Wellington leaves no students, or parents, behind

By Gary Raham
Wellington Correspondent

Wellington Junior High bucked a state trend in CSAP scores this year and her teachers are quite happy about it.

The trend was a persistent achievement gap between black and Latino students and their white and Asian counterparts. In some Colorado schools, like Cherry Creek High, for example, writing proficiency showed a 41 percent difference between these student populations. At WJH, however, ninth-grade Latino students demonstrated slightly higher skill levels in writing than whites. For all student populations, writing skills this year showed steady improvement from seventh to ninth grades.

Alicia Durand, principal at the junior high, credits their success to a variety of strategies - all of them dependent on a unified effort by teachers, students and administrators.

While some schools suffer from a high turnover of Hispanics, Wellington's 14 percent Latino population has relatively stable roots in the community.

Durand, one of five bilingual individuals on the staff, also knows Hispanic culture, having lived in Mexico for close to five years while growing up. This experience has made her aware of cultural differences that often make a big difference in student success.

"Hispanic parents are much more likely to attend school conferences and events if they are asked," she said, "and if they know someone will be there who can talk to them in their native language."

Parents may also feel inhibited because they lack technical skills, like using computers. This year the district found funds to hire independent contractor Jose Ramos to teach night "Clases de computacion." Ramos is a former HP employee with a strong computer and engineering background.

Durand also waxes enthusiastic about a program called A.V.I.D. (Advancement Via Individual Determination) that strives to encourage underachieving students to tackle tougher coursework and make college attendance an achievable goal.

A.V.I.D. provides academic instruction and support, gives students the opportunity to visit college campuses and understand the "college culture," but also emphasizes a student's need to accept responsibility for learning what it takes to succeed in a rewarding occupation. A typical A.V.I.D. student will have average to high test scores, show the academic potential to do college-level work, have a GPA of 2.4 to 3.5, demonstrate a desire and determination to succeed, and may be the first in the family to attend college.

A.V.I.D. targets reading as a key ability necessary to succeed in college. Teachers using the system are trained to connect reading to prior knowledge, show students how to understand text structure and how to use various "text-processing strategies," both during and after reading.

The A.V.I.D. philosophy also encourages parents to absorb the same college culture mind-set through parent nights that showcase curriculum and outline high school graduation requirements and college admissions standards.

WJH also offers after-school programs in both academic and other skills like cooking, sewing and robotics. These are run totally on grant money.

"Thank God for the Bohemian Foundation," said Durand. The foundation is an important local source of funds for various school programs.

Enrichment coordinator Christine Brucher, who writes many of the grants, echoed this thought. "The Bohemian Foundation...believes in helping kids," she said. "I just submit a grant each year for funding our transportation for our students and Eyestone." Busing is a large issue in making after-school programs work.

Durand said the days of using cookie and magazine sales to fund school programs are over, adding that Brucher averages writing one grant application a week.

Staying on top of what grants are out there can be time-consuming. "I get grant information from the Colorado Department of Education web site," said Brucher. She and Stacey Poncelow, grant coordinator for the Poudre School District, also attend local and state meetings to network.

"I wish there was an easy answer" (to eliminating the gap in CSAP scores between whites and Hispanics), said Durand. "I think our success has been due to several factors: small school, tight relationship with our feeder elementary, seeking out monolingual parents and reaching out, doing home visits about anything and everything, keeping in contact, talking to kids in their native language when possible, talking about how tests are scored and reported out, encouraging the best work from every student, encouraging a 'stretch' culture for all (academically), and having the A.V.I.D. program in our school community."

Unfortunately, funding for A.V.I.D. appears uncertain for next year. According to Jim Sarchet, assistant superintendent for business services with the district, funding for the program at WJH runs about $77,000 per year, a figure that includes staff training, an affiliation fee and tutor salaries. Tutors are teachers on staff working extra hours.

Sarchet said that while a preliminary budget for next year will be outlined in January, it is often early spring before needed information from the state is available to complete the process. The district finds state funds decreasing because enrollment trends are now flat or in decline, while expenses for utilities, bus fuel and healthcare costs for employees are on the rise.

"As we look ahead toward the budget it appears we will continue to have ongoing pressures," Sarchet said.

But Durand and her staff seem enthused and dedicated in their efforts to promote student success. Durand is hoping the Bohemian Foundation will come through on a grant to fund a welcome center for Hispanic and other parents that would provide public Internet access and help connect parents to school services. Success in providing education requires the same creativity and adaptability required of students to learn, and Durand seems up to the challenge.

"The CSAP tests are our Super Bowl," she said. "Bring them on!"