GENERALX.2-C001-GVU-11152012

C1 | Thursday, November 15, 2012 | The Union

■■ COMMENTARY

Why even a low AP score can point to later success

I am approaching the 30th anniversary of my Dec. 7, 1982, encounter with East Los Angeles math teacher Jaime Escalante. That day changed my life. If I had not met the guy who was helping so many Hispanic kids master calculus, I wouldn’t be writing columns today. I also wouldn’t be having frequent ar-guments about how much low-income students can learn.

Escalante proved that the children of day laborers can do well in challenging Advanced Placement courses if given enough time and encourage-ment to learn. In 1987, he and his Garfield High School col-league Ben Jimenez were re-sponsible for 26 percent of all Mexican American students in the country who passed AP cal-culus exams.

Several of these students were not doing well in other subjects. And many people, including some educators, still believe that AP can’t help you if you are not

already a good student. That is why many schools still bar aver-age students from taking AP.

Some readers regularly at-tack my reports on research sug-

gesting that AP courses help the lowest-performing students prepare for college and that they benefit even if they fail the AP exam. So let me aggravate them again by offering a just-released report by the Mass Math + Science Initiative that reveals what AP has done for more than 8,000 students in their program.

The MMSI, created by the nonprofit Mass Insight Education, is designed to in-crease student participation and

performance in AP math, science and English courses. In 2010, more than 7,800 AP exams were taken in MMSI schools with an eligible student population

of 18,955. Only 3,685 AP ex-ams were taken in a comparison group of schools that had 22,911 eligible students.

College matriculation rates for low-income students in MMSI schools were 14 percent higher than state and national averages. The rates for African American students in the pro-gram were nearly 20 percent higher than state and national averages.

Getting into college, however,

has proved to be weak indicator. Plenty of campuses take anyone who applies. Perhaps a better test of a high school program’s value is, out of those who enroll, what percentage survive the first year and show up for a second year. Scholars call this the per-sistence rate. Students coming out of MMSI schools have a 77 percent persistence rate in two-year colleges and a 90 percent rate in four-year colleges. This is substantially above the two-year college persistence rate of 54 per-cent for Massachusetts students not in MMSI, and the four-year college persistence rate of 79 percent.

The most powerful argument in the new report comes from an examination of students in the MMSI program who took AP courses but did poorly on the grueling three-hour exams. The highest score on an AP exam is 5; the lowest is 1. Some critics have said high schools should not allow students to take AP courses if they are likely to get

BY JAY MATHEWSWashington Post

“Perhaps a better test of a high school program’s value is, out of

those who enroll, what percentage survive the first year and show up for

a second year.”

See SCORES C2

■■ COLLEGE FEES

AP Photo

Gov. Jerry Brown speaks at the University of California Board of Regents meeting in San Francisco, Wednesday. Brown is set to make his first appearance where he’s expected to urge UC officials to control costs and avoid raising tuition.

Gov. Brown urges UC leaders to rethink education

SAN FRANCISCO — Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday called on the University of California to contain costs and rethink how it does busi-ness, even though voters ap-proved new taxes to help fund education.

Brown made the plea at the UC board of regents meeting eight days after the passage of Proposition 30. The governor, students and university sup-porters campaigned heavily for the ballot measure, which temporarily raises the statewide sales tax and raises income taxes on wealthy residents.

“You’ve got to look for some

cost savings,” Brown said dur-ing his first UC board meeting as governor. “You don’t want to raise fees. The state can give you more, but there’s a limit.”

At Brown’s request, officials at UC and California State University systems on Tuesday postponed votes on raising stu-dent fees. The UC board had been scheduled to consider tu-ition increases for several pro-fessional degree programs.

On Wednesday, the governor urged the 10-campus system to embrace digital technology that will allow more students to take online courses for credit while UC saves money.

“In order to meet the needs

BY TERENCE CHEAAssociated Press

See BROWN C2

Multiplication, subtraction and addition in school

Kyle slapped his paper on my desk. “Check out that

math!” He’d solved four multi-plication problems.

“This is your work?” I consid-ered the enormous responsibil-ity of checking his arithmetic.

“Yep! My dad showed me how!”

I held his attention in my hands. “Can I check the math?”

“Go ahead – they’re right!” Kyle is four feet tall and fearless.

“Can I write on your paper?” I asked forgoing the calculator for a pencil.

“I don’t know! Can you!” “May I?” I pleaded.“Okay – but don’t mess

with my math!” Kyle yells in statements sometimes disguised as questions. He punctuates thoughts with a furrowed brow.

I put on a show and scratched 240,000 x 1,200 along his scribbles and attempted to find a meaningful solution.

Kyle watched my every move. “You need help!”

“Maybe – let me work on it.” “My dad showed me how

to do math!” Kyle jabbed the paper.

“That’s what you said.”“He taught me lots of

things!”“How many zeros do I bring

down?” I pointed at the first problem.

“It’s your problem not mine!” I multiplied at a snail’s pace.

