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**EqualEducational Opportunity for Hispanic Students in the Oklahoma City Public Schools**

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**Chapter5**

**SchoolDistrict Perspective**

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TheOklahoma Advisory Committee invited the school superintendent, Marvin Crawford,to address the Committee. However, the school district delegated the task to Dr.Vern Moore, the deputy superintendent.[1]

Dr.Moore provided the vision statement for the Hispanic Student Services unit inthe district.[2]The unit�s mission is to provide the opportunity for educational services toall students and ensure that it brings into play the cultural and linguisticallydiverse students to make sure that they are able to speak English and are giventhe skills to be successful.[3]

Dr.Moore provided statistics that showed an increasing number of Hispanic studentsin the district (from 3,622 in 1995 to 4,168 in 1998) who have taken the IowaTest of Basic Skills (ITBS).[4] Likewise there was anincrease in the number of students who were exempted from the ITBS testingprogram during the same timeframe of fall 1995 through spring 1998.[5]

Accordingto Dr. Moore, Oklahoma public schools provide limited-English-proficient (LEP)students with appropriate instruction to enable these students to achievecompetency in English in as short a time period as possible.[6]The school district�s objective is to prepare the LEP student to participatesuccessfully in the mainstream classroom. Dr. Moore further said that Stateguidelines indicate that students should not be in an program more than 4 years.This means that a LEP student may only be exempted from the ITBS during a totalof 4 years of enrollment in Oklahoma schools.[7]The school district identifies limited-English-proficient students as:

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those    youngsters who [were] born in the United States or whose native language is    other than English; those individuals who are Native American or Alaska    native and who is a native resident of the outlying areas and comes from an    environment where a language other than English has had a significant impact    on such student�s level of English language proficiency or those students    who are migratory whose native language is other than English and comes from    an environment where a language other than English is dominant.[8]

Accordingto Dr. Moore, beginning in the 1997�98 school year, all public schooldistricts are required to administer the norm-referenced ITBS to all students ingrades 3 and 7 and the criterion-referenced tests to all students in grades 5,8, and 11.[9]Exemption of students from the administration of these tests will be limited tostudents whose education is subject to the provisions of an IndividualizedEducation Program.[10] Students may be exemptfrom participating in the Oklahoma School Testing Program provided they have metcertain conditions. One condition, for example, is that the local district shallhave on file a record of having notified parents or legal guardians of LEPstudents of the option of requesting that their child be exempted fromparticipating in the testing program.[11]According to Dr. Moore, the documentation and records of all the school districtstudents who are eligible and are exempted from taking the ITBS are kept on fileand readily available for review by any interested party.[12]

Duringthe enrollment years that LEP students are exempted from the Oklahoma SchoolTesting Program, they are required to receive instruction in the regularclassroom or in language centers staffed by a teacher and a bilingual assistant.[13]Dr. Moore stated that the recommended classroom ratio is 60 percent LEP studentsand 40 percent non-LEP students, in grades six through eight. Instructions atthese language centers are provided by English as a second language teachers andbilingual assistants who are available for tutorial services in the contentarea.[14]

Onthe Oklahoma City public school student dropout issue, Dr. Moore shared with theAdvisory Committee information over a 2-year timeframe, school years 1996�97and 1997�98. The total of student dropouts for 1995�96 was 1,199, whichincluded 72 American Indians, 40 Asian Americans, 488 blacks, 160 Hispanics, and439 white students. For the 1996�97 school year there was a total of 1,062dropouts: 57 American Indians, 94 Asian Americans, 356 blacks, 168 Hispanics,and 387 whites.[15]

Inaddition to dropout figures, Dr. Moore gave information on student suspensionsfor middle school and high school students. He said that urban school districtsare �not necessarily proud of suspension statistics,� and the schooldistrict is working to reduce the numbers of suspensions.[16]For elementary and secondary students in the school year 1997�98, AmericanIndians accounted for 200 suspensions; Asian Americans, 46; blacks, 4,100;Hispanics, 1,016; and whites, 1,937 making a total of 7,299 student suspensionsin the district.[17]

Aftergiving his presentation, the Oklahoma Advisory Committee members asked Dr. Moorequestions about the percentage of Hispanic students who were being exempted fromtaking the ITBS. He previously had suggested that an increasing number ofstudents taking the ITBS was due to the increasing Hispanic student populationand the concomitant decrease in Hispanic students being exempted from testing.Dr. Moore was asked why the district wanted Hispanic parents to sign a waiver toexempt their children from testing without any discussion about the need for awaiver and the benefits derived from such action. His response was that theschool really makes an effort to ensure that parents understand the exemptionprocedures, and the procedures do not go forth until the parents understand whatthey are signing. The schools conduct home visits and conferences to inform theparents about the exemption procedures.[18]According to Dr. Moore, the alleged pressure put on parents to sign waivers toexempt Hispanic students from the testing has been done without the knowledge ofthe school officials responsible for conducting the testing.[19]Dr. Moore admitted that this emphasis on parental notification was due toconcerns raised by the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights.[20]

[1]    Dr. Vern Moore, Statement before the Oklahoma Advisory Committee to the U.S.    Commission on Civil Rights, community forum, Oklahoma City, Sept. 29, 1998,    Transcript, p. 173. (hereafter cited as Transcript).

[2]    Ibid.

[3]    Ibid., pp. 173�74.

[4]    Ibid., p. 174.

[5]    Ibid.

[6]    Ibid.

[7]    Ibid., p. 176.

[8]    Ibid., pp. 176�77.

[9]    Presentation Paper, Dr. Vern L. Moore, Oklahoma City Public Schools, before    the Oklahoma Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights,    Sept. 29, 1998, p. 6 (hereafter cited as Presentation Paper).

[10]    Ibid.

[11]    Ibid., p. 7.

[12]    Dr. Vern Moore, Transcript, p. 181.

[13]    Ibid.

[14]    Ibid.

[15]    Presentations, Dr. Moore, op. cit., pp. 11�12.

[16]    Ibid., pp. 13�14.

[17]    Ibid.

[18]    Transcript, p. 192.

[19]    Transcript, p. 195.

[20]    Ibid., p. 193.