A29A Y WC FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009 GOOGLE PIONEERS Eric Schmidt (Cal M.S. ’79; Ph.D. ’82) leads the company, but Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Stanford M.S. ’98 and ’95 , respectively) founded it. Mr. Schmidt’s dual degrees keep it close: Field goal, Stanford. Stanford leads, 3-0. COMPUTER PIONEERS Steve Wozniak (Cal ’86) co-founded Apple but left before it reached global dominance. William Hewlett and Da- vid Packard (both Stanford ’34) were the symbolic founders of Silicon Val- ley. Touchdown, Stanford. Stanford leads, 10-0. LSD PIONEERS Ken Kesey (Stanford creative writing program) first tripped as part of a C.I.A. study at Stanford in 1959, then spent much of the ’60s leading the Merry Pranksters. Timothy Leary (Cal Ph.D. ’50) did his own academic research on the subject and coined the phrase, “Tune in, turn on, drop out.” Touchdown, Cal. Stanford leads, 10-7. CHILD ACTORS Fred Savage (Stanford ’99) charmed the country in “The Wonder Years” from 1988 to 1993. Jerry Mathers (Cal ’74) charmed the country in “Leave It to Bea- ver” from 1957 to 1963 and in syndicated perpetuity. Touchdown, Cal. Cal leads, 14-10. TV SUPERHEROES Bill Bixby (Cal) gave it his best shot with “The Incredible Hulk,” but Batman as played by Adam West (Stanford) is iconic. (Neither actor graduated.) Touchdown, Stanford. Stanford leads, 17-14. GOVERNORS Jerry Brown (Cal ’61) ran California from 1975 to 1983. Gray Davis (Stanford ’64) was in charge from 1999 to 2003. Mr. Davis was unseated in a recall election. Field goal, Cal. Tied, 17-17. ARTISTS The creator of Dilbert, Scott Adams (Cal M.B.A. ’86), and Pearls Before Swine’s Stephan Pastis (Cal ’89) would dominate a cartoonists category. In- stead, they go up against Richard Die- benkorn (Stanford ’49). Touchdown, Stanford. Stanford leads, 24-17. DIRECTORS Alexander Payne (Stanford ’84 ) di- rected “Sideways.” John McCone (Cal ’22) directed the C.I.A. Touchdown, Cal. Tied, 24-24. CROWN PRINCES Haakon Magnus of Norway (Cal ’99) squares off with Philippe of the Netherlands (Stanford ’85). Both sides punt. ROCKERS William Andress (Stanford ’84), known as Tuck, was half of the gui- tar-vocal duo Tuck & Patti and a member of the Gap Band. The Ban- gles singer Susannah Hoffs (Cal ’80) walked like an Egyptian. Field goal, Cal. Cal’s late drive through 1980s bands brings a 27-24 victory as space expires. BIG GAME A Cal-Stanford Score, Off the Field For 111 years, Stanford and Cal, which play on Saturday, have battled for su- premacy on the football field. Still, there is more than one way to compete. JASON TURBOW Eric Schmidt and Larry Page. Ken Kesey and Timothy Leary. Fred Savage and Jerry Mathers. Jerry Brown and Gray Davis. Drive through Vallejo and you will see a once-proud Navy town clearly down on its luck. A motel room goes for $30.99 a night, including HBO. Closed businesses prolifer- ate; those that re- main often have temporary vinyl signs held up by string, indicating a tentative invest- ment in the future. The problems plaguing this community are among the most daunting to face any municipali- ty: the city has declared bank- ruptcy, its schools are in state receivership and a court battle threatens to strip firefighters of expensive salaries and benefits. But there is concern that, as the city tries to find the way out of this financial abyss, it is fall- ing into another that is perhaps more pernicious — its political system increasingly reflects the influence of evangelical churches. This influence, many say, has been gained by condon- ing intolerance of the city’s growing gay community. “There’s definitely a discon- nect between the faith commu- nity and the gay community,” said Marc Garman, editor of The Vallejo Independent Bulle- tin, an online town crier. There has been a gay migra- tion to Vallejo from San Francis- co in the past decade, lured by inexpensive home ownership and opulent Victorians ripe for renovation. The newcomers found tolerance here, but now there are signs of a push back. Earlier this year, the Vallejo school district settled a lawsuit after an openly gay high school student said she was harassed by staff and told she was going “to hell.” She was awarded $25,000, and schools were forced to adopt antidiscrimina- tion policies. Gay candidates for public of- fice say they have been singled out for defeat by a coalition of local churches calling itself the “faith community.” In 2007 and 2009 the group hosted “faith for- ums” that included gay candi- dates, but not in other contests. An openly gay priest who was a school board candidate, the Rev. Lou Bordisso, said he heard murmurs and laughter at a forum this fall. A moderator asked if he wanted to put a gay and lesbian curriculum in schools. Father Bordisso is an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of California in the American Catholic Church (a sect not un- der Vatican control). “They have a hidden agenda to impose their particular version of Chris- tianity on the citizens of Vallejo,” he said. Comments posted on Mr. Gar- man’s Web site described the forum as “homophobic” and “horrid.” An openly gay mayoral candidate, Gary Cloutier, at- tended such a forum in 2007. Mr. Cloutier said introductions re- ferred to him as “a gay.” Then, he said, “I was asked if I would bring the Folsom Street Fair to Vallejo.” The question referred to San Francisco’s notorious public display of sexuality. Mr. Cloutier said the political climate changed six years ago when he was serving as a mem- ber of the City Council. Evan- gelicals began forming prayer circles outside the Council chambers. “ I was disturbed be- cause they called America a Christian nation,” he said. Both men eventually lost their races. Mr. Cloutier was defeated — by only two votes — by Osby Davis, a devout Assemblies of God follower. “I