Latino education report shows disparities in San Diego County

By: WILLIAM FINN BENNETT - Staff Writer | Saturday, September 24, 2005 10:34 PM PDT ∞

SAN DIEGO ---- A few rays of light are starting to appear, but the news was mostly bleak in a report presented Saturday on the state of educational achievement for Latino students in San Diego County.

The report, presented to about 250 educators, parents and students at the 10th annual Latino Education Summit in San Diego, showed significant performance gaps between Latino students and the other racial and ethnic groups at public schools in the county.

Four North County school districts were included in the report: Escondido Union High, Oceanside Unified, San Marcos Unified and Vista Unified.

In those districts, the average percentage of Latino students who achieved levels of proficiency in math on the California Standards Test and the California High School Exit Exam stood at nearly 35 percent, while an average 63.3 percent of white students achieved proficiency on the same tests. A similar picture was revealed on proficiency in English, with an average of slightly less than 30 percent of Latino students hitting the proficiency level, while an average of 65.2 percent of white students hit the mark.

Latino students continue to make up the fastest-growing ethnic group in the county. In the last decade, the number of Latino students has grown by 50 percent countywide.

However, in four North County school districts ---- Escondido Elementary, Oceanside Unified, San Marcos Unified and Vista Unified ---- the increase has been even more dramatic, up by an average of 69 percent.

When it comes to prospects for higher education, however, countywide figures for Latinos present a more upbeat picture. The percentages increased for Latino students who have completed the 15 yearlong courses, known as "a-thru-g," required for admission to the University of California or the California State University systems. In the 2003-04 school year, the percentage of Latino students in the county who had completed those courses with a grade of C or better stood at 20.1 percent. In the 2004-05 school year, that had increased to 22.9 percent, a 14 percent increase.

With the exception of San Marcos Unified, which had a 24 percent "a-thru-g" completion rate, high schools from the same North County school districts showed numbers that were below county averages for the 2003-04 school year ---- the most recent year for which individual school district data were included in the report. Vista Unified had a 17.6 percent completion rate, with Oceanside Unified at 16.7 percent and Escondido Union High at 16.3 percent.

The San Diego County Office of Education's English learning services coordinator, Oscar Medina, said he finds it extremely frustrating that the number of teachers providing Spanish and other primary language instruction to English learners is so low. The report showed that the number of teachers countywide now providing such instruction has dropped by nearly 50 percent since 1998.

He said he believes those numbers are reflected in the relatively small number of teachers in county school districts who are not white. Some of those white teachers bring their biases onto campus, he said.

"I can't tell you how many times I have heard them talking about Latino students as 'those little gang bangers,' " Medina said.

After the presentation of the report, summit participants split into five groups to discuss the problems faced by educators, students and parents, and to propose solutions.

One of those groups was composed of mostly parents.

In that meeting, much of the discussion centered around the need for parents to learn what their rights are and how to request waivers that will permit their children access to bilingual education programs.

"For me, it is fundamental that parents know their rights and what the law requires," said Monica Nava, coordinator of programs for English learners in the Vista Unified School District.

Parents must become involved and demand that school districts provide them with the information they need to make the best decisions for their children's education, she said.

"If parents don't ask for it, they won't do it," Nava said.

The Saturday summit counted with several well-known educators and legislators, including 51st Congressional District Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego; University of California President Emeritus Richard C. Atkinson; state Sen. Denise Ducheny, whose 40th District includes portions of San Diego and Riverside counties and all of Imperial County; and state Assemblyman Juan Vargas, whose 79th District covers much of the South Bay area.

Ducheny, a Democrat, encouraged parents and educators to contact Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office and ask him to approve a bill of hers that is now on his desk.

Assembly Bill 385 would require school districts to administer assessment tests to students, if they have lived in the United States for less than three years, in their native language, if they are literate in that language or receive instruction in that language. It also would require the state to simplify the English in test instructions.

She said that approving the bill would go a long way toward leveling the playing field for English learners, and, if the governor doesn't sign the bill, "frankly, a lawsuit will force the state to (change the existing system)."

In making the summit's closing remarks, Democratic lawmaker Vargas said that a key element to the success of all students is parental involvement, support and discipline. He said his parents were poor and the family lived and worked on a small ranch owned by someone else. They raised 10 children. All 10 graduated from high school, Vargas said, and eight of them graduated from college. He said the reason that happened was "my parents sticking with us, making sure education was part of our lives."

When he was a young boy, a lawyer came to his house to consult with his parents about an automobile accident that his mother had caused, Vargas said.

"That was the first time I saw a Latino in a suit," he said.

"That was such a difference to me, a guy who looked like me, talked like me," Vargas said, adding that he encourages schools to bring successful, educated Latinos onto campus to show students what they, too, can achieve.

Contact staff writer William Finn Bennett at (760) 740-5426, or wbennett@nctimes.com.