Welcome

Today we are starting a new series, "The Vanishing Class," that gives readers an unusual look at a kind of student that is often ignored--the high school dropout. Frequently, teenagers drop out after a long downward spiral beginning as early as elementary school. We spent time trying to understand their situations and to understand one of the most vexing problems in public education. Our series includes four stories plus additional web features. Please read the stories and tell us what you think. We'd love to hear your feedback, your suggestions, your story ideas. The reporters, Nancy Cleeland, Erika Hayasaki, Duke Helfand, Mitchell Landsberg, Jean Merl and Joel Rubin and I, the editor of the series, look forward to your comments. Thank you, Beth Shuster, education editor.

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Comments

[Marta]

I strongly desagree with the comment made by "mariasharpe", I dont think that Mexicans/Hispanics bring decay to the school system, they bring diversity and culture. I dont think that their "failure" to assimilate is the problem. Part of the problem is that students dont feel that the curriculum applies to them, or is "not needed" and they tune out. I am currently a Senior at SDSU, majoring in Latin American Studies and feel that my years of HS in Santa Ana High School were a big blur, my motivation was a struggling mother, and a future I wanted. I went into HS not knowing fractions, and stuggled throughout, and into my College years. I'm happy the LA times took on this assigment, I was able to identify with these kids. Teachers have enough pressures as it is, if I could give them a piece of advise it would be, teach accordingly. By this I mean, apply your curriculum to the students that are in your class, hold students accountable for their actions as the young people they are, and always motivate, whether it be with personal examples/articles like these ones/ or speakers you bring to the class, they will pay attention to this.

[Alice]

I think it's time to stop blaming the government because ultimately, it's the students themselves that made the choice to self destruct. American teenagers are a bunch of spoiled kids that expect people to baby their every mistake. I am sick and tired of people making high school curriculum sound like rocket science. Anyone with half a brain can cruise through the basic classes.

In most cases, people who drop out are simply lazy and irresponsible. It's not hard to show up for a few hours of school every day. You don't feel that you "fit in"? Well poo hoo, neither did I but I had no problem making it to class every morning.

It's time to stop making excuses for these people. Americans invest way more money per student than most Asian countries, but their kids are taking algebra by 9th grade.

[DG]

I'd like to propose that twice exceptional children-gifted with learning disabilities is part of this formula for failure and frustration. Neither teachers nor parents are equipped with the knowledge or skill set to help the students that fall into this catagory, even as they are mostly unidentified and not funded. Please read: http://www.fccpta.org/positions/resolutions/twice_exceptional_gt_ld_students.htm

and the guidebook at: http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/enriched/gtld/docs/Twice%20Exceptional.pdf.

What are we doing to our great nation's most precious natural resource? Why wait until the point of no return?

Let's help the children learn in elementary school, so they can learn more in high school. These days the statement "They'll get it eventually" doesn't hold water, and is why 60% of our high school students are drowning in failure or boredom, until they drop out.

[Amber]

Well it is a sad state of affairs. But then again so is the idea that the gym teacher gets paid the same as the AP math teacher. I am not sure why or who decided that this third rail in education is never talked.

The same pay for the same job is all fine and good.
Yet somehow I am thinking that teaching AP classes in math & science require a bit more education + skills than the gym teacher just might have.

When was it decided that any college degree was all that was needed to teach.

[Karen Swett]

ALGEBRA - Find a hook. Try something different. I facilitate an on-line learning lab at a comprehensive high school in Sacramento, primarily for credit recovery. We use NovaNET (Pearson) for all core subjects. Unfortunately I'm not a math teacher and don't know how to do algebra, much less teach it. But here's what happens. My students work independendtly on their well structured lessons. When they get "stuck" they will sometimes ask me for help. When I have time I will sit down with them and have them go through the steps leading up to where they got stuck. They have to make me understand the process in order for me to help with the problem they don't get. Sometimes I can help them. But it's usually the student who - through this process - discovers that she/he can solve the problem. Many times, however, the student needs a GOOD algebra teacher to provide more complete help. (I've been advocating for a math teacher to use this program for many years.) Clearly though, the most important thing that happens is that the kids begin to feel good about themselves - they are NEVER behind - and take ownership of the learning process. I let the kid get "hooked" - experience a few successes - and then wait for them to ask for help. That is when they are really ready to learn. (It's just too bad I can't help much.) I closely monitor the kid's progress at the begining - some students need to be "nudged" to ask for help. I just work at making sure that they feel as if they are in control. No, it doesn't work for all, but it is different and a fresh start. The keys are NEVER BEING BEHIND and building self esteem.

