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Los Angeles County, CA November 6, 2001 Election
Smart Voter

Student Transiency--Loss of Educational Continuity

By Betty N. Ferraro

Candidate for Governing Board Member; Downey Unified School District; Trustee Area 5

This information is provided by the candidate
Student transiency is an issue seldomly addressed, but constitutes a huge "road block" in a child's pathway to academic success
All districts in California are faced with a high rate of student ingress/egress due to family job insecurities and/or changes. Students shift(sometimes 2 to 3 times a year!) from district to district, state to state, and even out of the country--some to return to California months or years later. Many of Downey Unified students have "Portfolios" which are creative papers representative of their classroom level of ability. I would like to see all school districts require such "portfolios" which would travel with each student and be presented to each new teacher, assuring that the student would be appropriately placed at grade-level. Students who complete the "bulk" of their elementary and secondary education within a single district, generally, are more successful students because their education is not disrupted. Individual schools and districts need to emphasize to parents the importance of academic continuity through parent education. Perhaps, another idea would be for Community Colleges and State Universities to offer incentives such as a tuition reduction to those students who "stay-put" in a district. The colleges would benefit as students would be better prepared, with less time and cost directed to remediation.

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ca/la Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 18, 2001 12:05
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