gary steps on its head, halting its misery.

Later, Bud asks Gary if he killed anyone in Vietnam. Gary never answers directly yet we know from his tears. As the class analyzes the story, Kephart asks them to think back to a book they read in the ninth grade, "To Kill a Mockingbird." "Think about when Atticus talks to Jim and tells him that it is a sin to kill for the sheer hell of it," she says. "That is the same message here."

Coming a week after the Littleton massacre, Kephart's final remark undoubtedly registered ­p; even with two boys in the front of the class who act as if they are too cool for school.

Fourteen blocks away on the same morning, Magner is preparing her students at Long Beach Preparatory Academy for the Stanford 9 tests. These students earned entry to this special "prep school" by flunking at least two classes in eighth grade. At the Prep Academy, they get a second chance to get their academic act together.

Magner tells her 20 students, again and again, "Don't think. We have spent all year thinking, connecting and asking questions. But on a standardized test that can get you in trouble.

"Don't think! The answer is right there in front of you in the lines. Go find it!"

The second unorthodox thing is that Magner is having her students read and analyze a rap song by Lauryn Hill entitled, "Everything is Everything."

The classroom is relaxed. Some students sit at desks, two sit on sofas, and two sit in living room chairs.

"Who did Lauryn Hill write this song for?" asks Magner. Sitting in his large blue and yellow warm-up jacket, Andre Johnson quickly finds the answer in the first verse: "I wrote these words for everyone Who struggles in their youth."

Magner asks the class: "Is this song more like a report, a novel or a poem?" Again Johnson has the answer saying, "Ms. Magner, it's like a poem because it has deep feelings and rhyme."

Later, Magner explains the logic behind her teaching tactic. "You have to start their interest in literacy by giving them something they can relate to. The first novel I gave them was 'Drive-by.' Some of these kids come from neighborhoods and families where they literally grow up in a gang. After 'Drive-by,' we moved on to 'The Hobbit.'"

The PACE class at Poly and the eighth grade retention class at Long Beach Preparatory are worlds apart. Yet, Kephart and Magner are both reaching students and teaching them to appreciate the power of words.

Ending Social Promotion

"One of the most difficult things for a parent is to be notified that their child is not going to be promoted to the next grade. Imagine the frustration and anger you would feel," says Bill Habermehl, associate superintendent of the Orange County Department of Education.

Habermehl is addressing a group of more than 100 Orange County educators who have gathered in Costa Mesa to hear Long Beach Superintendent Carl Cohn talk about his district's cutting-edge approach to an emotionally charged issue ­p; "ending social promotion."

Starting next fall, school districts across Orange County will begin following a new state mandate ­p; aggressively holding back students who are failing in school.

Sounds reasonable. In fact, retention policy has long been policy in most California school districts. Yet, most teachers have passed failing students on to the next grade with the result that children get further behind. We have all heard sorry tales of teenagers graduating high school without being able to read. In Japan, the bottom 50 percent of the workforce is famous for being the best trained and educated in the world. That is certainly not the case in the United States.

Educators from districts across Orange County, including Newport-Mesa, Orange Unified and Anaheim, have come to hear Dr. Cohn speak because the Long Beach district already has two years experience holding failing students back and giving them extra instruction.

Cohn begins by acknowledging that research is very clear that retention (holding students back) does not work. "However, there has not been much retention. This is not a 1950s version of the student repeating the same grade with the same teacher. We're talking about intervening with students who are falling behind and only using retention as a last-ditch effort."

He says the Long Beach program came about as the result of an "honest, in-depth, two-year conversa-tion with the community" and believes that conversa-tion must take place if an intervention program is going to work.

"The initial salvo is, 'Why are you punishing kids for a school system that has failed?' You can expect that in every district ­p; urban, suburban and rural."

Long Beach has established a third grade summer reading program for students who are behind, a special junior high for students who have failed two subjects in the last semester of eighth grade and a high school writing requirement.

Cohn says, "There is nothing more sobering than to sit down with a group of teachers and ask: How many youngsters need third grade summer reading help and how many eighth graders have multiple Fs?"

These hurdles at the third, eighth and 11th grades put students, parents and teachers on notice. Cohn says sixth and seventh graders are working harder to avoid academic trouble in eighth grade. When Long Beach put its multiple Fs policy into effect in June 1996 there were 748 eighth graders with multiple Fs on their final report card. In June 1997, the number dropped to 457 and by June 1998 the number was 346.

"Most parents are gratified if their child is having difficulty and needs some extra help," he says. "It is very important to have checkpoints for intervention along the way ­p; not just at the third, eighth and 11th grades."