[WBurg]

For those of you who haven't been in a high school setting recently, take what many of us educators are facing today:
1) Some students have excessive absences and/or tardies.
2) Some students frequently "forget" to do homework .
3) Some students openly disrupt class time; preventing others from learning.
4) Some students challenge authority-even of those who are trying to help
5) Some Students don't bring materials: paper, pen, books
6) Some students always look for shorcuts
7) MANY parents don't attend meetings
8) some parents don't call until the last week of the term, when their kids are about to fail.

I would like to see a study that follows the lives of those children who have excessive absences during Elmentary schooling...I wonder if this pattern persists through high school. PARENTS IT IS NOT OK TO HAVE YOUR KID STAY HOME SO MUCH IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THEIR SCHOOL!

[Dan Smith]

LAUSD is a giant bureaucracy. Like any big bureaucracy, it's not efficient, slow, and are error prone. Divide the LAUSD into smaller part so it's more managable. Otherwise, the continual problems are exponential to the growth rate of students attending LAUSD.

[a Birmingham student]

I am a Birmingham High School student, and I thought I might share with all of you some of the truth, which mainly supplements the article. Birmingham's Math department is full of some good teachers, and quite a few not so great ones. When I took Algebra II last year, the teacher did not teach, he simply told us to read our textbooks, and the only way one could "earn" a good grade in the course was to bribe him with choclate or by showing your answers to homework on the board. On top of this, when I did not understand something, I was made to feel stupid, and the teacher made little effort to try and clarify. That's barely the tip of the iceberg in Birmingham's problems. I have no real will to try in any classes because of the enviornment. In 10th grade English, all we did in class was write essays for essay contests (which were often assigned only two days or so before the essay contest deadline, and this was an Honors English class.) I now take English at Community College, which the school made me FIGHT THE DISTRICT in order to let me do. This is what is wrong with LAUSD, they persecute the intellegent and those that have/had any desire to succeed, I didnt want another english class like that, so i went to community college, but it took me a while to get authorization. On top of that, our science department is in the gutters.
This year in science(an ap course), the teacher is incompetent, and I had to teach the teacher how to properly do a Punnet square, this is what happens when teachers CRASH CREDENTIALS. I could go on forever, but the

BOTTOM LINE is the role of the teachers is to connect with the students, the students are MORE important than the curriculum, but unfortunatly it is the curriculum that comes first, and the students that come second. Teachers are faced with the demand of covering the material and not addressing student needs.

[bj]

Thank you for exposing and exploring the difficulties in public education in today's world. I would like to see you investigate other nearby districts like LVUSD where in one high school 60% of freshman received a D or an F on their first semester report card in English and there are only 20 students in the class. I find it hard to put the blame squarely on the parent's which is where teachers and administrators place it. Something is not right in suburbia! Counselor ratio is 650 students to 1 student. All school's have a D/F list (number of students receiving these grades) It is suburbia's dirty little secret. The latest excuse is standards based learning whereby teachers have to teach more rigorous material than ever and don't have time to review material that was not learned by the students. Teachers have to keep moving along even if students are struggling. Sure our school's are smaller and we
are economically more affluent but don't think we don't have our share of serious problems. It seems like the common thread is that the majority of public schools are short changing its students.

[Ronit]

A success story
My kids had a great education within LAUSD. How was it done? The answer is parents involvement. Both kids are highly gifted so they have special needs. I volunteered in their elementary school classrooms every week so I always knew what was going on. When I saw that my daughter did not fit in her first grade, I talked with her teachers, principal and psychologist and had her moved to second grade, where she fit in immediately. When we moved to LA we checked the schools, and settled near a school with a fitting program. They went to special programs through middle and high school.
This was possible because we were involved parents, attended every open school and parents night, many parents meetings, helped the schools and the special programs.
It took time - but as parents, we are committed to our kids' success and whatever it takes. That's the point of parenting. And in the process we also helped other students as well.

[Afrodita]

I have been teaching Biology at an LAUSD high school for five years and I am very discouraged and exhausted! I have made a promised to myself to go to another country for at least a year; to forget the apathy of many in this educational system, to recuperate the excitement I’ve lost, to gain the joy and life of sharing my biology knowledge...

During my vacation, I always make an effort to find out what my classes would be like for the following semester (usually teachers know the first day of school). I do this to prepare for my students. For this semester, I did the same. I found out that I would be teaching all the students who have failed Bio. A at least once, so I planned in using an easier book than the one they have been using and to avoid, “this book, again?”, cutting assignments by about half, breaking down assignments into smaller chunks, coming up with different activities from the ones I always do for Biology A and avoid “this again? I did this last year, oh yeah, with the other Miss, not again?”, using many tricks to encourage them to put at least a bit of effort in passing the class, providing tutoring almost every nutrition and lunch and at least twice a week after school (no extra pay for me), etc. I am doing all of this! I am practically, starting from scratch to accommodate the failing students. I prepare beautiful lessons and sets of lessons, to my dismay they get destroyed by inconsiderate students or they never get done because of lack of student participation and interest. Administrators have no idea of my efforts (never show interest), but they are quick to demand what I already do and criticize the results as a whole without considering who (careless teachers) contributes to these.
I love teaching Biology because it entails all kinds of skills: writing, reading, speaking, math, problem solving, organization, planning, creativity, responsibility, etc.

