Warning, Little Brother in the classroom

Antero Garcia, an English teacher at Manual Arts High, writes:

Recently, our school installed several security cameras around campus. Our school’s safety committee has reported that these cameras have caught acts of vandalism and theft. The request of parents for several years, the security cameras are an addition at Manual Arts that is not without controversy; most students say they disapprove of being constantly watched or at least the possibility of being watched.

Somewhat inspired by dialogue with my students about the security cameras, I decided to try an experiment in my classroom. Every day, I have asked a student in my class to videotape all of the class interaction. Armed with a couple of Flip video camcorders (They only record for 60 minutes, which means we need two per class.), a student captures every conversation, discussion, and misstep I might make in my class on a daily basis. I chose the Flip cameras because of their simplicity: power, play, record, and zoom are pretty much the extent of the buttons on the camera –- I’ve never needed to show students how to use the cameras.

The experiment is public: I told the students they would be taped (and got parental consent), that the tapes would not be shared outside of the classroom, and that students did not have to be taped if they were uncomfortable. Students absent from class are encouraged to review the previous day’s lesson as the files are always available.

There are two things that are most interesting to me, as the teacher, about this experiment:

The students interested in taping the class have often been the students who are least engaged with my lessons in the past –- students sneaking peaks at cell phones, talking with friends, or going on extended restroom breaks. Instead, each day one of these students is actively focused on following the action of the class, capturing how the class interacts and ensuring that the entire lesson is faithfully recorded.

Opening the conversation on achievement gap

Carlos Garcia, second from right, is president of the Asia Club at Lincoln High School. He is with his Cabinet members during a lunch-hour meeting.

Writing about anything dealing with race, ethnicity or cultural differences is like a big Rorshach test. Everyone sees something different. I got a lot of e-mails about the story about ethnic achievement gaps, and most said they thought it was good that it ran in The Times.

Some e-mailers said the story should have delved into genetics and IQ. A few questioned why I would write such a story, saying it reinforced stereotypes.

But most e-mailers were thoughtful, even if they wondered why I didn’t delve into other issues. One wrote that Asians “outperform the rest of us” not just because of expectations, but because of their “willingness and ability to delay gratification.”

That issue came up during my reporting, but I had limited space for the story. Most of the time, it was Latino parents who brought it up.

Antonia Hernandez, 46, said that from when her children were very young, she noticed that the Asian children seemed to wear less expensive clothing than the Latino children.

“I see the Chinese children with cheap tennis shoes, even Payless, and our kids, they want the best sneakers,” Hernandez said. “They say, ‘How am I going to wear those cheap shoes?’ It’s different priorities.”

I met Hernandez at a meeting at Lincoln High for the parents of students failing algebra, a graduation requirement. She listened nervously as math teachers spoke, worried about her 14-year-old son, Gabriel. She told me she tried to stress to him the importance of education, but that he just wanted to be done with school so he could work.

AP exam controversy

A rally protesting the cancellation of Advanced Placement scores at Trabuco Hills High School drew scores of chanting, sign-wielding students, parents and teachers to the school on Wednesday.

State Assemblyman Todd Spitzer also showed up. Not only is the school in his district, but Spitzer is a former AP English teacher who well understands the studying that students put in for the exams and believes that they are being treated unfairly by the College Board and the Educational Testing Service, which administers the tests.

The exams test college-level work in 22 subjects that can earn students credit and advanced placement at most colleges and universities.

"I taught at Roosevelt High School in East L.A., 10th-grade English and a 12th-grade AP class," Spitzer, a Republican from Orange, said before the rally. "When you take an AP course you're teaching students specifically to take the exam. I went to UCLA in 1978, and kids were coming into college already sophomores on paper because they earned enough AP credit. For some families it's clearly a financial question, because they weren't counting on paying for the extra units, the housing, etc."

A legal battle is looming over the ETS' decision to cancel the scores of 385 Trabuco Hills students after an on-site investigation found that the Mission Viejo school violated numerous testing protocols, including the use of inattentive proctors, cellphone use by students and unauthorized restroom breaks.

A July 11 ETS report details specific infractions during the May exams. In the AP statistics exam, for example, there were too few proctors for the 52 test takers, students were seated facing one another, cellphones were used, there was student contact with a test taker in an earlier time zone, and students were authorized to work after time was called.

Ten students were found guilty of cheating on AP microeconomics, macroeconomics and statistics exams by using their cellphones to send text messages. The 375 other students will be able to retake the exams beginning Aug. 6-12. Review sessions will also be offered, and students will be able to check out textbooks from the library.

The timing of the reexaminations will allow the tests to be scored and sent to colleges before fall classes begin, ETS spokesman Jason Baran said.

Nonetheless, students and parents, who have formed a group called Justice for 375 Trabuco Scholars, have retained an attorney and said they will sue to restore the AP scores.

"The ETS is acting as both test administrator, evaluator and now court of law," Spitzer said. "We feel because this is such an egregious miscarriage of justice ... we want them to have to come take the stand under oath and have to defend this decision."

-- Carla Hall

Near-dropouts rehearse for graduation

“Pomp and Circumstance” blared from a small silver boom box Tuesday in the cavernous auditorium of Hollywood High. But graduation ceremonies are long past. Instead, the music was playing for 21 students going through paces for their own little-noticed event.

