http://vaildaily.com/article/20060219/NEWS/60219010

Hispanic students lag behind classmates

Nicole Frey
February 19, 2006

EAGLE — Jose Alvarado has big dreams for his three children — a good American education in public schools, college and then professional jobs.

Plowing snow at the Riverview Apartments, where Alvarado works on the maintenance crew, he stopped and smiled to think his eldest child, Alejandra, might grow up to be a doctor or lawyer.

Alvarado left his native Mexico 12 years ago and said he believes he and his family have better opportunities in the United States than in Mexico. But at the tender age of 4, the odds may be against Alejandra, who attends preschool at Avon Elementary School.

Right now, Hispanic children in Eagle County who speak English fluently aren’t performing as well as their white classmates on reading and math tests, according to the results of the 2005 Colorado Student Assessment Program, better known as CSAP.

Those with limited or no English skills are scoring even lower and the gap grows as the children get older — a 36 percent difference between white students and those who speak limited English in third grade reading tests ballooned into a 61 percent difference in the 10th grade.


Falling into the gap

Grappling with this achievement gap are Eagle County School Board members, school district administrators and the Eagle County commissioners, all of whom met recently to talk about the problem. It was the first of a series of meetings to which community members will be invited to share their ideas.

School board member Andy Arnold was weary about spreading the news that Hispanic children weren’t doing as well in schools lest it contribute to white flight — the phenomenon manifested in Eagle County by white families moving away from schools with growing Hispanic populations.

His own daughter, now in college, had debated whether to attend private or public schools. Going to Battle Mountain High School, she noticed her Advanced Placement classes — more difficult courses for which students can earn college credit — had few to no Hispanic children. But if many white kids flee, the advanced classes might not be offered at all, Arnold said.

“It would make it harder for us to offer a balanced curriculum,â€