So, this semester I have about 180 students (5 classes) who are taking biology A.
Of these, about…
- 90% have failed Biology A at least once.
- 30% of the students have lost their books in 1 ½ months.
- 70% don’t bring their books to class or do homework or keep their binder together.
- 90% need constant encouragement to do their work.
- 20% need to be begged to do their work, and don’t even bring a sheet of paper or pencil!
At the end of most days, I feel like every drop of energy has been sucked out of me. But I still work at home on grading papers, preparing lessons, preparing activities for my academy, and preparing for meetings, etc., Oh! and while I am at it, I ignore my 13-year old son. But, I am lucky because he knows that he needs to meet my (and society’s) high expectations because his mother is a teacher. Isn’t this something!
I don’t want to (but, I am forced to) accept any excuses from my students. If I made it, they should! I came to this country at age 14 without knowing English. From this high school in 1995, I graduated at 18 ill-prepared for college; I should have stayed another year to improve my English at least and take more science classes. Unfortunately, no teacher or counselor took an interest in me at this school. I was lucky enough, the only college counselor (for over 5000 students) talked to me about college for about 10 minutes; and I was persistent and grateful enough to get help outside of school to apply for college. I was hard-working, determined, lucky, and grateful enough to make my six years in college productive. I associated myself with people who were going places, took every bit of help people gave me to learn (especially English) and live. The more I worked for myself the more people wanted to help me. I’m the person I am because my parents instilled values in me during my first 14 years of life; after that I was pretty much alone and with a child. I received my BS in Biology and my teaching credential from a private college. And I thank those people who helped me succeed to have a descent life for my son and me. Now, I can write this note. Now I can help others, even those who don’t want to be helped. Now, unfortunately I see too much to get discouraged.

As each of the last 5 years has passed, I have noticed that things get worse. Administrators constantly leave for better (monetary & “power-full”) opportunities. Some teachers leave the classroom within 2-5 years of their teaching careers to become administrators or inexperienced teacher coaches of Math and English, others become discouraged for the false promises of those don’t care, others become frustrated for the lack of support towards their efforts to make classes more interesting. Most students have at least two or more of the following characteristics: unmotivated, irresponsible, clueless, misbehaved, ill-prepared, leave alone, involved in gangs, lack of family support, work to support themselves and their family in the US and/or their home-country, etc.

I don’t want to leave teaching, but I am afraid I will (especially the school where I am now) for my own well-being. In the last year, among so many things my rent has gone up by 8% and pay only by 2 ½.

What can I make of all of this? I wish everything about teaching would be as I dreamed! But sometimes, I feel better when a few students are eager to learn. They are my little starts! For them I continue to struggle …

[Ronit]

I taught math in Eagle Rock Jr/Sr high school for one year, ten years ago. Here are some comments about failure:

In order for students to succeed, parents must be involved. I had called parents to tell them of their students' failure to hand homework, and the answer was "this is your problem". I left the school after one year, but these students remained with the parents much longer. Language was not the issue, some of the best parents did not speak English at all and the most rude parents spoke English well.

The problem in math starts in elementary school and cannot be fixed by placing all students in algebra in 9th grade. I had maybe 5 students out of 150 who could do math with fractions. Many of the students had very little knowledge of basic math and numbers concepts. Elementary school teachers often do not know math, so one solution is introducing professional math teachers in elementary school. Math is the basis of science, so its importance cannot be underestimated.

Working conditions for teachers must be improved. After one year with little support, traveling between classes, fighting with students and getting little money, I quit. Immediately I found a part time job that paid just as much and allowed me to spend more time with my own children, including teaching math as a volunteer in their classes. The improvement in the quality of my life was amazing. Some of the teachers who stay do not have options. We must make teaching more attractive, at the same time forcing the teachers to put more effort and not cut corners (check homework and tests after hours and eliminating multiple choice tests would be a good start).

