By Jacky Gerzema
"This book is about being a dad," first grader Joseph read from his journal. "And that it's all right to play with dolls."
Joseph looked up from his journal and paused for a minute.
"Will wanted the doll because he wanted to practice being a good father," he summarized for his principal, Patty Cellura.
Cellura said the book of the month is just one of many ways that reading and writing are incorporated into almost every aspect of education and a major reason why 97 percent of Shubert's fourth graders passed the English Language Arts state exam.
The Department of Education recently released statewide test scores broken down by race and ethnicity, and while most districts across the state show wide gulfs in performance between minority and white students, black students in Baldwin elementary schools generally perform as well as their white counterparts.
Overall, 79 percent of Baldwin's black fourth graders and 86 percent of white fourth graders passed the state ELA exam. In math, 82 percent of black students and 89 percent of white students passed.
High-minority schools in Baldwin performed particularly well. At Shubert, with a student population that is 70 percent black, 20 percent white and about 8 percent Hispanic or Asian, 96 percent of black students met or exceeded standards on the fourth-grade ELA exam.
On the math exam, 87 percent of all Shubert students passed and 86 percent of black students passed.
At Brookside, 94 percent of black students met or exceeded standards on the ELA exam and 97 percent passed the math exam. One hundred percent of white students passed the math exam.
Superintendent Dr. Kathy Weiss believes that socio-economic factors and parental involvement play a larger role in students' academic success or failure than race does.
Beyond that, Weiss said the district places great emphasis on pushing all students to achieve. Reading across content areas, math problem solving, test-taking strategies and parent workshops are some of the ways the schools push for success.
"We set high expectations for everyone," she said. "We continue to educate parents and we continue to support teachers in their endeavors. I do think we're different, and every other school district might say this too. But we are unique because we are a multicultural school district and parents and families want the best for their children."
Shubert fourth-grade teacher Tina Mignanelli said that student success is based on three elements working together.
"We call it the triangle: parents, teachers and students," she said. "If one part is not there, children are not going to find success."
Mignanelli and fellow teacher Linda Platt said they involve parents by mailing home information and hosting parent workshops and meetings.
Cellura said that parent involvement and reading come together in the school district's Parents as Reading Partners (PARP) program, which has 80 percent participation in Shubert overall and 100 percent participation in the fifth grade.
The Shubert curriculum uses books that are mulitcultural based and focus on critical thinking.
One of the books, "Pedro's Journal," is a historical fiction novel written in the form of a diary from the point of view of a deckhand aboard Christopher Columbus's ship. The book shows a negative side to Christopher Columbus's voyage and questions whether or not Columbus did in fact discover America.
"You usually learned in schools when you were young that Columbus discovered America and that was it," Cellura said. "We're now teaching different perspectives through reading and helping students to form their own ideas."
Most improved
Plaza Elementary School is among elementary schools nationwide that improved test scores by at least 10 percent over last year, according to a study published by Education Trust, a nonprofit education advancement group.
The percentage of Plaza students who met and exceeded standards on state ELA exams increased by over 20 percent this year, from 63 percent in 2000 to 86 percent in 2001.
Plaza School Principal Charlene Maniscalco said that in addition to strong parental involvement, teacher education and high expectations for students, early intervention educators are a strong force in improving students' test results.
The Baldwin School District uses early intervention service (EIS)
educators to help detect learning disabilities or students who need extra help. A maximum of four children meet with an EIS instructor at a time to offer the most individual attention to the students' needs.
Plaza EIS teacher Toni-Anne Barone has been with the district for four years and teaches kindergarten through second grade.
"What I'm doing is teaching the letter 'A' for example," Barone said. "Classroom teachers taught it this way, I'm teaching it another way. This way, I'll give them additional books and projects, and they can get a better understanding of what they're learning in class.... If anything, I'm teaching them twice."
Though Baldwin schools generally buck the statewide trend in performance gaps between black and white students, many educators have mixed feelings about releasing test results based on race.
While Weiss said she is a proponent of breaking down data by race, she is concerned about the way the test results are published
and used. For example, she said, it is difficult to accurately compare test results from a school where only 20 fourth graders tested with a school where 100 students are tested.
"We always look at data from a variety of viewpoints, and this is one of many viewpoints in which we look at it," Weiss said. "But, we should look at the district as a totality. All the kids had good scores."
Plaza Principal Maniscalco said that instead of being published, test results by race and ethnicity should be used as a diagnostical tool to help districts discern where extra help is needed.
One disturbing trend statewide is the marked drop from test scores in fourth-grade to eighth-grade in general. At the eighth-grade level in Baldwin, the gap between black and white test scores also increases.
Sixty-eight percent of whites and 58 percent of Asians and passed the eighth-grade ELA exams, compared to 46 percent of blacks and 27 percent of Hispanics. Sixty-one percent of white students and 42 percent of Asian students passed the eighth-grade math exams, compared to 23 percent of black students and five percent of the Hispanic students tested.
In order to combat the trend, Baldwin's Board of Education has budgeted for additional academic intervention instructors for the middle school.
Though educators couldn't comment specifically on the increased race gap in eighth grade, Al Raguccio, now a fourth-grade teacher at Plaza, said he used to teach eighth grade and that he thinks adolescence and lifestyle changes play a big role in students' lowered academic performance overall.
Many administrators say that the most important indicator of student performance is at the high-school level.
According to Long Island School District Data for 2000-2001, 87 percent of BSHS students passed English Regents and eighty-seven percent of Baldwin high schoolers passed the math Regents.
"If kids are doing well on the high school Regents exams, then the end results are good and we've done our job," she said.
For teachers, test results are important but students have to come before scores.
"Yes, state tests are fine and all, but we teach for the kids," Mignanelli said. "We want well-rounded individuals who will succeed in life, not just school. We love kids. You have to, if you're in this field."