Leading the line was Angel Yos, who could barely contain his enthusiasm. He performed the step-pause, step-pause procession march with the focus and aplomb of Baryshnikov. And the smile nearly exploded off his face as he practiced receiving his diploma.

Yos, like everyone else in line, had once been close to dropping out before arriving at the Alternative Education and Work Center, a program of the Hollywood Community Adult School of L.A. Unified. Today's Times profiles Yos and some of his classmates, along with information about new dropout statistics. (And see a photo gallery of the rehearsal.)

The center operates out of office space on the second floor of a Hollywood strip mall. Its clients are students who aren’t fitting in elsewhere. At the center, students do most of their work off-site, coming in as required or desired for testing and tutoring.

Yos, 18, started having trouble in school because he had to look after four younger siblings and help with the family business. His father operates a discount store and also sells at swap meets. Under the stress, Yos slacked off in his studies. He even started abusing alcohol and smoking pot.

“Teenagers, with their lack of wisdom, we tend to find relief in any sort of substances,” he said. Yos had fallen so far behind in credits at Fairfax High that graduation began to seem unlikely.

-- Howard Blume

A new way to compare schools

A new state website has been launched to help parents and others compare schools. School Finder includes information such as graduation rates, Academic Performance Index scores and the availability of Advanced Placement courses.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the launch today. It was created in a partnership with Google and Microsoft.

(Try using School Finder and let us know what you think.)

"In a few simple clicks it will be easy to find a wealth of information," the governor said at a Sacramento news conference. He compared the new site with those consumers use when they're shopping for a new car and want to make side-by-side comparisons.

"This will keep schools on their toes, allow parents to make better choices and allow our children to have a better education.... We want parents to literally know everything about every school."

The site will use data that were already being compiled by the state. But the governor said that data had been difficult for parents to access, and some underperforming schools have been slow to report it. Schwarzenegger said he hopes the website will increase transparency and put pressure on schools to meet deadlines for reporting data.

"There has been a tradition of withholding information," he said.

-- Evan Halper

New California dropout data will track individual students

The public today could start getting a better picture of how many California students are dropping out of school. For the first time in California, dropout rates will be measured based on the tracking of individual students across the entire state.

The goal is a more realistic count, which is expected to be worse than the numbers generated by the state's previous process for tabulation. Under the old formula, the state's four-year dropout rate for the class of 2006 was 13.9%. But that doesn't match up with raw attrition numbers for students from that class. There were 461,133 eighth-graders in the class of 2006, but only 349,207 graduates, a decline of 24.3%. Both numbers are considered flawed for various reasons.

Dropout rates have long been among the most distrusted statistics compiled by educators. For one thing, there is no system to audit the self-reported figures from schools. L.A. Unified has addressed this issue by generating lists of potential dropouts at the district level rather than at schools. But schools statewide frequently have broad latitude for classifying a student's departure as something other than dropping out.

Some of these problems will persist in the new system. If a school claims that a student left the state or country, the state will not check that claim. Other states face the same challenge because there is no universal student tracking. But if a school district claims a student transferred to a school in California, the new state system will now either verify or refute that claim. Each California student now will have a unique number.

Should SAT, ACT tell why they cancel?

Anum Khan, a student at Whitney High School in Cerritos, writes:

Honestly, I only read the article “SAT, ACT cheats face no penalty” because it had those two acronyms in it: SAT and ACT.

The two that seem to rule high schoolers lives. And it turned out to be about cheating, another hot topic.

The article focused on the fact that if students were suspected of cheating on either test, their only consequence was a canceled score. Test makers said that they did not want to play the role of the disciplinarian, so they don’t prevent people from taking the test again.

Thus, a student whose score has been canceled can simply retake it, without any record of cheating, or consequence on their college application.

Obviously, the fact that students who cheat on the SAT and ACT can retake them (and that colleges never know that students have cheated in the first place) is disturbing. But what also bothers me is that the students never know what their tests are being canceled for.

Also obviously, I’m not advocating cheating. But shouldn’t students (and the colleges they apply to) know why a score was canceled? And what if it’s canceled when the student is applying to college (thus making it harder for a student to retake the SAT or ACT as easily as the article suggests).

And there’s always the small possibility that the student didn’t cheat.
Whether it is for a problem with the proctor, or with the actual test (other reasons why a score can be canceled without previous knowledge), or in fact for cheating, students deserve to know why their scores have vanished into thin air, and been canceled.

I would hope that the $45 students pay for the SAT, and $44.50 for the ACT, can pay for at least that service.

Tale of a homeless teacher

Antero Garcia, a teacher at Manual Arts High School, writes:

In case you haven’t visited before, Manual Arts is a big school. There are thousands of students on our campus each day, shuffling through the year on a three-track schedule. Similarly, there are lots of teachers filling classrooms, doing their best every single day. The only slight snag in the entire scenario is that there isn’t enough room for every teacher to have his or her own classroom. I’ll be one of several teachers who will be “roving” or traveling from one classroom to another throughout the school day.

Although traveling from classroom to classroom isn’t necessarily the ideal teaching situation, I’ll admit that I don’t mind it that much. Sure, I don’t have my own desk, my own bookshelf, or even a lot of board or wall space for student work. However, I can often use these drawbacks as excuses to pillage and plunder the resources of my oh-too-kind hosts. In actuality, the classrooms I’m teaching in this year are all members of the same Small Learning Community -- sharing students and teaching themes allows me to share common resources within the community. I’m also privy to the innovative and exciting lessons taking place in other teachers’ classrooms. Sure, I may need to hustle a bit faster to get to my classroom on time (just like the students), but at least I can see something interesting when I get there.

Let the games begin!

Teacher Antero Garcia from Manual Arts High School writes:

July 1st marks the beginning of another exciting year at Manual Arts. Like last year (aka last week), I’ll be teaching the 11th and 12th graders in the School of Communication and Global Awareness. Also like last year, my goals in the classroom will be to develop critically thinking students that are prepared for college.

I have several stimulating surprises in store for my students. I hope to share their learning experiences with you as they unfold. In the meantime, I recommend keeping an eye on the Daily Polluter (http://www.blackcloud.org/) and be wary of the Black Cloud that will be soon overtaking our classroom.

As for the school at large, the future for Manual Arts is bright. July marks the beginning of our school’s planning year as an LAUSD Design School (formerly the Innovation Division). Throughout the year, our school will be working closely with our network partners MLA Partnership Schools and WestEd to create proactive change for our community of students.

Sure, you may be comfortably resting or vacationing right now. However, for both my students and me this is the start of another journey. I’ve done my best to ensure that it will be a fun one.

High school seniors honored for community service

One teen has volunteered at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and spearheaded local food-bank efforts. Another has helped out at both ends of the life cycle -- with toy drives and the Oldtimers Foundation. A third spoke out on behalf of the "Jena 6."

All three have been honored for their volunteerism by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The release announcing the honors follows:

Millikan students travel to Beijing for Olympic Cultural Festival

After months of rehearsing, furious fundraising and high anticipation, 45 students from Robert A. Millikan Middle School and Performing Arts Magnet embark today on a once-in-a lifetime trip: performing at the 2008 Olympic Cultural Festival in Beijing.

Students from the Sherman Oaks school will be performing excerpts from their musical theater production of "Ain't Misbehavin,' " as well as ballet, jazz and hip hop dance numbers and musical pieces such as the Pink Panther remix and "Tequila" performed by the school’s jazz band.

Selection of the Millikan students to represent the U.S. is a coup for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

"These students have a unique opportunity to serve as ambassadors for our country, our community and our district while performing for the eyes of the world to enjoy," LAUSD Superintendent David L. Brewer said in a statement.

The group also includes two student violinists from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and a violinist from Harvard Westlake, a private school, who will also perform.

The trip was arranged through the nonprofit Intercultural Educational Exchange Assn., which contacted the LAUSD about potential student performers. Millikan was chosen from a list of performing arts schools and sent copies of some of its production numbers to the Beijing Cultural Committee.

The school received the invitation in January, said assistant principal Leah Bass-Baylis. They then had to figure out how to cover the $3,000 per student costs of the trip.

The end of one school year, beginning of another

This is the final week of school for the current academic year. Teachers will be conducting finals, furiously grading papers, and packing up a year’s worth of student-created work, posters and calculated mess from their classroom. However, for half of the teachers currently teaching at Manual –- including myself –- this week doesn’t at all feel like the end. In fact, for those of us who teach, or are students on B-track at our year round school, our new academic school year will begin on July 1st. For those of you who don’t have a calendar in front of you, this means that teachers and students have no more than a three-day weekend to gear up for a new set of classes and teaching content.

I realize that in the traditional business world, there is no clear analogue to the summer vacation that most students are privy to. Why, you non-educator might ask, should I at all concern myself with the fact that you are beginning your year at the beginning of July? For these students, there is no sense of break from one grade to another. The months of May-August become a huge blur of new and old classes, assignments and looming deadlines. That’s not to mention that trying to learn and prepare for college during 100+ degree beach-friendly weather is a daunting proposition. And that refreshed, excited glow that teachers leisurely stroll into their classes with in the fall? Yeah, you won’t see too much of that. While I can guarantee that we’ll be prepared to teach on July 1st, it will have been after completing another exhausting year. There are many exciting developments that will be taking place as of July 1st and I look forward to writing about them soon. In the meantime, I’m frantically finishing grades, saying goodbyes to my class of seniors and preparing for a year that begins next Tuesday.

-- Antero Garcia

My graduation, my moment of silence

Nick Giulioni, a recent graduate of South Pasadena High School, writes:

I heard my name -- and then my world went silent.  Walking up onto the stage, I was vaguely aware of people cheering, but I was solely focused on the leather folder about to be handed to me.  I shook hands, grabbed the folder, blew a kiss at my family, hugged my former principal, and the moment was over. Someone decided to press the un-mute button as I found my way back to my seat as my friends and I hugged each other before sitting back down.  For over twelve years, we had been working for this moment, and it was over before we knew what had happened.

