The assignment looks simple for an 11th grader: Learn to use a weekly planner to write down homework assignments, with common abbreviations and teachers鈥� shorthand. But this special education class, dubbed 鈥淪trategies for Success,鈥� may give the four Cabrillo High School students and their peers here the boost they need to perform well on state tests鈥攁nd earn high school diplomas.
Long Beach school leaders know that to meet state and federal accountability requirements, students with disabilities must have access to the general curriculum. But rather than just plop the teenagers into regular education classes, educators here realize they must also provide extra supports and services outside those classes.
The Strategies for Success class is part of a much larger undertaking to help all students with disabilities, from mild to severe, meet state standards and perform at levels once thought to be unreachable. Last school year, the district began trying out an intensive intervention program for its students with mild to moderate disabilities. Already, it is seeing promising test scores.
鈥淲e want a quality inclusion program, not just saying they鈥檙e going to be included,鈥� explains Erin Reid, the 97,000-student district鈥檚 special education curriculum leader.
Located on a former naval base in a blighted neighborhood, Cabrillo High School is a medley of contemporary buildings scattered across a pristine, 63-acre campus. It鈥檚 served this neighborhood on the west side of Long Beach for only a few years, and at first, families were reluctant to have their children attend. Now, though, Cabrillo High has attracted not only students from the neighborhood who had transferred to other schools in the district or dropped out, but also a handful of students from other schools who were attracted to its special education services. Enrollment swelled this school year to just over 3,200 students, a population that is predominantly Hispanic and African-American. About a third are English-language learners, and about two-thirds qualify for free or reduced-priced lunches.
In an attempt to elevate its state test scores and meet federal requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act, the district has overhauled its curriculum and put in place intensive mathematics and reading classes for older students, both in special and in general education, who have fallen far behind their peers. Several classes, for instance, are following the Lindamood Bell program鈥檚 strategies for reading intervention. That curriculum uses phonemic awareness (the ability to recognize and manipulate the sounds that make up words), symbol imagery, and concept-imagery techniques to help students who are reading below a 4th grade level and have language-processing problems that interfere with their abilities to decode written material and understand what they are reading.
Strategies for Success classes were set up after district administrators looked at the state test scores of their students with disabilities and noticed that between 50 percent and 70 percent of them were failing, even though they were receiving extra instruction outside of class from special education teachers.
The problem, the administrators discerned, was that the supplemental special education instruction did not match the curriculum being taught in the general education classes. Quite simply, the special education teachers didn鈥檛 know what was being taught during regular classroom instruction, because of a lack of communication.
Now, district officials say, students with disabilities are fully included in regular classes, and special education teachers are trained to reinforce the same assignments during their time with students. All teachers, both general and special educators, attend the same professional- development seminars as well.
鈥淭his district has gone a long way in making sure we鈥檙e all sitting at the table together,鈥� says Judy Elliott, the district鈥檚 assistant superintendent for special education. 鈥淣owhere else I鈥檝e ever been has special education been at the table, and in this district, special education is at the table.鈥�
Teaching to the Test
In the Strategies for Success classroom, students鈥� assignments from their regular classes hang on the bulletin boards, so that special education teachers will have accurate assignments for every student.
The four students in this second-period class for juniors dutifully follow teacher Rick Lamprecht鈥檚 instructions to copy abbreviations for common terms such as 鈥渁lgebra鈥� and 鈥減aragraph鈥� into sample planners. Lamprecht stops to explain the crucial distinction between commas and dashes when using numbers. Doing problems 鈥�29, 42" is not the same as completing problems 鈥�29-42,鈥� he notes.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the end of a class, and your teacher says, 鈥楧o the questions on Page 203.鈥� How do you write that?鈥� Lamprecht asks. 鈥淚f a teacher doesn鈥檛 say, you have to assume it鈥檚 the whole page.鈥�
The students鈥� general education teachers also fill out an evaluation on each student every two weeks to alert the special education teacher to any problems.
In addition, the school offers a wide range of intensive classes to teach reading and mathematics to students who have not mastered those subjects. Elliott says the district is hoping to phase out those high school classes over time. But for now, there are too many students who did not receive enough instruction in earlier grades.
