Most of the children in Room 208 in Lloyd Elementary School had just arrived from Mexico’s ranchos and pueblos.
They had little to no knowledge of English, and some were illiterate even in their native Spanish. For many, their poorly educated parents would be of little help with homework.
If any children need the very best schooling Illinois has to offer, they are these 4th and 5th graders, who face enormous obstacles to academic success.
Instead, they attend a struggling Chicago school where, at first, no teacher could be persuaded to take their class. Their sprawling school houses more than 1,300 children, nearly three times the average at schools where most children are white.
And the woman who in the end agreed to teach them this year–although enthusiastic and committed–is a novice without full credentials.
In the discussion over racial inequality in education, the focus has largely been on the plight of black children in still-segregated and inferior schools. But Latino children are the fastest-growing minority in Illinois schools, and they are entering an education system often ill equipped to deal with their needs.
In many respects, the classroom conditions facing Latinos are worse than those for black students, a Tribune analysis found.
Latinos attend the largest schools and have the greatest number of teachers without full credentials when compared with white and black students, state data show. Children in Latino grade schools learn in the most crowded classrooms.
In addition, segregation is on the rise for Latino students in Illinois even as integration has increased somewhat for African-Americans.
State Supt. of Education Robert Schiller called Latinos “probably the most underserved population” in Illinois’ public schools.
The Latinos who have changed the face of Chicago’s neighborhoods and its suburbs have also changed the schools. Their school population has nearly tripled in the state, from 6 percent in 1979-80 to 17 percent in 2002-03.
That growth has been accompanied by increased segregation. Less than half of Latino children–47.5 percent–went to a majority Latino school in 1979-80. Last year, it was 57 percent.
The class photos that line the walls in Lloyd Elementary, in the Hermosa neighborhood on the Northwest Side, tell a typical story of change.
The images from 45 years ago show white girls in demure dresses and white boys with crew cuts. But by the class of 1980, Latinos began staking their claim, judging from the photos. Enrollment is now about 93 percent Latino.
Some students say they prefer it that way. At Juarez High School in Pilsen, one of the oldest port-of-entry neighborhoods in Chicago, senior Camilo Villanueva, 18, said he likes being in a heavily Mexican school.
The indoor patio at Juarez, which is 95 percent Latino, features huge murals proudly depicting Mexican, American and Pilsen history.
Villanueva said he has always attended segregated schools and his Latino teachers have been a force in his life.
“Just because the teachers have higher degrees [at Walter Payton High School] doesn’t mean that they are more qualified,” he said, referring to a highly selective city high school. “That doesn’t mean [those students] have a better education than we do.”
Still, last year only 14.5 percent of the juniors at Juarez met or exceeded standards on state exams. The school is one of 335 on the state academic watch list, where children have failed standards four years in a row.
The Tribune found that nearly 20 percent of Latino children attend watch-list schools, compared with nearly 40 percent for African-American children and less than 1 percent for white children.
Sylvia Mendez knows what it’s like to attend a school that is separate and unequal. Nearly six decades ago, her father sued so that she and her Mexican-American siblings could attend a better-equipped white school in Orange County, Calif.
The 1947 decision in Mendez vs. Westminster declared that California must stop segregating its public schools. Though the case has been overshadowed by Brown vs. Board of Education, Latino activists are trying to shed light on the problems that still face Latino children and persuade schools to include the case in curriculum.
Students attending segregated schools may feel comfortable with children of their own race or ethnicity, but “they don’t know any better,” said Mendez, who still lives in the same area.
“Unless you experience the other cultures and live with other people, of course we are going to say we are happy the way we are,” she said. “That it is not equal education. … The schools are not the same as they are in the suburbs. The good teachers don’t want to go to the inner cities and teach.”
Teachers lack certification
In part for that reason, but also because of unmet demand for bilingual teachers, many Latino children are taught by instructors lacking full certification.
“The biggest challenge is getting qualified teachers to teach in the classroom,” said Nancy Cunat, a 4th-grade teacher at Cicero East Elementary School. She expects to get her full certification in January.
The Tribune found that in majority Latino schools, 10 percent of the staff on average is working with emergency or provisional certificates–more than 10 times the percentage for majority white schools.
Those teachers have not met all coursework and testing requirements to get a regular Illinois certificate. In Latino schools, “Type 29” certificates allow bilingual teachers to instruct children who are not fluent in English. Such teachers get up to eight years to complete the requirements.
Officials in Aurora East District 131, which is 77 percent Latino, have tightened hiring practices after too many teachers failed to become fully certified, said bilingual administrator Armando Rodriguez.
“Some of the teachers did not work out,” he said.
Now, if prospective hires do not hold an education degree, they must prove they are enrolled in a certification program and take part in a mentoring program, among other requirements, Rodriguez said.
At Waukegan’s Carman-Buckner Elementary School, which is 81 percent Latino, some bilingual teachers in the past had difficulty speaking English, said Principal O.A. Ruff.
