L.A. district requires test for kids to go to next grade

Published: Monday, February 1, 1999

Monday, February 1, 1999

PROMOTION: Teachers say non-native speakers at disadvantage in plan

By Karla Y. Pleitez

Daily Bruin Contributor

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) superintendent Ruben Zacarias announced last week that the district will end "social promotion" - the practice of moving students to the next grade level, even if they aren't prepared - in the 1999-2000 school year.

Zacarias said that students will not be promoted unless they can successfully pass the Stanford 9 test, a standardized reading exam. Students already take the test annually. This will be the first year in which the test will affect whether students will advance to the next grade, however.

In addition to the Stanford 9 test, teachers will decide which students advance based on their classroom work, according to draft guidelines of the proposal.

But school officials worry that the Stanford 9 test, which is given only in English, will be weighed more heavily than classroom performance when determining if a student should be promoted to the next grade level.

"The Stanford 9 test cannot possibly determine whether a student will succeed or not, especially in Los Angeles, where we have the most diversity in language," said Lauren Valez, a second-grade teacher at Langdon Elementary in North Hills.

LAUSD is the nation's second-largest school district.

"It would be impossible for some of my students to pass this test because they have not yet conquered the English language, (even though) my students are intelligent and academically prepared for third grade," she said.

Other LAUSD teachers say that it is time to stop promoting over 60 percent of the student population in the district who are in danger of failing their classes when social promotion ends.

"In the past I have promoted students who I knew were not ready for the next level," said James Solomon, a teacher at Sepulveda Middle School.

"It's a difficult decision, especially when the parent wants their child to pass or when the student has given up on themselves and can no longer be reached," he said.

Some educators argue that the new proposal sounds fine in theory, but in practice, the students who will be most hurt by this program are those that need the most attention. There is high concern for students who are learning English as a second language and who will not perform as well as native speakers.

"Politicians need to start analyzing and really thinking about what they are saying," said Concepcion Valadez, an associate professor of education at UCLA.

"The new proposal is saying that if a child is having problems with one subject, he or she should be held back. That is absurd," she said.

The proposal will hold back thousands of students unless significant academic progress is made by June, 2000. Zacarias, however, has offered $140 million from the LAUSD budget to improve school performance by students.

The money will be used for summer school classes, Saturday sessions and after-school tutoring programs to help bring up the skills of struggling students. LAUSD estimates that 40 percent of students in the district will attend these programs.

Despite the funds and efforts put into the proposal, some educators say that the real issue is not being addressed.

"The real problem is that the bad students are put with the bad teachers and the good students get the good teachers," Valadez said.

"The solution would be a program that makes it attractive for good teachers to want to teach the students who take a little longer to adjust to school. We need to get good teachers for all of our students," she said.

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