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Back to basics hits the mark
FOCUS ON EXCELLENCE PROPELS MILLIKIN, FARIA
By Larry Slonaker
Mercury News
When California posts numbers Thursday on its scale for measuring school performance, it will show two Silicon Valley elementary schools -- Millikin and Faria -- at unprecedented heights: a perfect score.
The schools have shared a similar philosophy in their path to a 1000 score on the state's Academic Performance Index Growth Report. Both maintain a strong focus on excellence, and use back-to-basics methods to achieve it.
The difference between these schools and most others is readily apparent. For example, most kindergarten classes look something like a birthday party. Even the well-structured ones contain a lot of activity and movement, and occasional random outbursts of exultation and sorrow and general jabber.
At Millikin Elementary in Santa Clara, Yvette Kamfirouzi's kindergarten class looks different. The students, instead of sitting cross-legged on the floor, sit quietly at desks in neat rows. Kamfirouzi stands at a whiteboard, explaining how to draw in missing details on the outline of a dog. Although her instructions veer toward the abstract -- ``Remember, we're drawing the dog from the side, so it only gets one eye'' -- the children take dutiful note.
``From Day One in kindergarten,'' said veteran Millikin fifth-grade teacher Chris Preece, ``our students know what they're here for.''
Which is: to work hard and master the basics -- and do both with a minimum of wasted time.
Both Millikin and Faria, in Cupertino, offer spots to students from all across their districts, with lotteries determining who gets in. Both demand a high degree of commitment from parents and students. And both offer a strictly back-to-basics curriculum that stresses reading, writing and math.
High achievers
In previous years, both schools hit the high 900s, with Faria reaching the previous statewide high: 996 on its ``base'' score released in the spring. Scores released this week will show whether schools' scores hit targeted improvements from their base.
``I think it's a remarkable achievement for any school to score as high as they have,'' said Tom Savage, chair of the Department of Education at Santa Clara University. But he adds that back-to-basics schools have an advantage in API performance because their mission meshes with the testing material on which API is based.
As far as state education leaders are concerned, that is just as it should be. The accomplishment by Millikin and Faria is ``awesome,'' said William Padia, head of the state Department of Education's Policy and Evaluation division. Referring to the rest of the state's schools, he said with a laugh, ``Only 8,998 to go.''
That may take a while. For all their hard work, those at the two schools also have certain advantages that many other schools never will enjoy.
For example, few students come from poor families, and poverty is a well-established indicator of low student performance. And parents of students at Millikin and Faria are well-educated, which correlates to high student performance.
Also, the schools attract students with similar, high-end academic skills. That means the teachers are faced with a much narrower and more manageable range of student ability than their counterparts at other schools.
At those schools, teachers often divide their classes into smaller groups, according to student ability. The groups then work at different levels, often on their own. The teacher and even other students might help those who are struggling.
Not so at Millikin. According to Principal Melba Rhodes-Stanford, the school's firm philosophy is to have ``the teacher in front, teaching to the whole group.'' At Millikin, students are figuratively and literally on the same page.
Parents are expected to buy into that philosophy when they enroll their children. If they are lucky enough to win in the January lottery -- last year the school had 260 applications for 60 kindergarten spots -- parents and their children are required to sign an agreement before enrolling. Students pledge to be respectful and do their work; parents pledge to support learning at home, and to get their kids to school every day.
`` `Seat time' is so important,'' Rhodes-Stanford said. Students are allowed only five days of unexcused absences. That means if someone goes on a two-week family vacation during the school year to see an aunt in Florida, ``when they get back, someone else is in their seat.''
The Millikin philosophy is not for everyone, she acknowledges. Some would have difficulty adapting to the school's highly disciplined approach. Most schools try to adapt to accommodate the frenetic energy levels found in any group of children; at Millikin, it's the children who are expected to adapt.
``If your child needs to move around,'' Rhodes-Stanford said, ``this is probably not the best spot.''
Basic, not grim
Staff members hasten to say that the school is not some Dickensian bastion of grimness. The '50s-era buildings are clean and well-lighted. The classrooms have the typical merry decorations of any elementary school, with plenty of bright colors and contrasting shapes.
``It's not a concentration camp here,'' said Mary Zakai, another fifth-grade teacher. Students ``know how to have fun. They know how to be naughty.''
There is a level of defensiveness among staff members, who feel they sometimes are unfairly sniped at by others in the district. ``There's this misconception that we have all the bright kids,'' Zakai said. ``We don't. What we do have is kids who work hard.''
Fifth-grader Milind Hegde has been at Millikin since kindergarten. ``I really like it,'' he said. ``I like the way they teach. Most of them teach in a fun way.''
Some school policies do raise eyebrows, even among those within the school community. For example, unlike most schools, at Millikin parents are not allowed to volunteer or even observe inside the classroom, lest they become a distraction.
``I'd love to be in the classroom,'' said Gabriel Zubizarreta, who has two children at Millikin. ``It goes against my grain not to be.
``But these guys have a plan, and they execute it very well.''
Parents do volunteer, in the library, the computer lab, in artwork sessions. Both schools have a base of interested, active parents who plan fundraising events and celebrations.
Plans are under way for ice cream celebrations at both schools to mark the API scores.
``The teachers have been working hard, the kids have been working hard,'' said Faria parent Nandini Rao. Usually, she said, a big deal is not made of API scores. ``But this time we thought there should be a little reward.''
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