Thread: CA-New S.F. high school nurtures immigrant youth

New S.F. high school nurtures immigrant youth
Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, September 14, 2009



(09-13) 20:52 PDT -- The 50 high school students heading to their next class looked like typical teenagers, hauling backpacks, cradling books and laughing. Yet they were far from it.


All recent immigrants, one was an orphan by age 6. Another cared for his sick mother and had rarely gone to school. Several had left home as children, often alone - traveling on buses, trains, cars or by foot to get to a U.S. border.

A few have lived on the street. One is the child of a Hong Kong businessman.

Some can read and write, but not in English. A few can't write the alphabet, even in their native language.

Many arrived in the United States just months or weeks earlier.

Medhanie, 15, came from Eritrea two years ago with little to no schooling. While his English is nearly fluent, thanks to time in front of his American television, his English literacy levels don't reach first grade.

He wants to be a doctor.

Principal Sonia Geerdes knew every student's name as they passed her in the hall, and she knew every one of their life stories. She also predicted their futures.

Within four to six years, she believes, the students - the first class of the city's new San Francisco International High School - will earn high school diplomas. After that, she's confident most will go off to college.

"Their immigration journeys are incredible," Geerdes said. "But their dreams have not been crushed. Our job is to make it a possibility. We're not shutting off their dreams."

Goal of 400 students
The campus, which opened this year with only a freshman class, is currently housed on the fourth floor of Mission High School - a temporary site. It is expected to grow by a grade each year, reaching a maximum of 400 students.

Despite a strapped budget and fairly stagnant high school enrollment numbers, district officials opened the new school to meet the needs of students who all too often fall through the cracks - if they make it into a classroom at all.

Educating recent immigrants is one of the hardest jobs in the public school system. They often lag academically behind their American peers and don't have a grasp of English. Those who arrive as teenagers have little time to catch up. They drop out in greater numbers, and a quarter of those who stick around through senior year often don't pass the state's required exit exam.

Not unlike at all local schools, some students are illegal immigrants. Some are refugees. Some are legal residents, Geerdes said. State law requires all children to attend school. School officials asked that the students be identified in this story only by their first names in an effort to lessen their fear of reprisal from immigration officials.

Before International opened, new immigrant teenagers with limited English and low levels of literacy often were sent to the district's Newcomer High School. There, they spent a year or so almost exclusively learning the language before transferring to a traditional high school where they typically found themselves behind in credits and forced to sink or swim.

Too many sank.

Chem and Shakespeare
International, modeled on a network of similar schools in New York, offers a four-year track, requiring students to complete the course requirements needed for admission to state universities - something not yet required of the district's other students.

At the school, students don't learn the English language as a separate subject. They learn it while performing chemistry experiments or reading "Romeo and Juliet."

Shakespeare for those who can barely speak or read modern English?

"That's the challenge," said English teacher Jacqueline Fix, looking unconcerned.

Group work is a big part of the educational process, with students from multiple countries, speaking various languages, helping each other learn.

A recent biology class had groups of four students shaking ice cream ingredients in a plastic bag inside another plastic bag filled with ice and salt. They were learning the scientific method, as well as relevant vocabulary, including, "It is so yummy."

The Internationals Network for Public Schools, which now includes the San Francisco campus as well as one in Oakland and 10 in New York, started the model 25 years ago with a school in Queens.

The four-year graduation rate for the 10 schools is 63 percent, which is 11 percentage points above the rate for New York City's English-speaking students and more than double that of the city's English learners.

Within six years, nearly 90 percent of the International students have graduated. The dropout rate is low, and attendance is high.

"These kids have a triple job: They have to learn English; they have to learn (high school) content; they have to learn a new culture," said the network's executive director, Claire Sylvan. The success "comes from very hard work," she said.

Oakland's experience
Oakland International High School started its third year last week with 220 students on the rolls and new students expected every week of the school year, said Principal Carmelita Reyes.

Early on, it's hard to see success outside the school's walls. Recent test scores show nearly all the students fall below or far below grade level, which shouldn't be surprising given that many couldn't read when they got there.

"Some arrive and know the alphabet and are reading at third-grade level in one year," Reyes said. "In (the annual standardized tests), that is not going to show up."

The long-term goal is that students complete college-prep course work and pass the California High School Exit Exam, Reyes said.

The International schools get about $300 or $400 extra per student from the Internationals Network for Public Schools, money used mostly for training teachers and administrators. The network also paid much of the start-up costs and three-month principal training for the new San Francisco site.

Supporters say every penny is worth the payoff - an education for students who perhaps had little hope of ever getting one.

"It's a courageous battle," said Mary Richards, who oversees the district's small-school program, including International. "That's what we're here to do."

E-mail Jill Tucker at jtucker@sfchronicle.com.



http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 19I46L.DTL

If only they cared as much about American students!

In order for them to do this for "immigrant" students, another group of students is being ignored. I wonder which group?

Perfect example:

I live in a fairly affluent school district and under the NCLB guidelines, we did not meet expectations. We are suburban, not urban or inner city.

So much money is going into English as a second language classes (mostly Indian, Middle Eastern, Asian & hispanic), this group met expectations.

White & Asian students exceeded expectations.

Black students failed.

These were the results when grouped by race/ethnic groups. Individually, all races had students that excelled.

But that doesn't count in NCLB.

Priorities are seriously screwed up.