don’t know what the fear is about consider- ing Vallejo as a city of God,” Mayor Davis said. If believed, he said, “that God created heav- en and earth and everything that’s in it, and that God is sov- ereign, then you believe that he is already a part of this commu- nity and this is already his city; and so what’s the big deal?” Mr. Davis thought the ques- tion asked about the Folsom Street Fair was “really, really unfair.” But his faith does inform the way he sees gay people. “They’re committing sin and that sin will keep them out of heaven,” he said. “But you don’t hate the person. You hate the sin that they commit.” Told his outspoken religious passion might rattle some, he said: “That means that they have a problem, and not me. I’m just as passionate about my faith as someone is about the Oakland Raiders football team. No one says a word when some- one rides down the street with their body all painted up yelling, ‘Go Raiders!’ If I start yelling, ‘Go Jesus! Praise God!’ some- one gets upset.” Stephanie Gomes, a City Council member, has “a very strong feeling about the separa- tion of church and state.” Her re- cent, successful campaign fo- cused on economic problems. Ms. Gomes is concerned about the political tone. “We became so diverse,” she said, “and I wonder if some people felt threatened by that.” Faith and Tolerance Collide in Vallejo Scott James is an Emmy-win- ning television journalist and novelist who lives in San Fran- cisco. A city’s struggles are not bringing people together. SCOTT JAMES BARBARY COAST By PHIL YOST Kathleen Martin stood in front of a white board covered with math problems, her class clus- tered at her feet. As they talked through the solutions together, the students repeated the head- ings over each problem on the board: “Algebra and Function,” “Probability,” “Data Analysis.” “So I see three addends here,” said Mrs. Martin, in her third year of teaching, “and I know I am going to find the sum.” The children then call out the ad- dends — make that the numbers — in unison. They are adding six, four and zero. Mrs. Martin teaches first grade at Leroy Anderson Elementary School in San Jose, a regular pub- lic school. Of its 430 students, 90 percent receive subsidized lunches. For 70 percent, English is a second language and 70 per- cent are Hispanic. Those can be the demographic ingredients for a watered-down curriculum and the excuses for academic failure. Indeed, four years ago Anderson was, aca- demically, the worst elementary school in Santa Clara County, with the lowest score on Califor- nia’s Academic Performance In- dex. But when scores were re- leased this fall, Anderson had jumped 136 points in a year, to 810 out of a possible 1,000. Only a handful of Bay Area schools notched triple digit in- creases. In the past three years, Anderson’s scores rose 206 points. What is turbo-charging aca- demics at this school? It is never easy to prove a cause-and-effect relationship in education, but three ingredients associated with success in other schools are at work: high expectations for ev- eryone, constant assessment and family involvement. Now, other schools are looking to Anderson for guidance in elim- inating the so-called achievement gap between Hispanic and Afri- can-American students on one hand and whites and Asians on the other. Anderson is bucking a disturb- ing trend in Santa Clara County: on California’s 2009 Accountabil- ity Progress Report, which meas- ures student performance, scores for Hispanic students in the coun- ty — 715 — fell further behind those of Hispanic students state- wide. The gap this year was 19 points; last year it was 14. Not surprisingly, given the af- fluence and high education levels in Silicon Valley, its overall scores exceed the statewide av- erage. But many Hispanic stu- dents — 37 percent of the school population — are in danger of be- ing left out of the “knowledge economy.” Closing the gap is this genera- tion’s civil rights issue, said Charles Weis, superintendent of schools in Santa Clara County. “We know what needs to be done; we know how to do it,” Dr. Weis said at a rally for education- al improvement. Yet, he added, “educators are notoriously bad at adopting others’ good ideas.” Anderson illustrates the poten- tial and the challenge. Much as the school has improved, its A.P.I. score still falls just below the up- per half of the county’s elemen- tary schools. While 71 percent of its students are proficient in math, only 53 percent are in read- ing and writing. When Glen Ishiwata became superintendent of the Moreland School District in July 2006, he chose for Anderson a young new principal, Destiny Ortega, and as- sistant principal, Karen Allard. They overhauled the core in- struction, tested all students to establish their skill levels and in- sisted on a can-do attitude. The despairing mentality of “What are we going to do with these kids?” ended quickly, Mrs. MONICA ALMEIDA/THE NEW YORK TIMES Kathleen Martin, a first-grade teacher in San Jose, uses BoardMath to acquaint children with formal mathematical terminology. Continued on Following Page Learning to Teach to Bridge the Achievement Gap Making Gains THE NEW YORK TIMES Source: Santa Clara County Office of Education Leroy Anderson Elementary’s Academic Performance Index, an achievement measure based on standardized test scores, improved significantly in 2008-9, surpassing the county average. While the performance of all students in Santa Clara County has improved since 2000, Hispanics and blacks continue to score much lower than Asians and whites. Academic Performance Index Academic Performance Index at Santa Clara County schools 200 400 600 800 1,000 200 400 600 800 1,000 Asian Santa Clara County California Leroy Anderson Elementary White Hispanic Black ’00 ’02 ’04 ’06 ’09 ’00 ’02 ’04 ’06 ’09 C M Y K YxWC,2009-11-20,A,029A,Bs-4C,E1