Idaho agency tackles gap in Hispanic student scores

By JESSIE L. BONNER

Associated Press Writer

BOISE, Idaho (AP) _ The state should hire more bilingual teachers and allow students who are not proficient in English to skip standardized tests or take them in their native language, the Idaho Commission on Hispanic Affairs says.

The agency released a report on Thursday with more than two dozen recommendations for how Idaho can better educate a growing population of Hispanic students and close the stark achievement gap between them and their classmates.

A study released by the commission last year showed Hispanic students scored significantly lower than non-Hispanic students in reading, math and language on statewide tests taken during the 2006-2007 school year.

For example, one in five Hispanic students in the 10th grade scored below proficiency levels in math on the Idaho Standardized Achievement Test, while only one in 12 white students failed the test.

The ISAT is used to determine whether schools are meeting federal benchmarks set by the No Child Left Behind Act.

Hispanic students made slight gains on the tests last year in third through eighth grades, as well as in 10th grade, when they have to pass the test to graduate, but they still scored lower than non-Hispanic students.

Latino students in the Jerome School District were particularly successful in bringing up their scores, but only after officials there spent several years targeting ways to help children who don't speak English as a first language.

``We want to get closer to eliminating the gap. This is just the starting point,'' said Juan Saldana, a community resource specialist at the state Commission on Hispanic Affairs.

Hispanics accounted for 35,900 students in Idaho, making up about 13 percent of the 272,000 K-12 population during the 2007-2008 school year, according to the most recent enrollment figures available from the state Department of Education.

The commission recommends that school districts create individual education plans for students who are in bilingual programs and use state and federal funding to develop practices, based on research, aimed at the academic success of these children.

The agency also proposes that Idaho expand Head Start programs for Hispanic students and eliminate bilingual and English as a Second Language classes that have proven ineffective in some school districts.

``There are some that are just not working at all, the students are still scoring really low,'' Saldana said.

The state Department of Education has developed a program to recognize Limited English Proficiency, or LEP, classes where students are thriving and use them as a model for schools across the state, said spokeswoman Melissa McGrath.

As the economy forced Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna to chop $62 million from the public schools budget for the next fiscal year, he worked to preserve the LEP programs, McGrath said.

The department is reviewing the recommendations by the state Commission on Hispanic Affairs, proposals which have also been submitted to state lawmakers for consideration.

``This is something we feel strongly about,'' McGrath said. ``We saw the gap get a little bit more narrow in the past year and we're excited about that, but we still have a long ways to go.''