A few words of advice, from seniors to freshmen

Recently I had my soon-to-be-graduating seniors write letters to the incoming 9th graders. I asked the seniors to reflect on their journey over the past four years at Manual Arts and offer advice, encouragement, and warnings for the new students. The activity was one that allowed students to reflect one more time on the different challenges they have overcome. Most of these thoughts were already fresh in students’ minds from their recent senior presentations.

Advice included explaining to students to stay aware of the college A-G eligibility requirements, noting which campus bathrooms are most frequently locked, and explaining the process required to meet with a counselor to change a class. I’ve worked with most of these students for at least two years and it’s thrilling to see them improve their writing, reflect on their experiences,and guide a new class of Toilers to the Manual Arts family.

In a month that focuses most prominently on graduating seniors and college students, I found that my students appreciated being able to guide the students who will be taking their place. What advice would you give to the class of 2012?

-- Antero Garcia

Student finally gets in the driver's seat

Anum Khan, a student at Whitney High in Cerritos, writes:

Know what this is? Read on to find out.

I’m almost 17 1/2. And I still don’t have my license.

Granted, this isn’t the end of the world, but when I see sophomores driving, it may as well be.

My experience with getting my license has been a little more extensive than for most people. First, I failed my permit test. Twice.

            

When I finally passed (much to the disbelief of my parents and younger brother), it wasn’t until two months later that I actually started driving.

Fast-forward six months from my getting my permit to when I could actually schedule my driver’s license appointment. Turns out the permit expires one year from when you apply for one (not from when you pass the test).

            

Basically, I had little over a week to pass my license test. But no time that week to take it.

So my poor permit expired. Another month was wasted as I was now permitless, and could not drive. But I had made up my mind that during spring break I would finally re-take that test and renew my permit.

But then, my parents told me that we were going to San Fransisco for three days. Enough was enough, so I decided to just take the test in San Fransisco. It’s the same thing, right?

            

Eli and Edythe Broad scholarships

The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation has awarded $1 million in college scholarships to high school seniors whose school districts last year were recognized as the most improved urban districts in the country.

Those districts — which each received $125,000 in scholarships — were the Long Beach Unified School District, Bridgeport Public Schools in Connecticut, Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Florida and Northside Independent School District in Texas.

Seventeen seniors from Long Beach Unified received scholarships, which are awarded to students who improve their grades over the course of their high school years and show financial need.

"What is remarkable about these students is that they have demonstrated improvement over the course of high school and we look forward to their success continuing in college," Eli Broad said in a statement. He is the founder of the Los Angeles-based Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.

Each year, 100 of the largest urban school districts nationwide are eligible for the Broad Prize. The winner of the 2008 award will be announced Oct. 14.

The New York City Department of Education won the 2007 Broad Prize, earning $500,000 for best demonstrating academic performance and improvement, reducing gaps in income and ethnic achievement, and system-wide reforms.

This year’s finalists for the Broad Prize again include Long Beach Unified and Miami-Dade County Public Schools; Aldine Independent School District and Brownsville Public Schools, both in Texas; and Broward County Public Schools in Florida.

-- Carla Rivera

Student wonders how much to plan

Gabriela Canjura, a student in the humanities magnet at Hamilton High School, writes:

In my Spanish class, we recently learned the future tense and the future perfect tense. As exercises, our class wrote journal entries about what we wanted to do in the future and what we would have done by the age of 30. I listened somewhat attentively as my classmates spoke of becoming actors and architects, moving to other cities and countries, owning houses and starting families. I listened to teenagers who had an idea of where they wanted to go and what they wanted to do.

Needless to say, I had a rather difficult time writing on these topics. I am your typical teenager. I do plan ahead, but I’ve only planned up until getting into college. So when I am asked what I want to have accomplished by the age of 30 when I am a little over half that age, I find I have difficulty answering.

Of course I have aspirations. I am not unmotivated and driftless. However, I have noticed the growing emphasis on planning out every little thing that the school system can put on kids, especially with graduation drawing near. The underclassmen must prepare for becoming upperclassmen, the upperclassmen must prepare for college, and seniors must know exactly what they want to do in life. If we not do know all of these things, we will fail. “You must know exactly where you are going,” school tells us, “or else you can have nothing.”

I can understand this rush to plan for the future. Planning for the future is prudent, but not in the way it is being advocated. Planning for the future should be a general thing, such as making sure you have completed your graduation requirements, using resources that can help you apply to college and land a job, identifying passions that could be turned into a career. Planning for the future should not be about having an agenda so specific, one absolutely must buy a home by age 31, lest the timeline of life be thrown off.

Why late is never too late for one teacher

Antero Garcia, an English teacher at Manual Arts High, writes:

This happens to me every year around this time, and I kick myself for getting into this situation. Why am I doing this? How could I let so much amass so quickly?

I come to school bleary-eyed and exhausted. Stacks of essays, reports, letters and reflections are piled indiscriminately in my living room, in the backseat of my car, in my school mailbox and on my desk. I spend hours each night doing my best to put a dent in the unrelenting pile. Yet, despite these efforts, it continues to grow.

The problem is late work. More specifically, the problem is that I accept late work, and I should know better.

Comparing U.S. high schools to India, China

Next time you pick up your phone for computer help and someone answers in India, think about Bob Compton.

