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Friday, August 18, 2006

Bilingual Fifth-Graders Show Some Progress on Standardized Tests

By Raam Wong
Journal Staff Writer
    Two years ago, 350 limited-English students filled their fifth-grade classrooms around Santa Fe and took a reading test.
    Only 26 percent of them passed, compared with 84 percent of their classmates categorized as white.
    That sort of "achievement gap" between white students and most everyone else has worried educators across the country for decades.
    But there are signs that the district's substantial gap may be narrowing a bit, according to a Journal analysis of Santa Fe Public Schools test data.
    When this year's crop of bilingual fifth-graders took the reading test, 43 percent made the grade, compared with 74 percent for while students, cutting the previous achievement gap nearly in half.
    "We ought to bottle and sell what's happening there," associate superintendent Mel Morgan said.
    Smaller gains were found in other grades, with increasing numbers of limited-English students testing at or above their level in reading and math.
    Modest gains were made on math and reading tests among Hispanic, low-income and Native American students— all groups that have chronically lagged behind in the nation's schools.
    That's not to say that these students are close to catching up with their Anglo classmates.
    For instance, 7 percent of limited-English seventh-graders were proficient in math this year, compared with 25 percent of white students.
    And in many cases, the rate of improvement was similar for white and minority groups, meaning gaps remain as wide as ever.
    There was evidence that minority students in some grades were moving in the wrong direction, especially in reading.
    In the largest slide, only 29 percent of Native American eighth-graders achieved proficiency in reading this year, down from 62 percent last year.
    The test data has implications for schools as they try to comply with the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act. The law requires that an increasing number of students in subgroups based on race, income and other traits show adequate yearly progress.
    If any one subgroup can't make sufficient progress, the entire school fails and can face penalties.
    Seventeen of Santa Fe's 27 schools did not make sufficient gains on tests this year. Officials say responsibility for that generally can't be pinned on any one group, white, Hispanic, special education or otherwise.
    It remains to be seen whether the modest improvement shown by some subgroups this year is a trend or a fluke. Last spring was only the second year that the state has administered the Standards Based Assessment.
    The data could suggest that the district is beginning to bridge the achievement gap inch by inch:
   

Among fourth-graders, the percentage of Hispanics proficient in math increased 4 percentage points from 2005 to 33 percent. White students were at 66 percent;
   

Sixty-seven percent of Native American fifth-graders were proficient at reading this year, compared with 43 percent last year. Seventy-four percent of white students were proficient;
   

Forty-one percent of fourth grade limited-English students were proficient in reading, up from 32 percent last year. Eighty-two percent of white students were proficient.
    Karl Alexander, a sociologist at Johns Hopkins University, said there are limits to how much schools can do on their own for youngsters susceptible to falling behind.
    "Schools don't exist in isolation from the community," Alexander said.
    Alexander said that, while children who live in poverty can make progress in school, a lack of a stimulating educational environment outside the classroom— particularly during the summer break— can impede their development.
    Society needs to address problems such as a lack of health care, malnutrition and poverty before the achievement gap is fully closed, Alexander said.
    "A healthy, happy child is the best prospect for a good learner," he added.