[Alison]

Being a student that goes to OFL, this article has been totally fabricated.We are NOT drop out students. If it were for "drop out students" we would be recieving a GED. It is a regular high school.We have prom, we do community service, same requirements, we recieve a high school diploma.Its just we would rather finish school faster, or many of us have family situations. This school is a great alternative to students who have family situations going on and still want to finish high school.And saying the teachers are uneducated. I have to say all my teachers at my school are very educated and very helpful. To me OFL is harder than any regular school. I have learned much more at this school than i ever did at my regular high school. It is very helpful to have 1 on 1 time with your teacher. This school isnt for everyone,but if you have goals and you are motivated it will work out great for you. I also think it is good to prep you for college. In college you are going to have loads of work and this school helps you to manage your homework time well because you have a certain deadline for each packet and it is a lot of work. Also in college the professor is not going to be there holding your hand, if you dont understand get a tutor.In regular high school you can pass all your classes if you show up and nothing else. Here you actually have to do ALL your work pass ALL your tests with a C or better or you will not move on. It is obvious that the LA times reporters have nothing else to write about so they decide to write about a school that is helping many students in a lot of communities. People reading this article are thinging it is all true but in reality you have to see if to believe it. And so may i ask, have you reporters gone and been a student at this school and seen how much effort these teachers put into our future??Im sure the answer is no!! Next article you do i suggest you get your facts straight. And what school did you go to?? Your teachers were probably the uneducated ones because the forgot to tell you get the facts correct before you begin and article and you cant even come up with a true article.hmmm

[Jennifer Bishop]

I heard about this article and thought, "now, this can't be right. Why would a major newspaper like the Los Angeles Times stoop to the level of Us Weekly to do a shoddy, deceitful article on a school that is trying its best to help teenagers that would otherwise drop out of high school?" And yet... here it is. As a former student AND employee of Options for Youth, I know for a FACT that this article is full of it, and I'm calling you on it. I commend you, LA Times, for taking time away from your busy schedule of exposing the deterioration of our environmental protection laws, politicians that make my skin crawl with their corruption, and a President that is trying to ruin our country with his lies and underhanded practices and a highly disturbing war that is killing our soldiers at an alarming rate to write up a "tell all" about a school that is doing its best (under the harsh scrutiny of the government, and through massive budget cuts) to help make the world a better place for teenagers that want to make something of their lives. Some of the students that attend OFY are there because rather than sit on Welfare, they work full time to support their families. Other students, like myself, were in overcrowded public schools with teachers that couldn't give us the attention we needed, and thus, couldn't keep up. Forty students to an algebra class does not work, and eventually, you just stop asking questions. OFY gives students like these a chance. OFY is not a continuation school for "bad" kids, it is a chance for someone with few options to go the best route, get a diploma, and work with the cards they were dealt. OFY is just like any other high school. I had to take my exit exam, I had to do community service to graduate, I had to take the required classes, I had a prom and a graduation ceremony and I had to take my SAT 9's. In fact, thanks to OFY, I did so well on my SAT 9 test that I got a $1,000 scholarship from the state of California, which I used to go to college to study psychology. How'd you do on your SAT 9's? Just curious. I would like to know where they're hiding these underqualified teachers. Aaron, one of the amazing teachers from my center, attended ACU. Now, I might be a little naive, but I'm pretty sure that's a good school. And I'd really like to know who exactly it is that's calling any teacher underqualified. A reporter? A person that sits at a computer, putting sentences together before hitting spell/grammar check? Scathing. The employees of Options for Youth are amazing, intelligent and caring people that actually care about the next generation of people that will be running this planet. Budget cuts are keeping us out of college, college beaurocracies are making it more about grades than the actual learning, and spending is being wasted on conferences in Las Vegas for board members while community colleges are falling apart, and you're doing peices on a charter school that is trying to help at risk kids in a way that doesn't involve a GED. While other worthwhile media sources are trying to do something legitimate with their power, the Los Angeles Times trying to tear down one of the few institutions that is actually trying to help the youth of our country. You should feel very proud. It's enough to make me remember why I don't get your paper, and why I say no to the people that you place at colleges to try to sign people up... how ironic.

[Maryann Fuentes]

As an employee of Opportunities for Learning for the past 6 years, I have to say that I felt like this article was a slap in our faces. John and Joan Hall have been nothing short of 100% for their students.. We are basically the last stop for some of these kids. We have a wide range of students attending our Charter Schools. As for the statement that we don't know where our students go after they are withdrawn from school that is incorrect. Just like the big schools we can only do so much, every month we print out a list of all our enrolled and dropped students, then fax the list to the district with the understanding that they left us to re-enroll with the local school of their district. Who does the district fax their dropped list of names too?
Here are some of the reasons parents and students choose OFL/OFY
# 1. Overcrowding in schools.
# 2. Students are threatened and intimidated by gangs.
# 3. Students caring for minor children/parents.
# 4. Students with jobs.
# 5. Students lacking credits and will benefit from our academic recovery credit opportunities.
# 6. Students wanting to finish High School early so that they can go into the military.
# 7. Students like the idea of 10 hours community service for their senior projects.
# 8. The teachers are accredited or are NCLB compliant (no child left behind).
# 9. Students are blocked in 5 per hour only.
#10. Students and parents are able to call anytime and speak to their teachers regarding their progress, questions on homework or just to express any concerns they might have.
#11. Safe and clean environment.
#12. Students can take classes at the local college or ROP to receive even more credits.
#13. Students work independently on their work at home and are able to concentrate.
#14. Textbooks, packets, Art supplies and paper if needed are provided at no cost to the parent or student.
#15. We are a year round school.
#16. There is tutoring on Friday mornings in all subjects.
#17. All students are respected and treated as adults meaning they are responsible for their actions and progress in our program.