Carolyn Houston, principal of South Junior High in the Anaheim Union High School District, says, "We are looking to set up a retention process. It is very immediate for us. Personally, I would like to keep the intervention program at our campus. I really think we should act before the end of the eighth grade by being pro-active with seventh graders."

The reading program in third grade is a "big winner and a delight," says Cohn. But getting Long Beach Preparatory Academy off the ground was a struggle. It began with resistance from the city of Signal Hill to having the special campus placed in its midst and continuing through a difficult first year when some teachers were not prepared for their special assignment.

"It's a huge challenge," says Cohn. The first year was difficult as the students tested the teachers and administrators. Cohn says it was a mistake to use "continuation" teachers. Even though they volunteered for the assignment, some did not understand that the district really wants these children to do better. Magner says seven teachers left after the first year. Another lesson: instead of one campus it would be better to have multiple smaller campuses.

The key to this radical intervention is having dedicated, imaginative, loving teachers like Magner and Principal Antonia Issa Lahera.

Issa Lahera says Long Beach Prep is the only school in Long Beach where the staff greets students coming off their buses and waves goodbye to them at the end of the day.

A parent of teens, Issa Lahera says, "There are two things these teenagers need: food and sleep." And she might add ­p; an understanding, gifted teacher. Her goal is for every child to bond with one adult on the campus.

"These kids all have a story," says Magner. "And usually it's sad.

"In the teen years, kids tend to push you away just when they need the most support. Many of these kids grew up in neighborhoods where there are drugs and gangs. Add family problems to that and they are tough.

"They are like porcupines. 'This is my life and I can take care of myself.' You just have to be patient and get those little quills to lay down. You think they are not listening but they are.

"We only have them for 10 months; that is asking a lot."

She wonders how these kids will do in high school. "To counsel someone you need to get to know them. High school is so content-driven. You need to know where your kids are emotionally. How can you do that in a classroom of 35 teenagers times six periods? It would be better if we broke high school into teams.

"High school may have to change. I am not talking about watering down. It needs to be rigorous. But you have to do what is necessary to reach the kids."

A graduate of UC Santa Barbara, Magner says most of the kids she teaches at Long Beach Prep are capable of going to college.

"I'd say a majority are smart enough," she says. "But most are not engaged in school. They do not see themselves as students. When they make that psychological adjustment you see a dramatic change."

A teacher with special training in reading instruction, Magner says many of the students are very smart but just learn differently.

"Some of them are really kinetic (learn by doing). Other kids are really good readers but they have no confidence in it. If it does not have meaning for them they get bored."

In 1998, 266 students and their parents got the good news that they had graduated from Long Beach Preparatory Academy (93 percent of the first-year class) and would be going on to high school. Twenty-one students failed to make the cut and were sent on to continuation or storefront schools.
Cohn says, "The critical year for us is how do these kids do in the ninth grade? They had a good year because of a smaller setting and caring teachers. Now, how will they do in a school where the enrollment is 4,000 kids?"

A 'Classical' High School

Over a four-year time span, Wilson High School on the east side of the city near Long Beach State is being transformed into Woodrow Wilson Classical High School. This year, freshmen and sophomores are part of this magnet college prep secondary school and this means they are required to wear white shirts and khaki pants or skirts, sign a contract promising good behavior and take seven classes a semester instead of the normal six.

The idea is to raise standards and raise the bar of academic performance, says Linda Drummond, former chair of the English department and now the administrative coordinator for Wilson's changing identity.

"Here the whole school is becoming a magnet program versus the PACE program at Poly High, which is small and selective," says Drummond. "We are actively recruiting good, college-bound students districtwide and are also recruiting heavily in the Catholic elementary schools. They give us equal time."

"The difference with our program is that it is the entire school. That's a big deal," says Keith Hansen, assistant principal for the ninth grade.

The idea of a classical high school began during the '80s and at that point the idea was to make the curriculum truly classical by offering Latin or Greek and focusing the school heavily on the humanities.

Three years ago, the classical idea was resurrected and a curriculum covering math, science, English and history was designed to meet and exceed the admission requirements for both the California State University system and the University of California. In addition to the classical curriculum required of all students, Wilson also offers an honors/Advanced Placement program based on a 3.0 grade point average in middle school, counselor recommendations and high achievement test scores.

Many in the community felt that Wilson was not the school it once was. "The school district is responding to the desire that this be a really strong well-rounded school," Drummond says.

"This is what parents have been requesting for years ­p; higher standards, stricter dress code, stricter behavior code and stronger academics," says parent Charlene Ebright.

