Learners

Children enrolled in Los Angeles Universal Preschool programs made significant improvements in the social and emotional skills needed to do well in kindergarten, according to a study released Monday. The gains were especially pronounced for English language learners, the study showed. The findings confirmed observations of preschool teachers that children attending high-quality programs are better prepared for kindergarten. For the first time, the study provided data to back up those observations, officials with the nonprofit preschool organization said.

It's not unusual for a high school team to be honored by the local city council or school board for winning a championship, and that's what happened last week for the Santa Ana Valley girls' water polo team. They showed up at the board of education meeting to be recognized for winning a second consecutive Southern Section Division 7 championship last month. What surprised many in the audience was the revelation they heard after a question was asked by a board member: "What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome?"

Kobe Bryant joins Mike Piazza in shooting his mouth off about the importance of "support" from management in negotiating a new contract. Sure, it's not money; it's appreciation. Kobe and his agent are quick learners. K. SILVERMAN, Seal Beach

Twenty-four first-graders scrambled from their seats and plopped onto a rainbow-colored rug in "Wong laoshi's" classroom. In a minute, they would begin a lesson on food groups. But first a quick exercise on water. "Zhengfa!" teacher Kennis Wong said, using the Mandarin word for "evaporation," and the students jumped to their feet. "Ningjie!" Wong said next, giving the word for "condensation. " And like a forming raindrop, students hugged in small groups. "Jiangyu!"

President Bing Inocencio's article, "Campus of Many Personalities," Sept. 22, was interesting because he strongly supported the Pierce College open admissions policy to all students. That is all well and good, according to how you define a student. I believe there is a conflict in the interpretation of the word. The Standard College Dictionary defines a student as one who studies, not necessarily under a teacher, a learner. In the past, Pierce welcomed thousands of learners who attended non-credit sessions--lectures, forums, civic, cultural, vocational and sports events.

In the July 21 article regarding the plans of various school districts to implement or defy Prop. 227, the spokeswoman for the Oakland Unified School District, which is trying to avoid the provisions of the proposition, is quoted as follows: "Philosophically, we do not believe the approach mandated [by 227] is the best program." Her statement is eloquent testimony to the fact that bilingual education is a political-philosophical belief system or doctrine having little to do with educational research or proven benefits to language learners.

Learning a second language is a struggle, at least for most adults. It's likely you'll be pegged as a foreigner no matter how many hours you slave over flash cards and Berlitz tapes. In irksome contrast, children learn new languages--including their native tongue--perfectly and without apparent effort. This difference, long observed informally, has recently been confirmed in a number of psychological studies that have important implications about the structure of the mind. "If you wait until puberty or adulthood, you're going to speak with an accent," said Peter Eimas, a psychologist at Brown University.

Another dirty little education secret is revealed (Oct. 22): Education professors likely are a main cause of the decline in academic learning and student behavior standards in schools. The Public Agenda poll results illustrate forcefully the negative effect in these regards of my colleagues' beliefs. Most of us believe that developing students' social graces in school is inconsequential. On the other hand, we contend that students becoming "lifelong" learners is paramount. The misjudgments we make here are readily apparent.

I find it difficult to be fooled by the apparently amicable facade of Paul G. Allen ("Excuse Me While I Buy the Sky," by Leslie Helm, May 7). He invests half a billion dollars in a company that probably won't launch any product in the immediate future and says he's not in it for the money. And he simultaneously defends his personal stake in monopoly (Ticketmaster), making him an avaricious paradox. For a man who is so outspoken about his love of music, he certainly is doing his part to see that enjoying it in a public form remains economically unattainable.

Finally it has been noted that "Spanish-speaking students need to switch to English faster than they have been." The perceptive observation is from the newly elected member of the Oxnard Elementary Board of Education, Arthur Joe Lopez. He should know, though, that this will never happen through bilingual teaching. In my experience as a student of English as a second language and teacher of elementary school students, I have found that Spanish-speaking parents want their children to learn English, not only for the children's benefit but also so that the children can help the parents at home to learn the language.

