Our at-risk Kids Defy Stereotypes - Marin Voice - Marin IJ - Sept 26, 2006

Article Launched: 09/26/2006 12:22:00 AM PDT

Mark Phillips: Our at-risk kids defy stereotypes
Marin Voice
Marin IJ
By Mark Phillips

CONTRARY TO the myths about Marin, not all of our children are privileged. Nor do all of them make it easily through high school with eyes focused squarely on college. For many, just making it through is a challenge. And our academically at-risk kids are not just from Marin City and San Rafael.

The dropout figures across Marin are low, well below the state average, and test scores are high. But the statistics don't tell the whole story. There are many academically "at-risk" students in Marin schools, including a large percentage who will graduate at a minimal competency level and with insufficient personal resources to function effectively either at work or home.

The term "at-risk" commonly has been associated with lower socio-economic adolescents who have highly unstable home environments, have had a brush with the law, and/or have frequently been in trouble in school. The fact is that a significant number of Marin adolescents who haven't had any of these problems are academically "at-risk" today in varied ways as a function of our rapidly changing society, with all its attendant domestic and occupational instability. While 60 percent of the adolescents referred to Phoenix Academy and Marin Community School, the two primary county safety nets for at-risk kids, are from lower socio-economic homes, 30 to 40 percent are from upper-middle-class homes.

Lisa Schwartz, coordinator of alternative education for the county, said the safety net schools "have had an increasing number of referrals from high schools across the county, and over the past few months it's the highest it's been in 15 years. More kids are at risk from behavioral and emotional challenges that underlie academic struggles."

The academic challenge posed by this is recognized by educational leaders.

The Tamalpais High School district looked at ninth-grade data across the district and discovered close to 25 percent of students received D's or F's in core subjects this past year. This led to work at each of the high schools to develop programs that meet the needs of these students better, with monetary support from the school board to help put these programs in place at the beginning of this school year.

The problems identified included skill deficiencies in basic subjects, socio-economic difficulties, and personal-emotional issues. The new programs include smaller classes, more one-on-one tutoring, more one-on-one time between teacher and students both to better discover and address individual student needs and to directly target math and reading skills.

The district also has begun a number of outreach programs designed to target potentially "at-risk" students. Students from Tam High are tutoring middle school kids in Marin City and work is underway to assist the Marin City-Sausalito schools in strengthening curricula so that students can be successful once they enter Tam. Additionally, across the district there is a required "Social Issues" class, frequently taken in the ninth grade, which is specifically designed to help all students address some of the issues impinging on their lives.

Still, as Bob Ferguson, district superintendent, points out, as important as all of these efforts are, "the key success variable is the quality of the teacher." New teachers often are assigned to the students who need the most help while experienced teachers teach higher-achieving students. Increasingly, Tam and other Marin districts are redressing this imbalance. Workshops and resources also are focused on helping teachers develop increased strategies for assisting low-achieving students.

There is a clear recognition that the problems need to be addressed on a social and emotional level, not just academically. County Community School has a full-time mental health professional and two mental health interns.

Each of the district and county programs also recognizes that it is critical to work closely with parents so that the school and home reinforce each other as a partnership. The schools are not trying to be the parent but rather to support the parenting in the home. In some cases, unfortunately, the school and teacher may be the only support a young person has in his or her life.

As more and more of our children are placed at risk by deep-seated social and economic problems within our culture, our schools face an increasing challenge. Marin educational leaders are cognizant of this and are responding to the challenge. But, as the increasing number of referrals of students to county alternative programs indicates, far more work is needed.

The types of programs being instituted in Marin to target these problems need to be strengthened and expanded. This requires more resources and, unfortunately, present state and national educational priorities are more focused on funding for testing than on supporting programs for at-risk students.

Mark Phillips of Woodacre is a professor of secondary education at San Francisco State University.

Marin City school for autistic kids offers hope, expression to students, parents - Marin IJ - September 19, 2006 Staff Report

Marin City school for autistic kids offers hope, expression to students, parents
Marin IJ
Staff Report


Karen Kaplan, director at Oak Hill School, hugs a student during recess at the school in Marin City. @body Special to the IJ/Kevin Hagen (Special to the IJ/Kevin Hagen)
A COUPLE of kids at Oak Hill School for autistic students are "little professors," 6-year-olds who chat up their teachers with ideas about fundraising and how to save the world.

Other students barely speak at all.

Oak Hill School, in a once-private mansion in Marin City, opened six years ago to help children with developmental challenges and a wide spectrum of autistic disorders.

The school, the only one of its kind in Marin, serves 21 kids ages 5 to 18, many from Marin, several from school districts elsewhere. Most of them are autistic.

They are there to learn how to express themselves in conversation, to handle academic requirements, to master social skills - to learn what it takes to fit into a world that sometimes eludes them.

"We serve a wide range of kids," says Karen Kaplan, executive director. "From Asperger syndrome students with high cognitive abilities, to students with severe learning problems and mild mental retardation."