Initially, teachers had to persuade students they needed the remedial classes. Lamprecht notes that the threat of the California exit exam鈥攚hich was scheduled to go into effect this school year but has been postponed until 2006鈥攑roved to many that they needed the extra help.
Teachers regularly remind students that they will be tested. In one remedial-algebra class, teacher Tanya Boulton reviews word problems that her students missed on the last quiz. As her class struggles to figure out which numbers to add in a basic multiple-choice question, she realizes they鈥檝e added the wrong numbers and chosen the wrong answer. She methodically explains why their answer was incorrect.
鈥淭hey鈥檒l do that on the test, to try to throw you off,鈥� Boulton warns.
It鈥檚 a huge challenge, she says later, to teach a class in which students have so many different skill levels. Often, she divides the class into small groups and focuses on teaching basic concepts that students may be able to apply on the state assessments.
鈥淚f we prepare enough, they鈥檒l be OK with it,鈥� she says.
The district is intent on teaching to high standards, says Reid, the district鈥檚 special education curriculum leader. Administrators have posted copies of the state academic-content standards in each class, even in the self-contained classes for students with severe disabilities.
鈥淓verything here is based on assessments,鈥� Reid says. 鈥淚f it鈥檚 not in the standards, we don鈥檛 teach it.鈥�
The district achieved its goal of 鈥渁dequate yearly progress,鈥� as required under the No Child Left Behind law, for special education this year. None of its high schools met that mark, however, because of low test-participation rates.
While some students express trepidation about annual testing and having those tests count toward the school鈥檚 progress under the No Child Left Behind law, others say they can see the benefits.
鈥淭esting makes you smarter,鈥� says Walter Williams, a senior who is taking the Strategies for Success class. 鈥淚f you take a test, and it鈥檚 real hard, it makes you achieve more.鈥� Yet while school and district administrators believe the program is working, some wrinkles still must be ironed out.
Cynthia Terry, Cabrillo High鈥檚 co-principal, says she鈥檚 had a tough time persuading some general education teachers to embrace the effort. The school has used state money for underperforming schools to provide intensive professional development so that teachers work together better, she adds.
It鈥檚 also been tough getting some parents involved. Terry says the school rarely has contact with the parents of about one-third of its special education students, even though parents鈥� voices are crucial in crafting their children鈥檚 individualized education plans, or IEPs.
Testing makes you smarter. If you take a test, and it鈥檚 real hard, it makes you achieve more.
鈥淭he IEP at the high school level is very difficult,鈥� says the administrator, who wants teachers to forge good relationships with parents early, so that families will seek out the school even when their children aren鈥檛 having problems.
But one parent, Luz Guzman, whose daughter is in a self-contained classroom, says through an interpreter that she sometimes has a tough time getting in touch with school administrators because the front-office employees do not speak Spanish.
Parent Satisfaction
Cabrillo High officials still try to include special education students in regular classes for as much of the day as possible. Andrew Gilman, who has autism, is among them. On a sunny fall morning here, he sits in a crowded geometry classroom and sketches out a crossword puzzle to learn some of the basic vocabulary and definitions.
As he carefully traces the lines on grid paper, his teacher, Charma Adams, says he has a hard time keeping up with his classmates. She doubts that he鈥檒l be able to pass the state math exam, but she thinks he鈥檒l be able to grasp at least some of the foundations of the subject.
His mother, Ginny Gilman, says she believes Andrew is learning more at Cabrillo than when he was in fully inclusive classes in elementary and middle schools. 鈥淭he atmosphere here is, the teachers are willing to modify assignments and assist the kids,鈥� she says. 鈥淚鈥檓 very impressed with the attitude of the school and its willingness to adapt.鈥�
Other parents also talk enthusiastically about the program. Linda Martinez thought her son, who鈥檚 now in 12th grade at Cabrillo, was falling through the cracks at his middle school. 鈥淥nce he got to Cabrillo, they really worked with me and my son,鈥� she says.
Guzman says her daughter, Johanna, also has progressed, because the school has set high standards and allowed her to interact with some higher-level students. Johanna used to attend a self-contained school that did not allow her those opportunities, Guzman explains.
鈥淣ow, everything is different,鈥� she says. 鈥淥ver there, she didn鈥檛 want to get better because everyone was lower than her. Now, she鈥檚 sociable, and has friends who she can talk to and laugh with.鈥�
