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Crossing Boundaries: The Story of East Palo Alto and Sequoia Union High School District
By Avani Patel
"Is that even legal?" I found myself asking this question for years when looking at a boundary map that disperses children in East Palo Alto (EPA) to several public high schools. In fact, the boundary map was devised in 1986 and stands as current Sequoia Union High School District (SUHSD) policy. The region of EPA is the only region on the map that is divided with noncontiguous boundaries, which requires students to take a school bus that can take upwards of 45 minutes each way. One of the reasons I joined SFSU's Ed.D. program is to better understand how this issue of equity could be resolved for children in East Palo Alto. The division of students from East Palo Alto when transitioning to high school seemed unnecessary and perhaps even illegal. Personally and professionally, I have focused on this issue for several years, and I continue to tackle the issue at the ground and academic levels as the focus of my dissertation. The program has allowed me to explore different aspects of this particular equity and social justice issue, from analyzing data in multiple angles, interviewing key players, and even conducting a pilot student voice study as the basis for my dissertation work.
Ravenswood[1] is the school district that serves students in East Palo Alto and eastern Menlo Park. About 65% of students are English learners, 90% are socioeconomically disadvantaged, and 99% are students of color. In stark contrast, other cities served by the Sequoia Union High School District are characterized by affluence, such as Woodside, where some of the wealthiest people in the nation reside. This contrast has demonstrated the difference not only in educational opportunity between students from the Ravenswood District and students from surrounding districts, but also the difference in cultural capital.
Visibly, one can recognize the peculiar boundaries drawn on the Eastside of the map (See: Map). East Palo Alto, though only about three square miles, has three different destination high schools, while other larger elementary districts feed almost entirely to one high school. The boundary map gives insight to how surrounding neighborhoods are divided. The map shows the proximity of each high school to corresponding Ravenswood addresses. In a community where the main mode of transportation for many students is a public school bus or walking, proximity to a school plays a pivotal role. The community of Ravenswood, when compared to surrounding areas, is sliced the most. Additionally, families in Ravenswood have high mobility rates. Many families move multiple times during the course of a student's elementary schooling. Although they may move within their community and remain at the same elementary school, their high school assignment may change multiple times. Menlo-Atherton is by far the closest high school and only about one mile away, yet some students are assigned to Carlmont, which is about 15 miles.
This boundary map shows not only are students from East Palo Alto involuntarily dispersed into the public high schools in the Sequoia Union, but they are also split up so that a critical mass of Ravenswood students are not attending just one school. Because of this policy: (1) students are involuntarilybussed to schools far away and consequently unable to attend high school with peers whom they have known since grade school; (2) parent access to high school campuses is limited; and (3) teachers and principals are unable to effectively collaborate in a productive way.
I am a former 8th grade teacher in Ravenswood. My involvement in high school transition started six years ago when I began to identify students who were misplaced in math courses in high school. My former students who received high grades of A's or B's in my Algebra class and scored proficient or advanced on the Algebra California Standards Test (CST) were forced to take Algebra again. Several years ago when I worked as the district Math Coordinator, I showed specific examples of this misplacement to the SUHSD superintendent and assistant superintendent and in the fall of 2011, the assistant superintendent began looking into the matter more deeply.
The Silicon Valley Community Foundation and the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area released a report in January 2013 called Held Back: Addressing Misplacement of 9th Grade Students in Bay Area Math Classes (See: Held Back), which documents the case of SUHSD misplacing Ravenswood students in math classes more so than students from any other feeder district. While serving as both a district and site administrator, my experience as an advocate for my students and associated research, coupled with the release of the report, helped to validate my concerns about the negative perception of Ravenswood youth held by SUHSD faculty.
After the release of that report, I started to think about a question that a group of students asked at our school when we shared the boundary map with them. The girls had been friends since kindergarten and they just learned they would be attending different high schoolsThey asked, "Why do they do that to us?" I knew that they did do that to them, but I still wasn't sure why, and quite frankly, it just wasn't right. The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the Bay Area tackled the question of legality of current SUHSD policy and recently issued the report Pushing the Line: Addressing Inequities in Sequoia Union High School District's Student Assignment Plan (See: Pushing the Line). The report gives background on the history of the community, showcases different scenarios that families and students face as a result of this policy, and clearly delineates the different sanctions in which SUHSD could be held liable. The report is timely as talks of new boundaries are surfacing. The success of Ravenswood youth will depend on the collaborative effort between both districts, and the first step is regular communication between the two districts. I applaud recent efforts of the Sequoia leadership to address this issue. It is an issue that is grounded in equity, should be discussed and resolved as such, so that East Palo Youth can benefit from equitable practice and policy. Pushing the Line gives several recommendations including ensuring EPA youth are treated fairly and giving EPA families access to quality schools closer to home. We can work together to improve opportunities so that 9th graders have a higher success rate and also collaborate on professional development for both districts to encourage a better understanding of students' backgrounds. I hope to build on the pilot Student Voice study I conducted in the summer of 2012 interviewing former Ravenswood students to create an effective policy and stronger programs to better serve East Palo Alto youth.
[1] Ravenswood is a small community east of Highway 101 in California's Bay Area. The history of Ravenswood is tumultuous, and over time, the city name of Ravenswood was dropped. The school district has maintained the name of Ravenswood City School District, and currently serves students residing in East Palo Alto and eastern Menlo Park.
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Avani Patel is the Academic Dean of a traditional K-8 public school, Costaņo School & the 49ers Academy in East Palo Alto. She is a third year student in the Educational Leadership Program at SFSU. Her research focuses on evaluating best practices during the transitional years to and through high school.
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Building a Student Success Program at CSU-East Bay
By Diana Balgas
In Fall 2013, California State University, East Bay (CSUEB) will pilot a new student success program called GANAS (Gaining Access 'N Academic Success) with RFP awards received from the CSU Chancellor's Office and CSUEB's Programmatic Excellence and Innovation in Learning (PEIL). GANAS targets and serves newly arrived community college transfer students. Ganas is a Spanish word that is often defined as guts, will, and desire. The program model offers integrated academic and cultural approaches that welcome and socialize new transfer students while increasing their confidence, engagement, resiliency, academic success, persistence, and, ultimately, baccalaureate degree attainment rates. GANAS is open to all students. It provides a supportive environment that focuses on Latino/a and multicultural content.
Students in GANAS will participate in a one-year cohort experience paired with intensive counseling and mentoring. Students will complete their upper division GE by taking three successive courses during their first year at CSUEB. Latino/a faculty who are culturally responsive and committed to student success will teach the GANAS courses. As GANAS students persist at the university, they will be encouraged to serve as role models, mentor future students, and begin promoting CSUEB as a Latino/a-friendly environment that integrates culturally sensitive approaches to education and training in support of students' higher education goals.
My involvement in this project began shortly after I started my doctoral work at San Francisco State University. In October 2011, a group of Latino/a university faculty, staff, and administrators launched the Latino Retention Task Force (L-Task Force) to study the current conditions of Latino/a student achievement, including common barriers, challenges, and best practices to better serve this growing student population. Between 2008 and 2012, the overall number of Latino/a undergraduates enrolled at CSUEB grew by 54 percent, or nearly 900 students, to 2,549 total students. We sought to expand research and collaboration on the topic of Latino/a educational outcomes in post-secondary education. Our proposed work also included policy changes and pedagogical approaches.
As the only doctoral student on the L-Task Force, my assigned role, not surprising, was that of "researcher." The strategy I employed was to weave L-Task Force related research into as many course assignments as I could. Table 1 below details the terms, courses, assignments, and related research that I conducted during my first two years in the program.
Table 1
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Term
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Course #
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Assignments Related to L-Task Force Research
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Fall 2011
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932
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Midterm Paper: A Critical Race Analysis of the Racial Achievement Gap in the United States
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Fall 2011
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910 and 932
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Joint Final Paper and Poster Presentation: Improving Latino/a Student Transfer from Community Colleges to Four-Year Universities
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Spring 2012
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930
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Data Memos and Qualitative Interview with Puente Project Alumna
Final Paper: Improving Access to the Baccalaureate for Latino Community College Transfer Students
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Spring 2012
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Qualifying Exam
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Where Do They Go? Factors Influencing Transfer Decisions and Matriculation of Latino Community College Students to California State University, East Bay
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Summer 2012
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911
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Change Analysis Final Project: Policy Analysis Related to Latino Enrollment at Four-Year Public Institutions
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Summer 2012
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963
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Memorandum of Understanding: Revised GANAS PEIL Grant Proposal
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Fall 2012
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920
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Problem Solution Paper: GANAS - Proposed Solution to Increase Baccalaureate Degree Completion for Latino Transfer Students at CSU East Bay
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Fall 2012
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921
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Synthesizing Project: A Planning Grant Proposal for GANAS (Gaining Access 'N Academic Success)
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Fall 2012
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964
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Interview Data and Reflections: Utilizing Seidman's (2006)[1] three-interview structure, conducted multiple interviews with Puente Project alumna
Narrative Inquiry Project: Mi Voz, Mi Vida [My Voice, My Life]: Lived Experiences of a Successful Puente Project College Student
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Spring 2013
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940
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Policy Briefing: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) - Cal State East Bay Making Progress Toward HSI Eligibility
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Spring 2013
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942
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A Case Study of Cal State East Bay
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Summer 2013
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912
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Educational Leadership Case Studies Conference Poster Session: Distributed Leadership - Faculty, Staff, and Administrators Leading Together for Social Justice
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Summer 2013
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912 and 945
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Case Study and Research Report: Distributed Leadership - Faculty, Staff, and Administrators Leading Together for Social Justice
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The research gathered from literature reviews, quantitative data analysis, qualitative interviews, policy research and analysis, and the multiple case studies were shared with members of the Latino Retention Task Force. The findings greatly assisted the task force in the planning, advocacy, program model, grant writing, curriculum design, student recruitment, and program implementation.
A collaborative partnership has also been formed with the Puente Project Statewide Office. GANAS faculty and staff will participate in specialized training conducted by Puente Project staff. Puente has been very supportive of CSUEB's efforts and is excited about the possibility of expanding the GANAS model to other four-year universities.
I am pleased that my coursework in the Educational Leadership Doctoral Program has been beneficial to my institution, the Latino Retention Task Force, and, most of all, to our first cohort of GANAS students who will be arriving to campus in late September.
[1]
Seidman, I. (2006).
Interviewing as qualitative research: A guide for researchers in education and the social sciences. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
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Diana Balgas is the Executive Director of Academic Support and Retention Services at Cal State East Bay. She is a third year student in the Educational Leadership Program at SFSU. She has more than 18 years of experience in higher education, as an educator and administrator. Her research interests include why race and class remain strong predictors of students' educational attainment, particularly in degree completion rates.
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