I have just touched the surface on the wonderful job Opportunities for Learning provides their students.

Maryann Fuentes
Opportunities for Learning
Center Coordinator
Lancaster, California

[Kristen Ross]

Dear Editor,
I hold a BA degree from UCLA (you may have heard of it) where I graduated cum laude in 2000. I received my teaching credential through UCI after completing one of the most rigorous teacher training programs in the country. I am a dedicated professional and upon moving to LA, had several offers of teaching jobs in "good" schools. I chose to work at Options For Youth. I feel that you have unfairly maligned our program and included information in your article that is either misleading, or patently untrue. Yes, we are an independent study program, and yes, we do deal with at-risk students, but we offer them more, not less, than traditional public schools. Our ultimate goal with every student is different and we tailor educational plans for each student on an individual basis. Using the 11% graduation rate figure is disingenuous as our goal for all of our students is not always a diploma from us. Some of our students are simply behind in credits and want to return to their neighborhood schools when they have completed courses that they have failed. Others have gaps in their education due to frequent moves or incompatible courses from another state or country. We catch them up and send them on their way, just as planned. Some of them come to us during vacations preferring to use their off time to get ahead and graduate early. Some of our students became ill and were unable to attend regular classes. A few are working actors who cannot attend school full time. Many students work full time to help support their families or are parents themselves. Many drop out because school has become too much of an ordeal for them to take. We give them an alternative to continuation schools, or giving up altogether and facing a lifetime of living on poverty wages.
Student descriptions of a typical day at their home school often include details of sexual harassment, threats of violence, fear of ridicule, easy access to drugs, and relentless bullying by more popular peers. They speak of counselors they have never met and teachers who never bothered to learn their names. They are given classes in Floral Arranging and Introduction to Agriculture instead of courses in remedial math. I have students who have been placed in Algebra classes over and over again without ever having passed a math class in their entire academic careers. The majority of my students are Hispanic and fully fluent in Spanish, yet they are forced to take two years of this "foreign" language when they really need remedial English. These are truly the "invisible students". Welcomed in when the federal funds are doled out according to enrollment numbers, and quietly encouraged to leave before the next round of standardized tests begin for fear that they will lower the school's API figures. Woe to the student who is creative or "different". Regardless of whether they are gifted or challenged, they are ignored, disregarded, and discouraged. The common thread; they were all failed by an education system that takes a one-size-fits-all approach and is unable or unwilling to make any kind of alteration even when it is coming apart at the seams. It is obvious that it is the system that is failing the students rather than vice versa.It's no wonder they drop out in droves!
The Halls created Options For Youth because they believe that every single student can succeed, if they are given the support and encouragement that we provide them in our program. In traditional school I had 240 students who were gone at the end of the semester. Most students, regrettably, got little or no individual attention, it was logistically impossible. At Options I have 52 students, each of whom gets my individual attention at every single appointment. I know my kids inside and out. I know their dreams and their fears, their failures and their struggles. I know where they have been and where they want to go and what obstacles lie in their paths and I do everything within my power every single day to help them get there. I number among my students former gang members, habitual truants, runaways, throwaways, and wards of the court. My kids have been in jail, rehab, group homes, and youth camps. My approach with each student is different, just as they are. I am probation officer, parent, counselor, cheerleader, disciplinarian, and sympathetic listener. I mourn their losses and celebrate their victories, no matter how small they might seem to others. Each class completed is acknowledged and celebrated. Each test passed gets applause. Hugs, fun facts, smiles, and lollipops are dispensed on a daily basis. I use humor, make connections between subjects with which they are familiar, and take the time to explain often difficult concepts in a way that my students can understand. I have the freedom to try new methods, think outside the box, and change my approach depending upon the student's cognitive level and learning style. Every teacher in our center is a dedicated professional and not one of us is working on an emergency credential.
If one of my students misses their appointment, I make phone calls home and I don't give up until I have spoken with a parent or a family member. Mail that gets intercepted by the student is sent to a relative or neighbor who gives it to Mom or Dad. I also follow up on students who leave the program, as do my colleagues. I make phone calls every day to see if a student has enrolled in another program, returned to traditional school, or moved to another location. Your article makes it seem as if students just wander in and out with no accountability. I can assure you that this is not the case. I am in contact with several former students who have returned to traditional school and I call or send notes to check on their progress, offer encouragement, and cheer them on. I do the same for my current students. I let them know what I expect of them, and I also let them know if they are falling behind, not AFTER it is too late, but before. Failure is not acceptable. If they don't understand a concept, regardless of the subject, I go over it again and again and again until they do. If I see that a student is completely unprepared for Algebra, I can offer him a class that starts at the most basic level in order to build up his skills. I can sign him up for small group instruction classes that are taught by teachers credentialed in guess what? Math! Your article failed to mention that these classes are available. Your article also failed to mention that our teachers hold credentials in subjects ranging from History and Science to English and Art Education and we are always willing to help any student regardless of who his regular teacher is. In our center alone we have teachers that speak Spanish, French, Italian, German, Latin, Hebrew, and Japanese. Not quite the ill-trained novices whose desires for student success are rooted in the pursuit of a $500.00 bonus are we?
I don't treat students as if they are bothering me if they need extra help or want to ask a question. They are not embarrassed to be singled out in front of their peers if they don't understand. We have only one attitude in our center; positive. And do you know what? Regardless of what your statistics say, It works! A full-time construction worker who dropped out of 9th grade just wrote me an essay on Orwell's 1984 that would have earned an A in a College Literature course. A teenage mom has aced every single class I have given her including Latin American History, US Government, Advanced English, and Art History. She has made Who's Who of American Students and is a finalist for a $5000.00 scholarship that has named her as a role model for young Latinas. I have students who are nearly 20 and have enough credits to qualify them for 9th grade. I refuse to give up on them and they are rising to the challenge. One of them, a young father whose last school experience ended three years ago and who works full time pouring concrete came in last night to turn in his required work. He didn't just complete his class, he earned a perfect 100% on a difficult unit test. I ordered a High School Diploma today for a student whose life spiraled out of control after his brother was killed by gang members. He begins Criminal Justice classes this week at a local college so he can realize his dream of becoming a police officer. Another recent graduate took four cumulative unit tests in Algebra 1B in a single day, passing them all. Then she went to the hospital and delivered her son by caesarian section. I was allowed the time to really get to know a student that was described as "morose, depressed, angry, and nonverbal" and discovered the most incredible artistic ability I have ever seen. He stopped by the other day to share his adventures from his first year at Art College and to give me a gift that provides me with all the evidence I need to let me know that what we are doing is working. It is a stunning self-portrait. He's smiling.

Kristen Ross
AR Teacher
Options For Youth
Sylmar 1
12677 Glenoaks Blvd
Sylmar, Ca. 91342
818-367-7158

[rm]

Algebra, in and of itself, is not that difficult for students to understand or to teach; I’ve been teaching algebra to high school students in Los Angeles now for about fifteen years. What makes algebra difficult for some, and I think the biggest reason why students fail algebra, is that students do not have a strong foundation in basic math. The “x” in the equation x + 18 = 27 will not confuse a single student that knows how to add or subtract. My daughter in elementary school routinely solves problems like this. Unfortunately, I have students in high school that don't know their multiplication table and recently I’ve had students that don’t know how to carry in addition (regroup) and don’t know how to borrow in subtraction! How are we supposed to teach these kids algebra if they can’t even add or subtract? These kids will continue to fail algebra no matter how much we water down the subject. Algebra is not the problem here--kids must be proficient in basic math in order to understand algebra. I STRONGLY believe that we should be allowed to teach basic math in high school again. We might be able to give a few more students a chance at passing algebra.

There are some students, however, that have decent basic math skills and still fail algebra. Based on my experience, I've listed a few reasons why students with decent basic math skills still fail algebra.

1) High absentee rate. Unlike some English classes where a student can return after several days of being absent, read a book, and turn in a book report, math classes just do not work that way. Because math is sequential, students that are absent regularly often fall behind and many eventually fail. It is extremely difficult for an average student to miss three or four days of school, pick up an algebra book, understand what it says, and turn in the missing work. The vast majority of our students simply cannot do this; their math skills are just not that strong. In order to learn algebra, most students will need to be present during lectures and be involved in class discussions. Parents must ensure that their children attend school everyday unless they are EXTREMELY ill.

2) Poor attitude toward algebra by students, parents, and our society in general. Many students feel that they will never need algebra so what’s the point of learning it? Many parents feel the same way—“I took algebra in high school and passed it, but I’ve never used it in my entire life.” Comments like this by a student’s parent or someone else they look up to will influence the child into not taking algebra seriously. Algebra is much more than simply using symbols to solve complicated problems, it helps students develop strong problem solving skills; it helps students become critical thinkers; it helps students determine whether their solutions to complicated problems are reasonable. Do you think that at some point in their lifetime students will ever have to solve a problem and analyze the validity of their solutions? Of course they will! All stakeholders—parents, teachers, administrators and especially students must be made aware that algebra is important and that students must take it seriously. If we cannot convince students that algebra is important then I believe students will continue to fail at a very high rate.

3) Students feel no pressure to pass ANY class in our educational system, including algebra. Many of my students when faced with the realization that they will have to work hard to pass prefer to simply do nothing and choose to fail. When I confront them about this the overwhelming response is “Ah, I’ll just take it in summer school. It’s only five weeks.” This attitude just burns me up, but I am at a loss as to what to do about it. Summer school has helped some students develop an indifferent attitude toward school. Students take algebra 1 and fail, and then they retake it during summer school and “earn” and “A.” The following year they’ll take geometry and fail, but once again they’ll take it during summer school and “earn” another “A.” This cycle continues until they meet their graduation requirements or their a-g requirements. Unfortunately, there is not enough time during the summer to teach all the necessary/required topics in algebra, or any math class beyond algebra. Five weeks is also not enough time for students to internalize the material they are bombarded with. Five weeks during the summer can never replace forty weeks during the academic school year, period. As a result some students graduate high school with little to no math skills.

4) Many students are just plain lazy and parents are too tired to give a damn. Both parents of just about all of my students work to put enough food on the table and pay their bills. Unfortunately, this means that there is less parental involvement. Many parents do not check their child’s homework, they don’t return phone calls, they don’t come to parent conferences, and they basically are too tired or too lazy to get involved. At best this causes many students to have a nonchalant attitude toward school and at worst it permits students to become huge discipline problems. In order to learn math effectively students MUST get lots of practice in solving a variety of problems. A “database” of problem solving techniques and skills is built with each new problem that a child solves. The more problems they solve the better they become at solving new types of problems. When students choose not to do homework, they do not receive the necessary practice they need to learn math; they short-circuit the most important factor in learning math—drill and practice. It is critical to convince students to take pride in their work, complete their assignments, and parents, tired or not, must get involved in their kid’s education. Without parental involvement, we all fail.

Before closing I’d just like to say that despite all the baggage carried by some of our students, many of them have found success in math—from algebra through calculus. This is a credit to our students, our hard working teachers in LAUSD, and to some of our administrators.

rm

[Vanessa Martinez]

I am writing because this misleading report should not undermine my time at Options For Youth and the students there that continue to work hard everyday when traditional schools have failed them. Having once been an avid reader of the Times, I was very disappointed in the misleading content throughout this article and now begin to doubt every article I have ever read in this publication.
There are hundreds of our students’ stories to be told about their triumphs and reaching their goals. It is disappointing that they chose to take advantage of one determined student’s story to use as bait in this expose. If this story is going to be about the management of the school, then leave the students out of it. They are busy trying to reach their goals, do their homework, and learn about who they are and where they are going. If this story is going to be about numbers and figures, then leave the teachers out of it. We are busy working diligently with our students to help them reach their goals and become responsible adults.
The story fails to mention my student’s progress, her close friendship with other students at Options, and that she is about two months from earning her diploma. It fails to mention that almost one-fourth of my students are graduating this summer and are excited about their ceremony. Their progress is no less rewarding than students in a traditional school who sit confused in the back of algebra class or who give up and don’t attend class at all, yet manage to scrape by and graduate.
Claiming that I am “inexperienced” shows unqualified reporting. I have earned a Master’s degree in Education and Professional Clear Teaching Credential. Simple investigation would also show that I have spent countless classroom hours student teaching under qualified mentor teachers at two different high-achieving schools in the Los Angeles School Unified District; my work with the national literacy program, America Reads; helping to implement the America Counts program at the Miami Museum of Science; and assistant residence director at a distinguished college preparatory school.
Leaving Options to move out of state was a difficult decision for me. Teachers and staff that I’ve had the honor to work with were like family to me; teachers who, unlike the article misrepresents calling “inexperienced”, are in fact highly qualified and devoted teachers.
Readers should know that not every student fits into the traditional school mold. In my time at Options, I worked with brilliant and creative students who were largely overlooked at their schools. I hope that there will always be school alternatives where teachers uncover these qualities in their students and feel rewarded everyday.

[Chad Peters]

As a teacher at an Independent Study Charter school I am highly offended by the article of February 4th. I am highly qualified to teach students, and I do teach. Many of the students that are in my school would have left high school and never graduated. We have given them a chance to get a diploma and go on to college. It is true that not every student graduates from our program, but the many who do would not have graduated in the traditional school. We have given those students a chance to earn their diploma, where the traditional public school failed them.
Furthermore, I do not believe it is fair for the Times to look at one teacher/student encounter and say that we are unexperienced. I admit that there is a great deal I do not know, but I have never left a student with a question. My colleagues and I have worked tirelessly with every student that comes through our doors on every subject. The things I don't know, I learn and then I teach it to the students.
I do not think it is fair for the Times to write such an inflammatory article without truly looking at the facts. I believe that the Times has a hidden agenda that if examined closely would reveal their true motive in writing this article.
I challenge anyone who reads this article to check with the Charter Commission to see if OFY or OFL has met the requirements set forth by the commission, and that they have moved above and beyond the minimum requirements.
Finally I challenge the puppet masters(CTA)behind the authors of this article to come forth with real substantiated evidence that OFY or OFL is not doing the right thing.
If you can prove to me that I am not doing the right things for my students then I will be the first person to join you in line, but until you see what we are doing to help these students then I suggest you start by cleaning up the real problems of the school districts, and entitlements that they have. Perhaps even start looking at the biggest lobbyist in Sacramento arguing to keep the status quo. When you have done this then you will see who the true villain is.

[a.t.]

The excellent articles by the Times have exposed to the masses what many already know. Our students are woefully prepared for the rigors of high school. The Times mentioned many of the problems which include social promotion, truancy, lack of consequences, overpopulation, language and cultural barriers. We must also include subcultural barriers.(gangs) Can these problems be solved? Yes, but not by the public schools. Private schools are the only schools that can select which students they want, and enforce standards of dress, conduct, attendance, and achievement. As a long time teacher in L.A. city schools I know firsthand the problems that state of California is facing in the future and I'm concerned. The face of California is changing, and when these kids grow into adults----Look out California!!!!

[Anonymous]

I think it is sad that all of these kids are dropping out of school. It would be unfortunate if they had no where else to go. Fortunately, programs like Options For Youth (OFY) have opportunities for students to "catch up" in credits that they would have not otherwise have had the opportunity to do in the traditional setting. They are not given the proper credit for being an Academic Recovery program. OFY helps thousands of kids each year that would have otherwise "vanished." When 10% of their students graduate that is 10% that might not have made it otherwise. A large percent of the rest of the students are successful in making up credits to these students re-join their class to graduate. Credits that would have been impossible to make up in summer school, where a measley 10 credits can be done. When students fail a whole year of school can the traditional schools help them? What about traditional Independent programs through the district? How structured are they? Options For Youth has only grown in the structure of their program while also being scrutinized while doing so. So where should drop outs go if they do not have opportunities such as they have with Options For Youth? The truth is OFY is helping this "vanishing class" to re-appear. Yes, drive must exist in these individuals and that is what we help them to find.

[Taylor]

Great series, but as one of the previous comments indicated, it failed to address the biggest problems in education. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY and PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT.. Until those two areas are addressed, it does not matter what new ways of teaching you come up with.

[S.T.]

As even-handed as the writers of this series have tried to be, the glaring omission has consistently been an expectation of participation in the education process and of behavior that reflects young adulthood rather than pre-adolescence. Without quantifiable physical/intellectual deficits, graduating from high school cannot reasonably be likened to "climbing Mount Everest". The problem is that high school grade level academic skills cannot be acquired through chronic absenteeism, lack of serious effort on homework and classwork, and a generalized apathy about the importance of academic participation. No matter how cutting edge the technology or teaching techniques, the school cannot learn for the student. The reference to Blanca Garibay's 'unplanned pregnancy' is telling in the writer's choice of words. If, as with many teens, Blanca was not using birth control, the pregnancy was certainly not unplanned. Persistent, observable reality demonstrates that pregnancy is the expected result of such behavior. Such wording is prevalent in the series as well as education policy. This wording assumes and rewards a horrendous level of blind ignorance among young adults. At the same time, such language enables said ignorance by implying an object of blame such as our school system or its teachers rather than the individual who is exhibiting the behavior. If a cook sets out a table full of food, is he to blame if someone chooses not to partake and goes hungry? It is time for a large segment of our society to assume personal responsibility for their lack of academic progress and quit spending so much time, effort, and taxpayer dollars trying to evade the consequences of their poor choices by blaming the schools and teachers for their social and academic stasis. It would be helpful to our society if The Times and other news media encouraged such personal responsibility by focusing on the behaviors that contribute to high school dropout rates rather than the failure of the schools to coerce academic achievement from those who display a chronic disregard for academic endeavor in general.

[Nancy Yang]

It is hard to fathom how so many kids out there are failing. It is sad really. They simply need a guiding hand and someone to simply look out for them first and foremost, but we have to prepare children for the next grade especially high school. Everyone is stressing the importance of education but you have to do something about it. Teach the teachers; encourage the students. Everyone has to work together so that success in our terms nowadays is possible for everyone.

[a Mulholland Student]

It is sad how so many people drop out. This story is shocking and people need to be ashamed of themselves. I think Svetlana is making a good decision on making her brother got to school. She actually did something good. This story about Svetlana made me think about my future. I will finish all the schools I need to get a good job and not get paid just the minimum. I think this is a good story to influence people to finish school. People just have to get what they want and like and follow their hearts.

Maria B