L.A. Schools Unveil Plan to Strengthen Reading Instruction

Seeking to raise student performance, Los Angeles school officials Tuesday unveiled a plan that will require elementary schools to spend a minimum of two hours on reading and language arts every day, with lessons that are grounded in phonics and other basic skills.

The blueprint will provide a uniform approach to instruction at all 421 elementary campuses in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The program is scheduled to take effect next month.

Elementary schools typically devote about 90 minutes to reading and writing, but the content and delivery of those lessons vary from campus to campus.

“This document acts as a guide so we can make sure schools are utilizing the most effective practices,” said Geri Herrera, the district’s administrator of elementary instruction. “The ultimate goal is student achievement.”

The guidelines take on added urgency because of the school district’s intention to end social promotions next school year. Supt. Ruben Zacarias said this week that up to 60% of elementary and middle school students are at risk of being held back in June 2000 unless they show improvement.

The reading blueprint is part of a broad approach to address that problem and get students reading at grade level by the end of third grade.

The district will launch intervention programs in July, including Saturday sessions and after-school tutoring for children in danger of flunking. The number of textbook series available to schools will be reduced from nearly a dozen to three in an effort to provide consistency. Additional training in reading will be available for instructors.

The new reading plan seeks to provide classroom guidance for teachers.

The document explains the key elements of effective reading instruction, and lists the skills that students should be able to demonstrate at each grade level.

In addition, it provides sample schedules for the two-hour block. For example, first-grade teachers might use part of the time to cover explicit phonics and vocabulary for 45 minutes, followed by 20 minutes of writing the alphabet.

The plan even explains how to arrange classroom furniture to foster more effective instruction.

“The focus has to be on early literacy, and that’s what this plan is emphasizing,” Zacarias said. “No child should get past the third grade without reading reasonably at grade level.”

The reading road map codifies several proposals articulated in November by Zacarias. The reading initiative is based partly on language arts standards and classroom teaching guidelines recently approved by the state.

The state guidelines call for elementary schools to use phonics as the foundation of reading instruction and for primary grade pupils to devote 2 1/2 hours to reading and writing.

Herrera said the district went with two hours because schools can more easily adjust their schedules.

Schools with large numbers of limited-English students are expected to devote additional time to English instruction, reaching the state’s 2 1/2-hour recommendation, she said.

The authors of the state’s language arts guidelines said that L.A. Unified is headed in the right direction.

“I think teachers would find the guidance very helpful,” said Ed Kame’enui, an education professor at the University of Oregon who helped draft California’s language arts blueprint. “Otherwise, you can spend two hours on things that are unrelated to the importance of getting kids to read.”

The district is leaving the scheduling details up to individual schools, which will have to shave time from other classes and shuffle recesses to create the two-hour blocks.

Several principals said they are willing to make the shift, given the troubling performance of their students and the large numbers of new teachers who need direction.

“It will be helpful,” said May Arakaki, principal of Logan Street Elementary School in Echo Park. “Anything that is scripted is probably going to bring good results.”

Some schools already devote two hours or more to reading and writing, scattering lessons throughout the school day. Even so, they welcomed the added structure.

“If the district has something that might assist us, absolutely we are willing to try it,” said Ken Urbina, principal of Walnut Park Elementary School in Walnut Park. “New teachers don’t quite have a handle on the nuances of teaching.”

Still, some principals and teachers expressed concerns about robbing time from other subjects to accommodate the new schedules.

And teachers complained that they lack books necessary to implement the new initiative.

“You can have all the programs in the world, but it’s not going to help you teach if you don’t have the materials,” said Lori Dietrich, a kindergarten teacher at Liggett Street Elementary School in Panorama City.

District officials said state funds will be available to schools to supplement their reading programs.

The district’s reading plan was introduced to the Board of Education on Tuesday. The board is scheduled to adopt it Feb. 9.

* BUDGET AGREEMENT: School board ends tug of war over budget surplus. B4