Byrd's job now is to begin teaching some subjects in English. By early May, seven of his 20 students already read as well in English as native English speakers, Byrd said. By the end of next year, all of the students should be able to move into English-only classes, according to district goals. Districtwide, Redwood City Spanish-speaking students are climbing out of the basement on the district's nationally standardized reading test. By 2000, the district's goal is to have all fifth-graders in English classrooms.
Principals now spend more time at their annual retreats focusing on test scores.
Teachers can refer to curriculum guidelines to see what their students are supposed to know and when. An L.A. school's story Felton Elementary School in Los Angeles' Lennox School District adopted many of the same strategies when it sought to improve student performance in the early 1990s. The poor, mostly Latino district, situated below the flight path of Los Angeles International Airport, already had a reputation for a commitment to bilingual education as the best way to teach limited-English children. But that wasn't enough. The district's standardized test scores in the late 1980s were among the lowest in the state.