Unlike other high schools, Wilson students will have to take 280 credits to graduate with a classical diploma instead of 220 units at a regular high school. This translates into seven classes a semester instead of six. All Wilson students will take four years of a foreign language and four years of math. Wilson has 20 science teachers and Dummond says the high school is hiring more science, art and language teachers. This is partially the result of a class size reduction program in the ninth grade that will allow a maximum of 20 students per class.

Both Wilson and Poly have broken the traditional mold of offering 50-minute classes. Now, students in both high schools take classes in longer 90-minute time blocks. This allows more in-depth teaching and time for projects but means classes do not meet every day. While math and language teachers would rather see their students every day, teachers in art, science and humanities "love" the block schedule.

Drummond says the campus is calmer with the block schedule. Fewer passing periods mean there are fewer chances for disturbances. "Now the kids only change class three times a day. There has been a big drop in fights. Our suspension rate is now the lowest of any high school is the district."

One reason for the institution of a college prep curriculum and a code of conduct was a feeling among some parents that too many students were coming to Wilson who were either disruptive or not college bound. Because a majority of high school students in Long Beach live in the central city area around Poly High, each of the other high schools must take a certain amount of transfer students.

"There was a perception in the community that a larger number of students was coming to Wilson because of demographic changes in the city and that these students were not necessarily college bound," says Drummond.

With the transition to the classical high school, students come to Wilson because they and their parents chose to attend knowing that more is expected of them at Wilson than at other high schools.

Drummond says, "Teachers say this year they see a big difference in classroom behavior. Now, most classes are a real pleasure."

In addition to Wilson and Poly, all the Long Beach high schools offer special programs to attract either high-achieving teens or students interested in specific career options. For example, Lakewood High has a magnet for students aiming for high-tech careers while Jordan High has programs in law enforcement, paralegal, medical services and the performing arts.

Board member Bobbi Smith says, "The magnet programs have been a savior for the district. We don't want to leave any kids behind. We recognize that there are diverse ways to learn and different rates and methods."

No Magic Wand

In addition to state-mandated tests, Long Beach Unified has developed its own districtwide testing program. Lynn Winters, assistant superintendent for research, says students in the third, fifth, sixth, eighth and 10th grades are tested on their ability to write an essay and solve math problems. In addition, students in the K-5 grades are tested on reading comprehension. "This enables us to track where kids are in terms of our district standards," says Winters.

While the state has changed tests and thus makes it difficult to judge how districts are doing over time, Winters says one way to measure academic progress is to count how many students are completing algebra in the eighth grade, how many students drop out, how many students are completing the University of California A-F requirements for admission and how many students take the Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT) or college entrance exam.

Here are the numbers in Long Beach: 34.1 percent of students completed algebra in 1998 compared to only 16.8 percent in 1996, the dropout rate has declined from 10.16 percent in 1996 (2,113 students) to 3.75 percent in 1998 (835 students) and 32.5 percent of seniors took the SAT in 1998 compared to 29.1 percent in 1996.

"We are happy that more students are thinking about attending college," says Winters.

Thirty-three percent of LBUSD students are labeled as having limited English proficiency. That is another way of saying one-third of Long Beach students speak English as a second language. Los Angeles Unified is a similar district with 38 percent of students with limited English skills. On the Stanford 9 test in 1998, Long Beach did better than LAUSD, scoring 31 vs. 24 in fifth grade reading and 37 vs. 30 in eighth grade math. But most Orange County districts score higher. For example, the Fullerton schools scored 48 on fifth grade reading and 61 on eighth grade math.

However, Winters says Long Beach scores in reading, language and math were significantly improved (between seventh and 16th percentile ranks higher) from the previous statewide exam, the CAP test administered in 1991, even though the Stanford 9 is a more difficult test.

Clearly, Long Beach Unified is not going to be confused with the elite suburban districts such as Irvine and Palo Alto, which score in the 80th percentile on the Stanford 9 and send more than 90 percent of their students to junior college or four-year universities. But for public education to improve and for California to have a well-educated workforce in the 21st century, it is districts such as Long Beach that have to do a better job.

Board of Education President Karin Polacheck has words of wisdom for Orange County school districts embarking on reform programs to improve instruction.

"Any kind of improvement or reform takes time," says Polacheck, who is pursuing her doctorate in education at UCLA. "Change must be institutionalized. It takes four or five years for a change to get rooted.

"Look at Long Beach Unified over the last five years. We implemented a K-8 uniform policy, a social promotion policy including launching Long Beach Preparatory Academy, we have improved staff development including a collaboration with Cal State Long Beach, we refined our area structure, we have pushed forward with standards driving teaching and finally, we have set up special benchmarks at the third, eighth and 11th grades.

"None of these changes can be measured in a two-year period. There is no quick fix."

##