October 20, 2009
Area schools overcome challenges to meet state standards
Out of 93 Missouri schools in the Kansas City area where at
least two-thirds of the students qualify for subsidized lunch, 81
missed the federal benchmarks. But some schools broke the
persistent correlation between poverty and student performance with
the combined efforts of people such as:
•A team leader and coordinator of English language learner
programs at Allen Village Charter School.
Rhonda Reddick came to Allen Village Charter School as a Spanish
teacher.
But things have changed in the school’s 10-year history. Now
more than a third of its students are Hispanic. One-third of those
students — or one out of every 10 in the school — are learning
English as their second language. Now she’s a Spanish teacher and
coordinator of the English language learners program and team
leader for the middle school teachers.
“You realize you’re so much more,” she said, speaking for all of
the teachers and staff.
“You’re a mother for some. You’re the emotional dumping ground,
the person lighting the flame, the person giving the swift kick,
the motivator.”
Allen Village, with 77 percent of its students qualifying for
free or reduced-cost lunch, saw enough growth in test scores to
make the federal benchmarks this year.
When Reddick gathers to brainstorm with her middle school team,
the teachers show themselves as statisticians, too. They deal in
scatter plots, box and whisper graphs, special software, trying to
understand what’s working and what’s not. She urged the teachers to
post classroom benchmarks on wall posters.
Her work with Spanish-speaking students involves helping parents
who often speak little or no English.
Allen Village is bringing parents into the school with the help
of Spanish newsletters and gatherings such as the “ELL Chat and
Chew Club.” She has 42 students in the program, and 25 of them
brought parents to the latest meeting.
More of the parents are reading bilingual books with their
children, she said, learning English together.
The program’s success is important to the school’s ability to
meet the state’s performance benchmarks, Principal Phyllis
Washington said.
“It defies the idea that these children can’t learn,” Washington
said. “Language does not become the barrier.”