May 2002

Twenty-two-year veteran teacher Marianne Spence has always seemed to connect positively with young people. She might be the first to admit that's probably because although she chose to grow as a person, she also chose to never grow up.

Her latest connection to kids has been through a program now in its second year. The You Could Learn A Lot program - known as "U.C.L.A." - has Spence teaching a two-period class that works on strengthening students' proficiency in reading, writing and math as well as their social skills. The students in the U.C.L.A. program are eighth graders whose misbehavior, apathy for education, poor grades - or in most cases a combination of these - have nearly earned them a ticket out of school. Spence works to give these students one more chance at success as a middle school student.

"A few years ago 10 to 12 of us at Ontario Middle School went down to Socorro School District in El Paso, Texas, because they have about the same student make-up and they are very successful in the area of student achievement," Spence began. "They had a program called MAP - Midway Academic Program - and the kids in that program said they made that class work. They really tried to change some things while they had that class."

Later, Spence said, then principal Dr. Steve Youngblood and middle school ESL director Xochy Fuhriman-Ebert approached her about overseeing such a program at OMS.

"I told them ‘no' - that was out of my element," Spence said. "But, Xochy has this way of talking ..."

Today, Spence begins her second year in the program looking like a child on Christmas morning as her U.C.L.A. students begin to walk through the door.

"Look at them! Just look at them!" she says, beaming. "Don't they look great?"

Today is Wednesday and that means it's "Dress for Success Day." Boys are required to wear dress shirts (tucked in), ties, belts and slacks. Girls are required to wear skirts, dresses or slacks. No jeans, T-shirts or sweatshirts are allowed. The students coming into the classroom really do look very nice. This observer admits to them that coming into an interview looking like they do now, they would be hired over someone more qualified who was wearing baggy pants and a T-shirt with words on it. As the saying goes, 'clothes make the man.'

"I put high expectations on them," Spence said. "both in terms of their academic and social success."

Teachers refer students to the program because they are falling behind their benchmark track. (For each student in the district, the assessment director has tracked where the student is and where they need to be each year in order to meet the 10th grade benchmark. Students whose scores on the Oregon Assessment Test fall short of the straight line from their first score to the benchmark indicate they are "behind their benchmark track.") Teachers also are very supportive of the program and welcome Ms. Spence to sit in on their classes so she is literally on the same page in terms of curriculum and instruction in their core classes.

"The students know they have been selected to be in the U.C.L.A. program; not just anyone can participate," said Donna Edwards, an eighth grade language arts instructor. "Students can be eliminated from the program the first week if they do not meet the expectations of the program in their UCLA class, and in their regular classes. This instills a motivation to meet all expectations."

"It's awesome to see the students on Wednesdays - ‘Dress for Success' day," Edwards continued. "Most students behave as well as they look, and these students are no exception."

Teachers also act as Ms. Spence's eyes and ears when her U.C.L.A. students are in their regular classes.

"Behavior expectations are enforced campuswide," Spence said. "Schoolwide, everybody is expecting more of these kids. They can't skip school. They can't get an office referral. They can't act like a clown in class. If they do, I'll hear about it and this is their last chance."

Spence describes the U.C.L.A. program as a family atmosphere.

"We get tight in here," she said. "There's positive peer pressure among the siblings and I'm like their Mama. And I tell them, ‘Mama loves you, but she's going to discipline you, too. And, Mama doesn't like to hear from a Language Arts teacher that one of her babies was acting up in class.'"

To be in the program the students must give up science and social studies classes, which the Oregon Assessment Test doesn't presently address. The assumption is that students who are reading at a third to sixth grade level in eighth grade need to catch up on reading and writing skills before they go on in other subject areas.

The students aren't the only ones who are pledging to make a change. Each student has to have at least one parent agree to meet with Spence once a month for a conference. That's nine conferences compared to the two most parents make.

The purpose of the U.C.L.A. program is to see the students through the eighth grade and giving them a much better start in high school. Last year was the program's first year. Did You Could Learn A Lot have an impact?

"It kept me out of trouble," said Bubba Dionne, now a freshman at Ontario High School. "I wasn't absent very much and never had detention or Saturday schools."

Fellow U.C.L.A. graduate Dennis Tolman agrees.

"It helped me and I think it helped some other students," Tolman said. "It helped me stay out of trouble last year because they had a strict policy on being disruptive and getting in trouble and it helped me with my math skills and my English."

Teachers also noticed improved behavior in the students Spence had in the program.

"When I look at the students Marianne worked with last year, and see how far they progressed emotionally and socially, as well as academically, it is definitely a testimonial for the program," Edwards said. "We are all very lucky to have Marianne and the U.C.L.A. program at OMS."

Dean Solterbeck, an eighth grade math teacher concurs.

"Already this year I have seen (the U.C.L.A,) students take more pride in themselves and participate in class on a more regular basis," Solterbeck said. "The students have improved their scores in class and seem to enjoy being here."

You'd certainly infer from the smiles on their faces as they interact with Ms. Spence (who loans one boy a tie as she promises to find one with cartoon characters on it for another boy), that they enjoy being in school. The look of pride and admiration on their teacher's face, however, says that she loves being where she is.

School Board commitment to serving at-risk students: The Ontario School Board of Directors has a history of supporting programs at the middle school which provide opportunities for the district's most at-risk students.

Realizing that the most common denominator among at-risk students tends to be poverty, the board has supported staff training at the middle school on understanding the dynamics of poverty.

Board members continually support the 8th grade teams' annual trips to the Oregon Coast, which give many at-risk students their first view of the Pacific Ocean. And, the Board supports the school's S.U.C.C.E.S.S. After-School Program (Students Utilizing a Caring Community to Ensure School Success). This program provides all interested middle school students with the opportunity to learn new skills in a variety of fun subject areas - from cooking to scrapbooking; building doll houses to creating Powerpoint presentations. The hours from 3 to 5:30 p.m. are often the hours when young people tend to get into trouble. Recognizing this, the Board advocates for the after-school program, directed by Oregon's 2000 Teacher of the Year, Xochitl Fuhriman-Ebert.