Autism and Asperger syndrome are among a spectrum of developmental disorders characterized by varying degrees of impairment in communication skills, social interaction and restricted or repetitive behaviors, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Oak Hill has 25 employees, 13 full time, many of them specializing in such disciplines as speech therapy, occupational therapy, art therapy, drama therapy and psychological support. "We try to be a one-stop operation," Kaplan says. "But of course, we can't do it all."

The school was begun in 2000 by four sets of parents, weary of taking their children from one after-school therapist to another, and wanting one place where services could be concentrated. One set of the parents bought the 1903 Burgess mansion in Marin City and donated it as a site. The others helped pay for renovations.

The school opened with four children and quickly expanded to 21, which Kaplan says is its capacity.

It is classified as a nonpublic school, accredited by the state to offer a public school curriculum. "We provide a K-12 nondiploma track program," Kaplan says.

John LaLonde, who heads the county's special education local plan area, says 145 school-age kids in Marin have been diagnosed as autistic, the vast majority of whom attend public school, with the rest in nonpublic schools like Oak Hill.

Although Oak Hill is the only such facility in Marin, some autistic Marin kids go to similar schools elsewhere - in Sonoma, Richmond, San Pablo.

LaLonde says autism is on the rise throughout the state, where the incidence rose by 109 percent in the past five years. The diagnosis has not risen that fast in Marin: five years ago, Marin had 95 autistic kids compared with today's 145.

Why the rise? Kaplan, saying, "I am a clinician, not a researcher," takes a stab at an answer: "One, we have better tools to diagnose; two, we recognize that autism is a spectrum of disorders, not just one thing; three, we simply have a bigger population - more kids."

No one knows the causes of autism, although a recent study by the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College in London and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York found that children born to fathers age 40 or older were six times more likely to suffer from autism or related disorders than those whose father was younger than 30.

At any rate, decades ago, researchers let go of the theory that autism had something to do with parental techniques in child-rearing.

Twenty years ago, it was thought that autism occurred in four or five children out of every 10,000. Today, the accepted number is one in every 166 live births.

Kaplan, 54, a resident of Terra Linda, says she knew from the time she was 9 (and saw the movie "The Miracle Worker" about Helen Keller and teacher Annie Sullivan) that she wanted to "be Annie Sullivan and teach kids to communicate."

A graduate of Arizona State University in speech pathology and audiology, she returned to California shortly before the state passed legislation decreeing that all children (regardless of abilities or disabilities) have a right to a free public education. Until then, Kaplan says, autistic students

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"pretty much ended up in state hospitals."

A few years later, she opened her own residential school for autistic children, the Kaplan Foundation, in Sacramento, and ran it for 20 years. Five years ago, board members at Oak Hill recruited her to run their school.

Anne Allen, parent of an Oak Hill student, says the school has transformed her child.

Alexander, now 14, had floundered in public school, coping with "neurological impairment" and "developmental delays," she said. "He had no confidence, none." Today, after six years at Oak Hill, he feels successful - "every activity at the school allows for his success."

Now he "self-regulates. He says 'I am handicapped, it is not my fault, but I have to handle it myself.'

"This school is a wonderful place. It saved Alex. It saved our family life."

Parent Lisa Glassberg of Kentfield also sings its praises. Her 15-year-old son, also named Alex, has been at the school for four years, and in that time has learned to "express his own feelings as well as identify feelings in others."

Conversation is often difficult for autistic children, who fail to recognize the signals of body language.

Academically, Oak Hill also has been "great," Glassberg says. Small classrooms and collaborative teaching "are a real key. Alex is totally engaged."

Kaplan says the school curriculum is tied to state standards, but teaching methods differ. Oak Hill teaches experientially: kids learn to communicate through art, to understand human interaction through drama, to comprehend fractions by cooking a pizza.

One little girl, who was able to talk but rarely did, found her voice when she put a puppet on her hand and pretended to be someone else.

In art class, a young boy who had difficulty expressing himself learned to draw what he feels.

"To teach science we chose a program that is multisensory, project-based, experiential," says Kaplan. "It's not just 'sit-and-git.'"

One afternoon a week, the students interact with mainstream youth who come from Tamalpais High and The Branson School to provide recreational experiences - going out for an ice cream, talking about teenage concerns.

"They become role models," Kaplan says. Others come once a month in the evening, often for social experiences off-campus.

Psychology students from College of Marin spend regular hours as observers and assistants in class.

Families get individual support, too. The school's clinical director, a psychologist with a Ph.D. who works with faculty and students, helps families deal with the stresses of having a special-needs child.

Oak Hill's services are not cheap: costs per student run from $45,000 to $65,000 a year, because of the time-intensive nature of the work and to the large number of specialists on staff. "It costs more to do the right thing," Kaplan says.

Tuition for some kids is paid by parents, for others it is paid by school districts that sometimes cannot provide the programs each student needs. More than half of the students come from outside districts - Burlingame, Piedmont, Oakland and even Mendocino.

Alex Glassberg, his mother says, came to Oak Hill after the family had explored every option, public and private: "Oak Hill was kind of the final stop."