Compton is a venture capitalist from Memphis, Tenn., who is alarmed by what he sees when he travels the world --U.S. students falling behind their international counterparts when it comes to math and science.

A battle of the bands

Oliver Brown, a student in the music magnet at Hamilton High School, writes:

Pushing beaten half-stack amps and spray-painted guitar cases up Hollywood Boulevard, a group of musically minded high school students contended in the Blastbeat USA West Finals recently at the Musicians Institute. In a tremendous display of talent, these musicians came together to test their entrepreneurship and melodic ability in a nonprofit competition that is relatively new here in the United States.

                                                                                                                                                          

Graduation approaches: a copa of emotions

Nick Giulioni writes:

This year’s Copa de Oro (the 100th edition of South Pasadena High School’s yearbook) looks absolutely incredible. The graphics are amazing, featured stories are interesting and there are tons of pictures of me and my group. But when I received it, I flipped through a couple of pages, saw a picture of myself, promptly lost curiosity and put it away. I wasn’t interested in exchanging it with my friends to write notes. After a little introspection, I realized the reason for my lack of interest.

Unconsciously, I came to the conclusion that this was the last time I would be exchanging books with my friends so that we could wish one another a happy summer while summarizing the year. This was the time when I wouldn’t just be summing up the year, but my entire relationship with them. Unconsciously, I came to the conclusion that when my classmates wrote in my yearbook, that was goodbye.  I just didn’t want it to end.

Budget cuts: Students, where are you?

Oliver Brown, a student in the music academy at Hamilton High School, writes:

Last Friday morning, teachers crowded Robertson Boulevard with picket signs and banners in an attempt to slow the flood of budget cuts forcing their way into our education system.

Hoping to confront California's growing deficit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's new plan promises to cut millions from public schools and student programs, an extraordinary turn from his campaign ideals and ethics. A cabinet that assured that it would inspire and invest in the development of this generation, the governor's office has unflinchingly curtailed the funding of state education, an ironic hypocrisy from the beloved protagonist of "Kindergarten Cop."

So, marching across the pavement in the cool morning air, Hamilton teachers and sympathetic parents drearily protested the further injustices in our local schools. Threatening to enlarge class size and cut pay, this new plan suggests disastrous effects for these professors.

However, as I surveyed the rally, I noticed an enigmatic abnormality in the attendance of Friday's protest. In a school of nearly 4,000 students, maybe 50 had decided to show solidarity alongside their teachers. Instead, wave after wave of grinning and chatting kids chose to sit in the quad with the extra hour of freedom granted to them before the beginning of the revised bell schedule. Regardless of how these new budget changes might affect them and their companions, students remained apathetic to this crucial cause.

So I ask my peers: How can we remain so indifferent to the demise of our public schools? As, day after day, we complain of the faults and bureaucracy of the LAUSD, why do we waste our opportunities to change it?

Photo: Los Angeles High School biology teacher Burificacion Ibot by Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

High school exit exam

To earn a high school diploma in California, students must pass the state's two-year-old high school exit exam. During their sophomore, junior and senior years, they have six chances to take the exam, which tests eighth-grade-level math and ninth- or 10th-grade-level English.

More than 93% pass the test by the end of their senior year, and tens of millions of dollars is earmarked for remediation and intervention programs for those who don't. But a new study by the Public Policy Institute of California suggests that this is too late. Researchers discovered they could identify students who would struggle with the exam as early as the 4th grade, based on their grades, classroom behavior and standardized test scores. To read more about it, click here.

The entire study is available here.

-- Seema Mehta

Tests and more tests

Jimmy Biblarz, a student in the humanities magnet at Hamilton High, writes:

The term "over-testing" is a little misleading. Definitions of over-testing also differ among students, teachers, administrators and parents. I feel, and I can only speak from the perspective of a student, that over-testing exists and is detrimental to education. It is a rare occasion that I do not have a test or quiz of some kind.

An Advanced Placement class, four honors classes and Academic Decathlon make up my daily schedule, so a day that I don't have some exam is a blessing. Some teachers cleverly disguise them as "assessments," or "credit for your knowledge." Fill-in, short answer and multiple choice have slowly become my least favorite words.

Students pitch in for disaster relief

Even though they are half a world away, students at the Viewpoint School in Calabasas are providing hands-on assistance to survivors of Myanmar’s devastating cyclone, assembling more than 250 water purification kits that were dispatched to the country last week.

The mayor of Calabasas, members of the Calabasas Rotary Club and students from Calabasas High School joined about 15 Viewpoint students in an assembly line set up over three laboratories on the upper school campus.

Manual Arts votes for innovation

Antero Garcia, an English teacher at Manual Arts High, writes:

Results from the teacher vote regarding entering LAUSD’s Innovation Division were tallied last week. With 123 of our teachers voting to enter the new LAUSD program, as well as 93% of the parents voting for the program, it looks like Manual Arts will be joining a handful of select schools in creating our own  pathway for the success of our students.

Like the other schools in the Innovation Division, Manual Arts will work hand-in-hand with two network partners to ensure quality change for our students. WestEd and MLA Partnership Schools will help guide student-, teacher-, parent-, and community-centered change over the next five years.