The Los Angeles Unified School District has agreed to sweeping revisions in the way it teaches students learning English, as well as black youngsters, settling a federal civil rights investigation that examined whether the district was denying the students a quality education. The settlement closes what was the Obama administration's first civil rights investigation launched by the Department of Education, and officials said Tuesday that it would serve as a model for other school districts around the country.

Anyone who as a child looked forward to ordering new books from a colorful brochure handed out in school, or who eagerly thumbed through the "Harry Potter" series, has a soft spot for Scholastic Inc., the venerable educational publisher and purveyor of children's titles. Sad to say, the company has of late been abusing the trust it built over decades as a beloved presence in U.S. schools. A division of Scholastic partnered with a coal industry trade group to produce an energy curriculum for fourth-graders — a poster and related materials — that extols the virtues of coal but neglects to mention the strip mining that degrades the landscape and removes entire mountaintops, the pollution of air and water associated with coal, or its role in global warming.

Learning more than one language is a 21st century skill. It provides students with economic opportunities across the globe and at home. Many students enter our schools fluent in a language other than English. They speak Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Farsi, Arabic, Khmer and dozens of other languages important in international trade. They come with a resource. Ideally, these students — more than 1.5 million in California who enter school speaking a language other than English — would gain English proficiency while enhancing their home language skills.

The continued segregation of impoverished English learners in failing inner-city schools harms students as well as the abiding interest of society to have educated citizens capable of participating in all social and economic opportunities. Low economic status and low educational achievement go hand in hand. Proposition 227 ended the 25-year failed program of transitional bilingual education, in which students were taught all or mostly in their native language during their first years in school.

Nearly 60% of English-language learners in California's high schools have failed to become proficient in English despite more than six years of a U.S. education, according to a study released Thursday. In a survey of 40 school districts, the study found that the majority of long-term English-language learners are U.S. natives who prefer English and are orally bilingual. But they develop major deficits in reading and writing, fail to achieve the academic English needed for educational success and disproportionately drop out of high school, according to the study by Californians Together, a coalition of 22 parent, professional and civil rights organizations.

Children enrolled in Los Angeles Universal Preschool programs made significant improvements in the social and emotional skills needed to do well in kindergarten, according to a study released Monday. The gains were especially pronounced for English language learners, the study showed. The findings confirmed observations of preschool teachers that children attending high-quality programs are better prepared for kindergarten. For the first time, the study provided data to back up those observations, officials with the nonprofit preschool organization said.

Re an April 28 letter by Planaria Price: Project Avanzando, an educational effort providing GED instruction to migrant and seasonal workers, provides instruction in Spanish because available research and our own practice demonstrate that the higher thinking skills involved in studying and passing the exam are clearly transferable between languages. As explained in "Program Helps Migrant Workers Earn a GED" (April 24), many of our adult students are able to prepare in about five months, through intense study and dedication.

Re "State Isn't the Only One Failing Our Kids," Aug. 18: I agree with Steve Lopez that parents must be involved in their children's education, yet I differ with him when he states, "But parents who don't learn to speak English and pass it on to the kids, along with their native language, are putting themselves, their children, and everyone else's, at a disadvantage." Limited English-speaking parents are very poor English role models. Their strength is developing language skills in their children and communicating with and encouraging them in their stronger language.

Freshman Randall Carroll found an able and willing instructor at UCLA even before classes began. Carroll, a speedy wide receiver from Los Angeles Cathedral High, sought out Terrence Austin this summer to tap the senior's experience. The tutoring has helped. Carroll is on the verge of securing one of the receiver spots, with the Bruins expected to rotate five at the position. Austin and Taylor Embree are locks for the position, with Nelson Rosario and Gavin Ketchum expected to be in that mix. Carroll appears to be holding off fellow freshman Ricky Marvray for the final spot.

There is the transition from the NBA's Development League to the parent league itself. Then there's the gulf between rental prices in Milwaukee and Los Angeles. The latter might be more daunting. "It's so expensive to live out here," the Clippers' Mike Taylor said Friday. "There's a big difference between [L.A. and] back home in Milwaukee. Rent is extremely low. I mean, $600 a month, that's a reasonable price. "That would be like a storage space over here."