At-risk students shine in new bilingual class at Amador At-risk students shine in new bilingual class at Amador (December 02, 2005)

Block classes, parent outreach are keys to success
by Rebecca Guyon

Ask a group of high school students what's fun about school and you get the usual pause and eye roll. But when Amador Valley High School students in Francisco Lopez's class are asked this question, after a pause, sophomore Perla Lopez speaks up and says, "Everything in the class is fun."

"He understands what we're having problems with and helps us," added sophomore Irving Garcia. It's not uncommon for students to have such a response to a great teacher, but considering it was just a few months ago that these students were identified as the most at-risk in the school due to low grades, repeated absences and credit deficiences, the fact that they are regularly attending classes and even enjoying school is quite a success.

Perla and Irving are two of 20 students in a new class piloted by the district this year for at-risk students who are also non-native English speakers. Amador identified these students as needing extra support and, instead of sending them to continuation high school, Principal Bill Coup asked the district to help find a way to support the students so they could graduate from Amador. What the district came back with was an intensive, sheltered course, keeping the students together with one bilingual teacher for four consecutive periods of the day.

From second to fifth period, Lopez, who is fluent in English and Spanish, teaches Algebra, English language development, English literature and history. All the students in the class speak Spanish as their native language and most are sophomores, but there are students from each grade level. Lopez also accompanies the students to some of their mainstream courses such as computers, bio science and foods, where he serves as a translator.

The class was put together in August, somewhat last minute considering the academic year starts that same month, said Jane Golden, director of elementary school curriculum who organized the program's plan with Diane Howell, director of secondary curriculum. However, even before Coup approached the district, Golden had already been talking with the California Department of Education a few months prior, trying to find information about how to support students who come into the district from other countries with limited knowledge of English and little formal education.

"The consultant from the state department suggested giving the students three to four hours of intensive English instruction," Golden said. "We decided to modify that instruction because we wanted them to keep up in core curriculum areas. We wanted them to still have math, science and history, so they have those classes still, but within a contained class."

Lopez was hired to the district a few weeks after the school year started specifically to lead this class. He previously taught in Southern California for two years before coming to Amador. Currently, he is also pursuing a master's degree in teaching at St. Mary's College in Moraga.

"Since I've been here I have seen progress with the students," Lopez said. "I have great attendance with these students, and a lot of them had attendance issues prior. They really are, for the most part, trying to progress and do better in school. The ultimate goal is to get as many into mainstream courses as possible, and the majority of them are definitely on their way."

Lopez attributes part of the success to building relationships with the students' parents.

"A lot of parents don't feel confident interacting with the teachers (because of the language barrier)," Lopez said. "They want their kids to do well, but they feel intimidated at times." To fix this problem, Lopez has made an effort to get to know each student's parents and personally called them to invite them to Back to School night in September. Of the 20 students, seven parents actually came, but Lopez still saw this as a success.

"Coming to Back to School night was unheard of for some of these parents," he said.

Although it is still early, Golden said the district has been pleased with the class and the progress the students are making. There is even a waiting list of students who want to be in the class next year. The majority of students coming into the district who have credit deficiencies or lack formal education enroll at Amador, which is why there is not a need for a similar course at Foothill High School, Golden said. Whether the district decides to open another section of the course or continue next year will depend on what funding sources are available and the results of the students test scores, she added.

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