For many of us, the tallied votes yesterday were a much-needed relief after working toward entering the Innovation Division since last August. Though the voting only ushers in much more work for the school’s community in the coming months, the announced results were met with grateful handshakes and enthusiastic hugs from many of Manual Arts’ teachers, students and community partners. For the 123 teachers who took a chance by voting for something new, this school reform feels refreshing, enticing, and exciting. The possibility of truly improving Manual’s students’ equity reaffirms my passion to create change in the classroom.

Separation anxiety for the class of 2008

Nick Giulioni writes:

With less than two weeks left of school, it appears as if South Pasadena High School is suffering from separation anxiety with the class of 2008.  There are tons of after-school events these last few of days, so that despite the relatively short period of time left, I feel as if I’m spending more time than ever on campus.

Senior Awards Night looms on the horizon, when students from the class of 2008 will receive dozens of awards and scholarships.  While students are not notified in advance what they will win, they are told that they will receive something.  As of now, I expect to accept an honor cord from the Journalism Society.

College Confidential seeds student anxiety

Anum Khan, a student at Whitney High School in Cerritos, writes:

If anything can be called a double-edged sword, it’s this: College Confidential.

It’s esentially the be-all and end-all for high school students to everything college. Discussions are organized into forums ranging from specific colleges, to testing, to transfer students, to dorm living, etc.

And though all this information can be helpful, it undoubtedly causes a lot of stress to high school students reading the site as well. I recently stumbled across one of the all too commonplace "chance" threads, where students ranging from seniors to seventh-graders list all of their accomplishments/statistics (we’re talking down to each class they took and what percent they got), every ballet award since preschool, and their exact GPA and SAT scores), asking if they have a chance at XYZ college.

One poster recently listed an SAT score of 2300 (out of 2400), and had the guts to ask if they should re-take it.

HELLO?!

It is people like this that make me -- and other “average” students -- feel less than competent.

Another person listed 12 languages that she was fluent in, asking if that would help her get into her dream school, Columbia University. As for the replies she got, almost all were skeptical about how she could truly be fluent in so many languages.

Long Beach students get scholarships

Seventeen students from the Long Beach district learned Wednesday they are receiving a total of $125,000 in Broad Prize scholarships, the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation announced. The Long Beach Unified School District was selected as a 2007 finalist for the $1-million Broad Prize for Urban Education.

Broad Prize scholarships are awarded to graduating high school seniors who have a demonstrated record of improving their grades over the course of their high school career and have financial need.

Since the Broad Prize was first awarded in 2002, 86 Long Beach students have received college scholarships.

Prom: Cruising to graduation

Nick Giulioni writes:

I looked around the limo, laughing with all my friends as we cruised down the 710. We were cuddled up with our dates on the way home from our senior prom, listening to "Ride With Me" (it has special meaning to us), when I realized just how little time we have left together. This was one of the last major events we would experience together. Logically, I knew that we had other experiences ahead, such as Grad Night, but nostalgia hit me like a wave nonetheless. In my mind, a door was closing, and I just was not ready.

Prom was an amazing night; it really was a culmination of all the fun that I have experienced in my four years at South Pasadena High School. We laughed, joked around, continued to do things that the school might not approve of, and it was fun. The school seemed to abandon its “war on freaking,” surrendering the dance floor at least for one night. But the night went by in a blur, faster than I ever thought possible, mimicking my years in high school. It was 4 a.m. before I knew it, when I collapsed into my bed.

Students document nature

Twenty students from EcoAcademy charter high school in the Pico-Union area of Los Angeles are spending four days with photographers from National Geographic to document nature in the Santa Monica Mountains.

"We give them cameras and teach them how to see a little bit differently," Karine Aigner said this afternoon from Leo Carrillo State Beach in Malibu. Aigner, senior photo editor at National Geographic Kids magazine and coordinator of the photo camp, interrupted our telephone conversation a few times to call out to the students such things as: "Look at that! Try to get it in the frame!"

The photo camp, one of 10 that National Geographic runs, is documenting the Santa Monica Mountains BioBlitz, an event hosted by the National Geographic Society and the National Park Service.

More than 1,400 students as well as scientists, naturalists, community leaders and volunteers will observe and document as many plant and animal species as possible in 24 hours, from noon today to noon Saturday, in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

The photo camp students were spread out at several sites today and will chronicle the BioBlitz from set-up through the closing moments, joining scientists and volunteers as they comb the park counting species.

EcoAcademy provides a comprehensive high school diploma program for approximately 100 youth who either dropped out of or were expelled from traditional high schools.

A final presentation of the students' work is scheduled at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at the National Parks facility in Thousand Oaks. The public is invited.

-- Mary MacVean
   

Teacher reflects on seniors’ presentations

Antero Garcia, an English teacher at Manual Arts High, writes:

Last week, while Manual Arts’ ninth, 10th and 11th graders spent their morning taking the California Standards Tests, the nearly 50 seniors in my Small Learning Community, the School of Communication and Global Awareness, presented their senior presentations, which have become an annual tradition. Each senior presented to an audience of teachers, peers, and invited guests a 30-minute overview of personal challenges and achievements throughout their high school careers.

