Hispanics struggle with state testing scores

Associated Press:

Hispanic students at Central High School take the same classes their non-Hispanic classmates do. But there, the similarity seems to end.

Of 200 Hispanic students, just 5 percent passed annual statewide tests last year, the raw statistics show.

The situation is as bad — or worse — across Oregon. All but about 35 of the 278 secondary schools failed to teach their Hispanic students up to federal standards in reading and math.

"You can't deny the numbers," said State Schools Superintendent Susan Castillo. "It's awful. The gap at the high school level is very serious."

The disparity can't be ignored since Congress passed the 2001 No Child Left Behind law, which requires schools to publish their test scores by ethnicity.

The questions of whether Hispanics are less capable, and if not why aren't they doing better, are becoming tougher to duck.

At Central, the problems range from language gaps to a disconnect between the school and parents to a voluntary segregation among students.

English literacy problems that begin in elementary school end with a jolt when Hispanic kids hit high school, said Ignacio Robles, a former assistant principal at Central.

It used to be that elementary teachers followed their own systems when teaching students to read, said Jane Murch, who taught for decades at Henry Hill Elementary School.

At Talmadge Middle School in Independence, Spanish-speaking students learn to communicate with their teachers, but that's not sufficient to prepare them for the rigors of high school, former Talmadge teacher Kira Daczewitz said.

"We don't necessarily teach them to speak and write very formally sometimes," she said. "Their exposure to academic English is much smaller than their exposure to informal English.''

Teachers say when the kids are old enough, many just leave.

Central High translates the notes that are sent home to Spanish-speaking parents, but the papers don't always arrive home.

Central tried to forge a closer relationship with parents by holding monthly parents' nights, complete with Spanish-language interpreters. But that was scrapped after four years when few people attended.

"What we have found is not all Hispanic parents value education," Principal Sylvia Warren said.

"The kids are taken out of school to be used as translators. They're taken out of school to baby-sit younger brothers and sisters. Attendance of a lot of our Hispanic kids is bad.

"Some of it's just cultural: the extended family where you take care of the young ones.

"That's not a cultural fact in the Anglo community. You get a baby sitter," she said.

"Going to Mexico to visit family is more important than being in school. We don't think of it that way; we think, ‘OK, we'll go in the summer.' Well, they have to work in the summer. This is the only time when they don't lose income. Family is very important; therefore, it's more important than education."

Some students The Statesman Journal newspaper interviewed at age 10 and again at age 18 say some Central High teachers are out of patience with Hispanic students.

"It's like they don't expect you to do as good," said Angie Coronado, a Central High senior who will graduate on Friday. "It's like they get frustrated with us. It's like they don't like being around us."

Part of the frustration comes from budget cuts, Central teacher Paul Wendring said. How does a teacher form a relationship with 30 students in a 50-minute class? he asked.

Central will face state-sanctioned change that could mean even a state take-over in the fall if the spring student test scores don't improve.

District administrators have prepared a plan. The high school, for example, will offer summer school for free this year. Next year, Spanish-speaking students will be able to earn credit by completing self-study packets written in Spanish.

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