Kyle and I focused while my class ran wild. “So, you say your dad taught you to do things?”

“I can change a bike chain! He taught me that!”

“That’s great.”“Yep. He showed me how to

build a bench too!”I lifted my pencil. “A con-

crete or wood bench?”“What do you think!” “Concrete?”“You’re not as smart as you

look!”“Looks like you’re pretty

smart.” I pointed at his correct answer.

“You’re right about that! Check my second problem!”

“Okay.” I bore down on 154,000 x 1,600. “What else can you do?”

“Plenty!”“Oh - yea?’“Yea!”“Well looks like you can

multiply 154,000 x 1600.”“It’s easy! Check out the next

problem!”“Do you want your math

teacher to check your last two answers?” I knew what he would say.

“Nope! You do it!” Kyle pushed my hand to get the pencil moving.

I nudged him with my elbow, “Don’t bug me I’m work-ing here.”

“Get on with it! I’m going to be tardy!”

“I’ll write you a pass.” I said and ciphered 185,000 x 1,300.

“You better! It’s not my fault you’re so slow!” Kyle poked my ribs with a dirty finger.

“Keep it up and I’ll erase your math.” I chided.

BY TY PELFREYSpecial to The Union

Brett Bentley, Features Editor, (530) 477-4219, [email protected]

LEARNING■■ COMMENTARY

See PELFREY C3

■■ TIMELINES!

Submitted photo from the TIMELINES! Collection

Where and what is this, TIMESLINES! asks this week.

Direction from last post remains mystery

Last TIMELINES! our Grass Valley post card produced a

multitude of differing opinions and directions. Some thought it was West Main looking east, some thought it was South Auburn looking south and some said they didn’t know. You may decide which way and on what streets we are looking. Happy Gazing!

Now, TIMELINERS! who ventured guesses include: our faithful RT bunch of Dolly and Ken opt for S. Auburn looking toward Main and add, “We’ll be waiting anxiously for the next TIMELINES! for the answer;” other guesses from Margaret, “Mill looking toward Main;” Sis, Brenda and Prince; Dan

Williams, Mario Valceschini, San French, Les Worthington, Jim Dierberger, “I admit I am stumped;” Dennis Babson, “Looks like around the early 1900s. I’m old, but not that old;” and Jim Valadez and a player to be named later.

TIMELINES! isn’t really sure as to the direction of sight. A poll of the staff favors, “Looking east from the Main street hill near the present day intersection of Alta Street.”

Again, and with malice toward none; take your best shot! And a million thanks to ya’all.

CLUE: Today’s photo is not the Benicia army barrack nor is it the pygmy camel barn. Please direct guesses to: [email protected] or PO Box 216, Nevada City CA 95959.

BY BOB WYCKOFFSpecial to The Union

■■ IN BRIEF

Pleasant Valley presents play

Pleasant Valley School’s Junior High will perform a production of “The Little Mermaid” at 6:30 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday. The production is directed by teacher Tim Grebe and features Drew Wilson as Prince Eric and Paige Campbell as Ariel. The public is welcome to attend “The Little Mermaid” at the school gym, 14806 Pleasant Valley Road in Penn Valley. Tickets are $5 per person or $10 per family. Refreshments will be available courtesy of the PVS Parent Club. For more information, call (530) 432-7311.

Teens invited to ‘Direct Change’

Student filmmakers throughout

California are invited to “Direct Change” by submitting videos for a statewide contest to prevent suicide and change minds about mental illness.

The contest is part of statewide efforts to prevent suicide, reduce stigma and discrimination related to mental illness, and to promote the mental health and wellness of students. These initiatives are funded by the Mental Health Services Act (Prop 63) and administered by the California Mental Health Services Authority (CalMHSA), an organization of county governments working to improve mental health outcomes for individuals, families

See BRIEF C3

More than 65 seventh- and eighth-grade students from western Nevada County schools will converge on the Miners Foundry Cultural Center in Nevada City today to out-spell one another for the second day of competition this week.

On Tuesday, Forest Charter Schools’ Rhiannon Moore, 11, spelled her way to the top of the sixth- and seventh-grade division. Coming in second place Tuesday was Grass Valley Charter School’s Caitlin Babcock. The first- and second-place winners qualify to participate in the state competition next spring.

Team Awards for Tuesday’s competition were doled out to Seven Hills, Forest Charter and Grass Valley Charter schools, in that order.

Today’s Spelling Bee Tournament, expected to draw 60 students, will begin at 9:30 a.m. and is scheduled to conclude at noon with awards hopefully handed out at 11:30 a.m.

The event is sponsored by the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools and is sponsored by The Union and Miners Foundry.

— Christopher Rosacker

Nevada County students shine one letter at a timeS-P-E-L-L-I-N-G bee

Rhiannon Moore, left, and Caitlin Babcock took first and second place, respectively, at Tuesday’s Nevada County Spelling Bee.

Submitted photos

Seventh- and eighth-students take a break during the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools’ spelling bee.