FOCUS ON EDUCATION // Scores show chasm between O.C.'s rich, poor // EDUCATION: Comparing 2 schools suggests that socioeconomics, English proficiency and parents' education play big roles.

DATE                  03/09/94
NEWSPAPER             THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
SECTION               NEWS
EDITION               MORNING
PAGE                  A07
STORY LENGTH          24 INCHES
HEADLINE              FOCUS ON EDUCATION // Scores show chasm between O.C.'s 
                         rich, poor // EDUCATION: Comparing 2 schools suggests 
                         that socioeconomics, English proficiency and parents' 
                         education play big roles.
BYLINE/CREDIT          DAN FROOMKIN:The Orange County Register
SUBJECT TERMS         OC:SCHOOLS:EDUCATION:TESTS:POVERTY:WEALTH:RESULT

     For all their newfangledness, the California Learning Assessment
  System scores released today tell a familiar story of a dramatic
  achievement gap between Orange County schools serving the poor and
  the rich.
     On one end of the spectrum: Willard Intermediate School in Santa
  Ana, where last year's eighth-graders overwhelmingly posted scores
  in the bottom half of the 6-point scale, indicating that their
  ability to read, write and solve math problems is inconsistent at
  best, and in some cases negligible.
     On the other: La Paz Intermediate School in Mission Viejo, where
  a sizable majority of students scored in the top half of the scale
  in reading and writing and far outperformed the state average in
  math.
     Statewide and countywide, one of the best predictors of test
  scores remains socioeconomic status -- and Willard and La Paz are
  two examples.
     "We are starting at a deficit by comparison to a lot of other
  schools," said Willard Principal Bob Butcher, whose school in
  central Santa Ana is in a neighborhood of crowded apartment
  buildings and just a block from a major drug corridor.
     Almost 70 percent of last year's eighth-graders had limited
  English skills, and most students' parents never graduated from
  high school.
     Butcher said his teachers work hard, but they can't erase the
  handicaps many of the children start with -- and the scores reflect
  that.
     In contrast with Willard, La Paz Intermediate serves a
  neighborhood of eucalyptus-shaded single-family homes, where almost
  all the students speak English as their native language and most of
  the parents are college graduates.
     La Paz Principal Ruth Lander is quick to credit her school's
  high scores to a particularly motivated teaching staff. But it's
  not just that, she said.
     "It's our socioeconomic level, it's the caliber of students we
  have, it's the parental support we get, and it's the dedication of
  the teachers," she said. "We're just so fortunate to have very
  academically oriented youngsters and parents."
     John Scheppach, 14, is in many ways a typical La Paz student.
  His father is a doctor, his mother a college graduate. He lives in
  a large house, with his own room.
     His teachers are terrific, he said, but his parents often assist
  him in his schoolwork.
     "They don't do it for me," he said, "but they're usually a big
  help. In math, my dad will explain things to me, and my mom will
  always test me if I have to memorize something."
     Daniel Robles, 13, is in many ways a typical Willard student.
     His father is a boat painter who never went beyond junior high
  in the Mexican schools. And his mother never made it to second
  grade.
     His parents, who work hard to pay the rent on a one-bedroom
  apartment where they and their four children live, repeatedly tell
  him education is important. And they'd like to do more, but they
  can't, he said.
     "Sometimes I don't understand stuff and they can't help me that
  much," he said. "They don't understand what we're doing."
     And like most of his classmates, he learned English not at home
  but at school.
     Try as they may, administrators say, they remain unable to make
  up the difference in background between the John Scheppachs and the
  Daniel Robleses of Orange County.
     Results from previous statewide tests also showed achievement
  gaps -- of up to three grade levels -- between districts serving the
  more affluent and less affluent areas of the county.
     The gap between Willard and La Paz was one full performance
  level, with eighth-graders at Willard averaging 2.64, while those
  at La Paz averaged 3.64. A 3 demonstrates "some understanding"; a
  4, "substantial understanding."
     "We do have all kinds of resources, but we could always use
  more, because our kids have more needs," said Willard Assistant
  Principal Liane Jacob.
     And school, she said, "is only a very small portion of the day."