What do parents want from Oak Hill?

"Every parent wants something different," says Kaplan. "What they all want is hope - hope that their child can grow and develop academically, socially, physically."

What can parents expect?

"It's my feeling that these children are moving forward every day, and that parents can expect growth and development throughout each child's life."

Contact Beth Ashley via e-mail at bashley@marinij.com

Marin schools mostly shine in state tests - Marin IJ - Sept 1, 2006 - By Rob Rogers

Marin schools mostly shine in state testsMarin IJ - September 1, 2006
Reporter - Rob Rogers

Summary

The Sausalito Marin City School District, despite having the county's largest percentage of disadvantaged students, saw API gains in all three of its schools, with Bayside Elementary's score rising 59 points to 782.

"These test results are the latest in a series of milestones in our ongoing struggle for academic achievement," said Superintendent Debra Bradley. "Our academic performance has been truly exemplary, meeting all of API and" Average Yearly Progress criteria.

Complete Story:

Several Marin schools made significant gains in the state's academic rankings, thanks in part to steady progress by the county's English-language learners.
Most Marin schools and districts continue to rank well above the state average in Academic Performance Index scores released Thursday by the California Department of Education.

"I'm impressed that we have so many high-achieving schools," said Mary Buttler, assistant superintendent of schools for Marin County. "At least 62 percent of our schools are listed above 800, and 65 percent of our districts were at 800 or above. To see where we are is amazing."

However, Davidson Middle School in San Rafael faces increasingly tough sanctions based on its slow rate of progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The school will enter its fourth year of "program improvement" despite a five-point rise in its API score, from 735 to 740. Under federal law, the school will be required to seek an alternate method of governance, which could include reopening as a charter school, replacing the principal and most of the staff, or asking the state or another outside entity to take over management of the school.

School officials could not be reached for comment Thursday, but the district issued a prepared statement from Rebecca Rosales, associate superintendent of curriculum for San Rafael City Schools.

"We will continue to support Davidson students by expanding intervention programs and support services ... and by providing tutorial services in a variety of after-school settings," she said. "It is our intent to provide whatever support is needed to help every student meet and exceed the designated academic standards for their grade level."

The API is a numeric index that ranges from a low of 200 to a high of 1,000 and is based on the results of state standardized exams, such as the California Standards Test and high school exit exams.

The average API score for California schools rose 11 points this year to 720. Marin's school districts have an average score of 874.

The scores "show that California schools are making steady progress in raising student achievement, but that we must continue to focus on closing the achievement gap," said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell.

Novato's Rancho Elementary School continues to hold the county's highest ranking, rising 10 points to 957.

But several schools throughout Marin saw a dramatic surge in their scores. In Larkspur, Neil Cummins Elementary rose 30 points to 918. In San Rafael, Coleman Elementary climbed 51 points to 826. And in Novato, Hamilton Elementary School saw its API ranking rise 47 points to 819.

"We've seen a change in our demographics," said Hamilton Principal Ruthanne Bexton. "When I arrived here three years ago, we had 42 English learner students. This year we had 155. We've focused on giving all our students added support, but provided additional aid to those who are not English speakers. We've also had English programs for parents at night, so that they can learn the language skills they need to help their children with their homework."

This year, for the first time, state law requires schools to show improvements in the test scores of English learners and students with disabilities to achieve their API growth target.

O'Connell cited the inclusion of those students as one reason why only 52 percent of the state's schools met their API growth targets this year, a decline from last year's 68 percent.

"While every one of the subgroups of students has made significant gains, I remain deeply troubled by the lagging achievement of both our English learners and African-American students," O'Connell said. "We can't afford to allow this gap in achievement to continue."

The Sausalito Marin City School District, despite having the county's largest percentage of disadvantaged students, saw API gains in all three of its schools, with Bayside Elementary's score rising 59 points to 782.

"These test results are the latest in a series of milestones in our ongoing struggle for academic achievement," said Superintendent Debra Bradley. "Our academic performance has been truly exemplary, meeting all of API and" Average Yearly Progress criteria.

San Rafael's San Pedro Elementary school's 26-point climb to 909 brought the school out of "program improvement," a designation applied to schools that fail to meet federal progress goals for two consecutive years.

"We're ecstatic," said San Pedro Principal Kathryn Gibney. "We were expecting our ranking to rise by seven, but it almost tripled, at 19. This validates the hard work everyone is doing here."

During the past year, the school introduced an intensive literacy program for language learners, focusing on both reading and oral expression, Gibney said.

"Getting out of program improvement is a huge accomplishment in itself," Gibney said. "We've done a lot of fabulous work, but we've also suffered the demoralizing effect of that stigma."

Contact Rob Rogers via e-mail at rrogers@marinij.com

Photo:

ON THE RISE: Sue Bennett teaches reading skills to Josh Horcasitas and others at Hamilton Elementary School in Novato. The school's ranking in the Academic Performance Index rose 47 points. IJ photo/Frankie Frost