As the principal English teacher for these students, I can attest that these culminating presentations are an annual source of anxiety and trepidation for many of the students. However, as the presentations rolled out in three different on-campus locations, I was overwhelmed with appreciation and wonder at the struggles my students have overcome throughout their four years at Manual Arts.

Many of these students discussed the importance of being the first in their family to graduate. Many discussed the struggles of learning English and coming to America as young teenagers. Nearly all of them discussed the struggles that overwhelmed many of their friends: ditching, drugs, gangs. These were reminders for students about the kinds of amazing effort students have put in simply to confront the standard academic challenges of the school.

Many of these seniors have volunteered to present their 30-minute overview to their younger community members. Over the next few weeks, many of the ninth- and 10th-graders from our small learning community will be engaged in listening to and asking questions about presentations they will be asked to create in the coming years.

This process of fostering academic rigor and celebrating our community members’ achievements has been integral to the success of our seniors. It’s a process that continues to thrill me daily.

Daniel Murphy Catholic High's last graduation

After 55 years as a prominent fixture in its Fairfax District neighborhood, Daniel Murphy Catholic High School graduates its last class of young men today.

The Los Angeles Archdiocese announced last October that the campus would close at the end of the school year, citing declining enrollment and financial challenges, some of which were brought about by the $600-million settlement of clergy abuse cases. Read more about Daniel Murphy here.

The archdiocese has not said what it will do with the campus, but students will move on to schools like St. Monica’s, Salesian, St. Genevieve, Cathedral, Loyola and Serra.

"Since the announcement of Daniel Murphy’s closure due to declining enrollment, the archdiocese has concerned itself with the future of the 165 students who are transferring to other schools," archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg said in a statement. "To date, every student who has applied to another Catholic high school has been accepted, and every request for financial aid has been granted."

-- Carla Rivera

An unexpected lesson from the AP tests

Phoebe Smolin, a student in the humanities magnet at Hamilton High School, writes:

I just took three Advanced Placement tests: U.S. history, art history and English language. These tests are known to carry with them nine months of hysteria, panic, and fear -- which are evident on many faces of the high-schoolers taking them.

I can relate to many of my peers, as I did not have a good time preparing for these tests either. It was not until I closed my last AP essay packet that my gloomy face gave way to a smile. I had, in fact, learned an unexpected lesson from these tests.

Preparing for these tests forced me to adapt to being nearly nocturnal, to eat to feed my panic and not my hunger and to say goodbye to my weekends. I would come home from school with mounds of paintings and artists to remember, U.S. presidents to evaluate and essays to prepare for. My schoolwork was constantly on my mind, and my house grew quiet because of my constant studying.

As May approached, the word “test” got increasingly loud and echoed along the halls of my school. My friends and I spoke in tongues to the rest of the world, as everything became a memorization trick.

Living in a study cocoon paid off: My tests were relatively easy. The U.S. history test flew by, even though it was my first AP test.

Grants for 'High School Musical'

Patrick Henry Middle School in Granada Hills was one of 10 schools awarded a $9,000 grants meant to encourage schools to stage productions of one of the young set's runaway hits, "High School Musical."

This photo shows the opening night performance last year of Disney's High School Musical live stage show at the Kodak Theatre.

The NAMM Foundation and Disney Channel announced the recipients of “Disney’s High School Musical: The Music in You Grant Program” at a recent trade show.

Patrick Henry was the only California school to win one. Its production is scheduled for June 12-13.

-- Mary MacVean

Photo by Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times

Science fans win at state fair

An 11th-grader from Flintridge Preparatory School won the Patricia Beckman Project of the Year Award, Senior Division, at the California State Science Fair held earlier this month at the California Science Center.

Sarah Waliany received $10,000 for her project, "Transformation of Herceptin-Sensitive Breast Tumor Cells into Resistant Cells." She had already won the Sweepstakes Award for Senior Division at the 58th Annual Los Angeles County Science Fair.

Flintridge Prep -- apparently a hotbed of budding scientists, scored five other wins:

• Eighth-grader Meredith Lehmann won 1st place in mathematics and software with "Accurate Simulation of Influenza Pandemics"
• Eighth-grader Eli Weinstein won 1st place in physics and astronomy for "A Study of Galaxy Clustering."
• Senior Magnus Haw received a fourth-place medal in physics and astronomy for "Are Black Hole Masses Too Large?" 
• Sophomore Dorothy Silverman earned third place in the earth and planetary sciences category with "Influence of Site Effects on Peak Ground Acceleration."
• Eighth-grader Kirill Slobodvanuk received a fourth-place medal for "Geomagnetic Storms on GPS Devices" in the Earth & Planetary Sciences category.

Chamlian Armenian School had two honorable mentions for seventh-graders: Nanor Kassabian for "Too Hot, Too Cold, Just Right Temperature Effect on Development of D. Melanogaster," and Emin Abranians for "Airplane Lift: Wing Curvature Generates Lift."

-- Mary MacVean

King Drew is winner in civic involvement

The civic organization Junior State of America has awarded the student-run JSA chapter at King Drew Medical Magnet High School with the Professor E.A. Rogers Chapter of the Year Award.

King Drew was among nine schools around the country recently honored. The student-run, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization prepares high school students for involvement and responsible leadership in a democratic society.

