Kinoshita Parents Want Capo to Close the Achievement Gap

Superintendent Joseph Farley told parents at Thursday night that the solution to bringing underachieving English-learners up to par isn’t after-school programs or remediation “band-aids.”

“Nothing is as powerful as really powerful first teaching,” he explained. "All day long, in every one of our schools, we have programs to help kids who aren't doing well. The trick is having the instruction the first time around be so good that they don’t need the extra help."

He was speaking to a room of about 50 people, many of them Spanish speakers, who wanted to know what administrators are doing to ensure their children aren’t falling behind. It's a timely question, considering teachers working at campuses with high concentrations of English learners will soon undergo specialized training to improve their instruction skills.

"In March, we’re going to launch a major initiative that’s going to focus on the kids that are falling through the cracks in our system," he said. Farley was not immediately willing to give out all of the details of the plan, but he did say that the training will include consultation by an expert funded with Title I funds.

Title I schools receive money from the federal government to close the achievement gap between low-income students and other students. All Title I-funded schools, such as Kinoshita, that do not show enough improvement on their "academic performance interface" scores are required to implement certain federal and state standards, such as professional development and outreach to parents. 

Although Capo Unified is one of the better-performing large school districts in California, it has been identified as needing "program improvement" for English-learning and special-education students.

“We have an incredible API score districtwide,” said Farley. “But hidden in that score are concerns for some of our learners."

Together, the 5,662 English-learning students in Capo Unified scored an API of 713 in the 2009-10 school year. At Kinoshita, that number is actually higher—755. Farley said that's because students don't tend to really struggle until their middle school and high school years.

The number of students who participated in the API at Kinoshita include 371 Hispanic or Latinos and one white student. Among them, 351 are identified as English learners and 361 as economically disadvantaged.

In comparison, at , where there were 241 white students and 95 Hispanic or Latino students who contributed to the school's API score, there were 51 English learners and 98 economically disadvantaged students. An assessment of an API for just English learners was not even reported for Ambuehl.

"I've always been a champion for the people who need a little bit more help," Farley said, noting that the gap between the haves and the have-nots and underachievers and high achievers are one in the same. 

When parents pleaded with him to close the ethnic and academic divide, and to be the change agent they need, Farley said he will "champion the underdog" but said the transformation will take time. 

Thursday's visit to Kinoshita was his 16th and final stop on the "" tour of school campuses.