"Haycox Has Hopes"
Oxnard school turning a cornerBy T. Biasotti
February 16, 2006
Before she started third grade last fall, Grisel Gonzalez's teachers had always taught her mostly in Spanish. She was learning to read and write in Spanish, but she barely knew her English alphabet.
"The first day I was scared, because I didn't know how to spell in English, but now I can do it," she said, after reciting the English letters of her name. When she got to the "i" she hesitated, then said, "like in ¿igloo.' "
Grisel is a walking, talking, pigtailed sign of the deep changes this year at her school, Haycox School in south Oxnard. Haycox is the only school in Ventura County that's in its fifth year of "program improvement," the term for schools that repeatedly fail to meet the federal government's benchmark test scores.
But the parents, teachers and administrators at Haycox all think the K-5 school is turning a corner this year, thanks to an entirely new approach that has teachers at every level teaching in English most of the time.
Ask Haycox Principal Janet Lee why the school has had such trouble with its test scores, and she points out that it might have the hardest task in the county: More than 80 percent of the students do not speak fluent English, and 94 percent are from families poor enough to qualify for federally funded lunches. No school in the county has more students in both of those categories, according to California Department of Education records.
The federal No Child Left Behind Act demands sweeping changes at a school that reaches its fifth year of program improvement. At Haycox, the biggest change is a new emphasis on teaching children to speak, write and read in English as soon as possible. The old way of doing things allowed many teachers to teach in Spanish until the third grade.
"We thought, why are we continuing to teach in their primary language when it's obvious they need to learn English to perform well on the test?" Lee said.
Testing comes next month
The real test will come next month, when students begin to take this year's math and language arts tests. The results will be released in the fall.
Just 16.5 percent of the school's students scored "proficient" or better last year on the state's English and language arts test; No Child Left Behind says that at least 24.4 percent of students must meet the proficiency standard. Haycox meets state and federal standards with its math scores.
Lee said she's not sure whether the English and language arts scores will meet the standards this year, but she's confident they'll be better than last year's.
"I think we're going to show significant improvement, because the test is in English, and they're speaking so much more English this year," she said.
In past years, Haycox let parents of young Spanish-speaking students choose whether to place their children in English-only classes, "sheltered immersion" classes taught mostly in English, or bilingual classes taught mostly in Spanish. By the fourth grade, they were placed in English-only classes.
Most parents chose the bilingual classes. Last year, there was one kindergarten class taught in English, one sheltered immersion class, and five taught mostly in Spanish.
This year, the ratio is flipped -— there are six sheltered immersion classes, one English-only class and no Spanish classes.
Under Haycox's new plan, kindergarten teachers must spend at least half of their time teaching in English. In first grade, the minimum jumps to 70 percent English, and it continues to climb until the fourth grade, when classes are conducted entirely in English.
The new strategy is mandated by No Child Left Behind, which demands some sort of "restructuring" when a school reaches its fifth year of program improvement. The other things the Hueneme Elementary School District could have done are much harsher: fire the principal and the staff, turn the school into a charter school, or turn it over to the state or a private management company.
Changing minds
Still, not everyone was on board. Five teachers left Haycox, Lee said, and a few parents sent their children elsewhere. But everyone who's stayed is completely behind the new program, she said.
Lee, herself a bilingual teacher for years before she became Haycox's principal in 2002, said she was "ambivalent" at first about the new strategy.
She still believes bilingual education has its place, but the changes she's seen this year have convinced her Haycox is on the right path.
"I think these kids will do better throughout their careers in school, because they'll have the benefit of learning more English early on," she said. "A 5-year-old's job is to learn language. It's an optimum time to teach a child English."
There are drawbacks, she said. Young children who are just learning English miss many of the nuances of their lessons.
"It's difficult sometimes," said Jeanne Alvarez, a kindergarten teacher at Haycox. "When you read a story (in English), you know there are things they don't understand. I use a lot of pictures and a lot of gestures to help them."
But like her principal, Alvarez is certain that the new program is worth it.
"The kids are learning a lot, so quickly," she said. "They speak to each other in English, even when they're not talking to me. ¿ I was worried, and I'm surprised at how well they're doing."
All eyes on Haycox
If Haycox does not show immense improvement in its English and language arts scores, the school will enter its sixth year of program improvement, and the possibility of a staff housecleaning or a state takeover will remain.
Lee knows that the school's poor test scores mean she could be fired at any time.
"It certainly makes this an interesting job," she said.
Even if Haycox misses its targets this year, Lee will keep her job, said Robin Freeman, the Hueneme district's assistant superintendent for educational services. Last year, when the district decided upon a restructuring plan, there was "no interest at all" in firing the principal, closing the school or taking any of the more severe measures that No Child Left Behind authorizes, she said.
In fact, the district is so pleased with the way Lee is leading Haycox's turnaround that it may use the school as a model, said Sergio Robles, the district's director of bilingual education and other special programs.
"All eyes in the county are on Haycox," he said. There are a lot of Haycox-like schools, so what works there has plenty of likelihood of working in other places. It's pioneering work."