King Drew Medical Magnet’s Elizabeth Adabale, a senior, gave the winning presentation at the 2008 Southern California Spring State Convention in Los Angeles. She said the focus of the chapter is to spread the ideals of civic involvement into their economically challenged communities, which the students did through community work and charity fundraisers. 

Professor Ernest Andrew Rogers, who maintained that one of the primary needs of a democracy is to train its youth in the essentials of good government, founded Junior State of America in 1934.

-- Mary MacVean

The show may go on

The Times' Molly Hennessy-Fiske wrote recently about a musical performed at Dorsey High called "Phi'La" that explored African American-Latino relations. This morning we received some photos of the production, which is expected to be performed at other schools in the city.

At left, Dorsey student Godwin Thurton-McDonald sings "Expectations," one of the many original songs in the show about a black student from Philadelphia who moves to L.A. and falls in love with a Latina classmate.

                                                                                                                                             

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa presented Dorsey High drama teacher Jamal Y. Speakes and the drama department with a Certificate of Achievement for addressing African American/Latino racial conflict in the show.

-- Mary MacVean

Photos from Andreas Branch

My divorce from the College Board

Nick Giulioni, a senior at South Pasadena High, writes:

For two-plus years, the monopoly known as College Board has plagued my life.  Whether it was the PSAT, AP tests, or the SAT, I have found myself preparing for, resting for or stressing over the tests this company convinces students they need to take.  But last Thursday, I faced my last examination administered by College Board.

I was not sure exactly what to expect when I walked out of the AP literature exam. I didn’t know how I would feel when I finished that test, and my relationship with College Board. I didn’t know what I would do with my spare time, if not constantly checking the site for my scores. 

Smile -- it's prom season

They look happy, don't they? That's Marisa and Adrian at the John Glenn High School senior prom.

We'd love to see the lovely photos from your prom nights. Post yours here.

-- Mary MacVean

Dorsey High musical looks at race

I went to a musical at Susan Miller Dorsey High School in South Los Angeles last night and left humming. And I generally hate musicals.

The song? "Expectations," an original piece composed for ""Phi'La," a new musical about a black student from Philadelphia who moves to L.A. and falls in love with a Latina classmate. Imagine "West Side Story" with a backbeat, Spanish-language raps and step-team choreography against a graffiti-scrawled backdrop.

Writer/director Jamal Speakes, a Philadelphia native and Dorsey drama teacher, said the show can be seen as a response to recent interracial violence in the city, such as the brawl at Alain Leroy Locke High School last week or the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Jamiel Shaw Jr. on March 2.

"The message we’re looking to send is that the students who are part of that community are willing to do whatever they can to make a change," Speakes said this morning. "We stereotyped our roles to show how silly this is. We really want people to see that if we don’t do anything about it, this madness will really hurt people."

Students organize green fair

Two ecologically minded young women in Valencia were determined to prove how easy it can be to protect the environment. So Hannah Goldner and Jaede Peck came up with the idea of a festival to introduce young people to sustainable living.

“I personally would like my kids to know what a polar bear is, and when you hear about polar bears going extinct because of global warming, that’s a little scary,” said Goldner, 17, a Valencia High School junior and president of the school’s Environmental Protection Agency Club.  She and Peck, an 18-year-old senior and the club’s co-president, rallied support of other club members, the Valencia High School Key Club and Santa Clarita Girl Scout Troop 745.

The result is Sunday’s Ecofest, organized almost entirely by students. Thirty-eight vendor booths will show eco-friendly wares, from beauty products to CNG-fueled buses. Fair-goers can even bring documents for shredding. Live entertainers will perform, and children can play games and have their faces painted for free.  The $15 fee paid by vendors will benefit the Gibbon Conservation Center, a Santa Clarita nonprofit that supports preservation of the small Southeast Asian apes.

Goldner’s background in recycling dates to sixth grade, and she’s most interested in the use of alternative vehicle fuels and public transportation.  She hopes that Ecofest will show young people that green living is not as hard as it might seem.

“I hope that small kids will go home and be more aware, and do more things like recycling,” said Peck, a long-time conservationist who co-wrote a book with her mother about the environment.  She plans to continue organizing around eco-minded issues next year at the University of Utah.

The festival runs from 1 to 5:30 p.m. at Valencia High School, 27801 N. Dickason Drive, Valencia.  Admission is free.

--Deborah Schoch

Jordan High paper strikes back with survey

Jordan High School's student newspaper, the Bulldog Times, has an article in this month's edition taking issue with an article in that other Times -- um, this one. Student Evelyn Garcia, writing for the Jordan paper, is critical of a story reporting on the findings of a recent survey conducted by a youth organization, South Central Youth Empowered Thru Action, whose findings included the contention that many students in South L.A. high schools are depressed. Not so! says Garcia, whose newspaper conducted a survey of its own among Jordan students.

She quotes senior Steven Hubbard as saying: “I don’t know where they got these results from. From what the L.A. Times article said being lazy and tired means that you’re clinically depressed. If that’s true, then everyone I know is clinically depressed, including the teachers and the president of the United States!!! Where do they get off saying that anyway? I’m always happy, and so are the people that I hang with!”

For the full article, click on read more below.

--Mitchell Landsberg