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Monday, March 30, 2009
Why Are La Mesa Elementary's 3rd-Graders Scoring So Much Higher Than Its 4th-Graders?
By Andrea Schoellkopf
Journal Staff Writer
For one year, third-grade students at La Mesa Elementary are considered among the most proficient in Albuquerque.
And then they are not.
Last year, third-graders at La Mesa — where all students meet federal poverty guidelines and most come from Spanish-speaking homes — were at proficiency levels that exceeded much of the district, rivaling those from high-income areas and gifted classes.
In fourth and fifth grade, fewer than half of La Mesa students were testing proficient.
But no one can say exactly why.
Judy Vavrek, a third-grade teacher who retired last year, says one factor might be that more La Mesa students are taking the test in Spanish in third grade than those in the higher grades. Vavrek's class had a proficiency rate of 95.8 percent last year, the third-highest in the entire district.
"If a child is tested in a language he's not proficient in, it becomes a language test and not a knowledge test," said third-grade teacher Tina Hernandez-Zudell, who has taught at La Mesa for seven years and has a doctorate in education.
While across the district, third-graders typically perform higher than fourth-graders for many reasons, the difference at La Mesa is much more dramatic.
Indeed, a look at proficiency levels finds the La Mesa third-graders tested in Spanish had exceedingly high performance over the past four years in math, with 82 percent to 93 percent of the students testing proficient or above. In reading, 57 percent to 64 percent of the third-grade Spanish testers were proficient or above.
And, according to individual classroom data released by the district earlier this year, that success was spread among nearly all third-grade classes.
Virginia Montoya, a third-year teacher, had 78.2 percent of her class at or above proficiency. Hernandez-Zudell's class had a 63.4 percent proficiency level. Rebecca Lavin, who is not with the school this year, had an 82.4 percent proficiency level.
At schools nearby, the highest proficiency level was a 52.4 percent at Emerson and a 51.8 percent at Hawthorne, where a majority tested in English.
On a recent day in Hernandez-Zudell's class, double-digit multiplication was being taught in Spanish, as students scratched out their answers on dry-erase boards.
Some of the desktops have copies of Spanish-English dictionaries, or an English copy of "Aesop's Fables," which the class is reading together in both languages.
Mariely Medrano, 8, is conversant in English, but tests her classmate, Briana Limones, in Spanish as the two girls put their heads together to solve the math problems.
One of this year's third-graders, Giovanny Vidaña, says he's bound for college when he grows up.
"I want to be a veterinarian and save the dogs," said Vidaña, who was born in Mexico.
Like classrooms throughout APS, La Mesa teachers tell third- through fifth-grade students about the state's annual spring testing at the beginning of the year. Various strategies are used to get them ready, such as prepping with practice test materials.
"We know what's going to work well for our students and our parents," Hernandez-Zudell said. "We expect a lot out of our kids."
La Mesa plans to ask if, in the future, it can test children in both English and Spanish.
"Our scores are great, but they could be even better," instructional coach Kim Chavkin-Moreno said.
The third-grade teachers credit a strong foundation set from kindergarten, but say they never know what kind of a mix they will get in a classroom. Besides Mexico, students may come from El Salvador, Cuba or Puerto Rico.
La Mesa's goal is to have students become proficient in English, yet make sure they fully understand — in both languages — the concepts of math, science, reading, writing and social studies required of all students.
The school uses a Guided Reading method of instruction, in which classrooms are divided by ability, pulling in teachers or professionals from other areas in the school to lead one of three reading groups.
Vavrek, who wrote her doctoral dissertation on how Spanish speakers learn best in the classroom, says La Mesa students are learning challenging subjects in the language they think in, which is usually Spanish. The next day, the lessons are retaught in English.
Were students to have the same method of instruction through high school, she said the native Spanish-speakers would outperform the English speakers by 11th grade.
"It takes anywhere from seven to 10 years to get proficient in English," she said.
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