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Ruff, who came to the school two years ago, is trying to change the situation with new hires such as Osman Donate of Spain. In a recent class Donate moved effortlessly between Spanish and English with a group of 24 1st graders. For example, he told children to turn to “pagina setenta–page number 70” in their book.
At Spry Elementary School in Chicago, 27 percent of the staff does not have full credentials, according to the most recent statewide data. About half of the school’s 980 children are enrolled in the bilingual program, and almost 95 percent are poor.
In this setting, educators say passion, empathy and knowledge of Latino culture and class conditions are crucial.
“We all have to aim for certified teachers,” said Spry Principal Carlos Azcoitia. “But it’s not the only ingredient to making an effective teacher.”
Elida Leon, a “Type 29,” as the bilingual provisional teachers are often called, began teaching at Spry three years ago after 11 years in business. Her incentive is the opportunity to be a role model, she said.
“I don’t think they are being shortchanged,” Leon said. “I think I bring a lot of positive messages to them.”
Leon grew up a few blocks from Spry in Little Village and says some children don’t believe she could be from the barrio. They say skeptically: “You did not grow up here.”
She responds: “We grew up in the same area, and you can do the same thing.”
But behind that kind of positive message, Latino schools still face serious obstacles that can impede progress.
The language gap is one, and mobility is another. This year at Cicero West Elementary School, 732 pupils transferred in or out of the school–creating a 64 percent mobility rate, four times the state average.
School officials say the children are often shuttled between Mexico and Illinois, California, Texas or other states, creating gaps in their education.
Though educators tout small schools as offering a nurturing and attentive environment, the average Latino school has 794 students–compared with 552 in black schools and 474 in white schools.
Cicero West, built in 1998, houses 1,185 pupils in kindergarten through 3rd grade, 96 percent of whom are Latino. At Carpentersville’s Golfview Elementary School, which is 85 percent Latino, one kindergarten class has 37 pupils.
Widespread disparities
In Chicago, parents and activists have complained about the lack of facilities for Latino students and what they say is preferential treatment for the white middle class.
When state Sen. Miguel del Valle (D-Chicago), chairman of the Senate Education Committee, commissioned research on the state of Latino students in the Chicago Public Schools, he found widespread disparities and little progress.
“Latinos in CPS are facing many of the same issues their parents and grandparents faced, including underrepresentation in preschool programs, gifted programs and other academic options; high dropout rates; low test scores; inadequate school facilities; underfunded reform policies and a horrendous lack of Latino cultural representation among teachers and principals,” a report issued this year concluded.
Del Valle said he plans to hold hearings on education finance reform that could help address inequities for Latino students.
Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan acknowledged the overcrowding problem and said the district is building schools for the burgeoning Latino enrollment. Ground recently was broken for a Little Village high school. While there has been progress, “we still have a long way to go,” Duncan said.
Claudio Gaete-Tapia, a Chilean-born charter school teacher, participated in a 19-day hunger strike three years ago to protest the delay in building the Little Village high school.
“It was our duty as people who live here and who are involved in educational issues to voice our opinions,” Gaete-Tapia said. “We were calling people accountable, and we were loud about it. People began to recognize the power that we have.”
The fight is not over, he said, as Latino children “still lag behind” in the resources they receive.
One problem with addressing those inequities is not enough people have joined Gaete-Tapia in complaining, said Alonzo Rivas, staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s regional office in Chicago.
“We don’t have many parents coming forward,” Rivas said. “In part, they’re a vulnerable population because they don’t complain. There’s a culture of respecting educators, taking their word as gospel.”
Motivating students
Last month, Latino students at East Aurora High School were invited to a pep rally called “Si Se Puede” (“Yes, it can be done”) in an effort to motivate them for the Prairie State Achievement Exam.
The results of the test will help determine if the school continues to be labeled as failing.
Speakers addressed the concerns of Latino students, who often lose studying time while baby-sitting siblings and cousins, working part-time jobs, translating for family members or cooking dinner.
Principal Marin Gonzales raised the issue of low expectations and the cross-town rivalry with predominantly white West High School in Aurora District 129:
“There are many that say, `Oh, at Eastside they will never do it because that is the school that is … Latino.’ Are you ready to prove to those that make those comments that you are ready?”
She added: “I’m really trying to motivate our kids into seeing [that they] can become anything they want.”
Nancy Paulette, the Lloyd teacher who took the class of 21 4th and 5th graders, said she did not hesitate when asked to help.
“Someone has to take care of these kids,” she said. “I have to give them the opportunity to learn.”
Paulette, raised in Peru, was an economist before moving to Chicago. Armed with a foreign MBA, she was unable to find a job and turned to teaching.
She has completed three years of the required college classes in general education and will spend the next two years at the University of Illinois at Chicago working on her master’s in education. She expects to be certified in 2006.
Paulette said her task is not only to teach the children but also to show them that education is important to their success.
“American people don’t realize that these kids don’t have the support at home and nobody tells them how important it is to study,” she said.
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Thus far, the pupils in her class have impressed her. And her expectations are high.
“I teach them very hard stuff,” she said in her accented but impeccable English. “I had to have patience to start at the very beginning with them. I feel happy … because they want to learn more.”