OC Register: Sept. 26, 2021 (Part 3)

SEPTEMBER 2021 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEWS GROUP
THE
BRAVE
NEW
WORLD
OF
BACK
TO
SCHOOL
$5.95
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The Best in
Local Journalism
Congratulations to our top-notch editorial staff on
receiving 48 California Journalism Awards from the
California News Publishers Association, including the
following first-place winners:
COVERAGE OF PROTESTS AND RACIAL JUSTICE

(news or feature stories)
Tyler Evains
COVERAGE OF PROTESTS AND RACIAL JUSTICE
(photo)
Cindy Yamanaka
COVERAGE OF YOUTH AND EDUCATION
Beau Yarbrough & Brian Rokos
EDITORIAL COMMENT
Harry Saltzgaver
FEATURE PHOTO
Terry Pierson
LOCAL COVERAGE OF ELECTION 2020
Alicia Robinson & Brooke Staggs
SPECIAL SECTION COVER
The Beach Reporter
SPORTS FEATURE PHOTO
Keith Birmingham
Whether it’s breaking news or a detailed special report,

our team of experienced journalists provides readers with accurate,
in-depth coverage they won’t receive from any other source.
For a complete roster of winners, along with photos and judges comments, go to: cnpa.com
Los Angeles Daily News n The Orange County Register n The Press-Enterprise n Press-Telegram (Long Beach)
Daily Breeze (Torrance) n Pasadena Star-News n San Gabriel Valley Tribune n Whittier Daily News
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin n The Sun (San Bernardino) n The Facts (Redlands)
CONTENTS
illuminate
PRESIDENT/PUBLISHER
RON HASSE
rhasse@scng.com
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
FRANK PINE
fpine@scng.com
22
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VICE PRESIDENTS,
ADVERTISING
SIMON GRIEVE
JIM KRUP
LESLIE LINDEMANN
VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING

BILL VAN LANINGHAM
SCENES FROM A BACK-TO-SCHOOL IS RED TAPE AT UNIVERSITIES
LIKE NO OTHER STALLING COLLEGE DREAMS?
EDITORIAL
SENIOR EDITOR PREMIUM CONTENT
SAMANTHA DUNN
sdunn@scng.com
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
LAILA DERAKHSHANIAN
PHOTO EDITOR
MICHELE CARDON
DESIGNER
KAREN KELSO
CONTRIBUTORS
28 36
PAUL BERSEBACH, NORA
BRADFORD, RAY CHAVEZ, DAVID
CRANE, MEGAN JAMERSON,
LEO JARZOMB, DREW A. KELLEY,
MATTHEW GOLDMAN,
JEFF GRITCHEN, ANDREW GUMBEL,
WATCHARA PHOMICINDA,
MARK RIGHTMIRE,
PAUL RODRIGUEZ,
HEATHER SKYLER, MILKA SOKO,
EMILY ST. MARTIN, JENN TANAKA WHAT ’S BEHIND THE BOOMING LEARNING ABOUT EACH OTHER
HOMESCHOOLING TREND THROUGH L ANGUAGE AND ART
COPY EDITOR
JERRY RICE
COVER 10 | TIME TO UPDATE THE CL ASSICS? 32

A COURSE IN T.L.C.
PHOTO
MINDY SCHAUER LESSONS FROM UNSCHOOLING 14 | BREAKING THE CODE TO SUCCESS 40
COPYRIGHT © 2021 SOUTHERN

CALIFORNIA NEWS GROUP MRS. PANDA FOR THE PANDEMIC 19 | ESSAY: CAGED MINDS 44
A PRODUCT OF
4 ILLUMINATE 2021 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEWS GROUP
ILLUMINATE21_TOC.indd 4 9/8/21 5:18 PM

E D I TO R ’ S L E T T E R
BACKTO
SCHOOL
A
fter what seems like the longest
summer break ever, kids are
finally going back to school. JEFF GRITCHEN, SCNG
Only that was no summer break Above, education specialist Bethany Garcia
at all, and are they really going teaches third graders during a pullout session at
back to the classroom? And if they are, John Murdy Elementary School in Garden Grove.
will it ever be the same as it was before … At left, Phung Huynh poses for a portrait at her
you know … the plague? home in South Pasadena. Below, Ryan Stephanik,
This year’s back-to-school season center, works on a homeschool lesson with
has definitely been different, and my daughters Evelyn, 7, left, and Phoebe, 4, at their
experience as the father of a college coed home in La Verne. The Stephanik children will
is certainly very different — and probably DREW A. KELLEY, CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER continue to be homeschooled during the pandemic.
much easier — than young families with
children in grade school or middle school.
Or even high school.
In the pages that follow, we
contemplate the ways in which the
pandemic has affected education and
learning, and how school is likely to be
different from here on out — from the
challenges teachers face in bringing
students back into the classroom to
new trends in homeschooling to the
challenging bureaucracy of the state’s
higher education system.
In her lead-off story, Emily St.
Martin writes about how teachers and
administrators have prepared to help
younger students catch up on the social
WATCHARA PHOMICINDA, SCNG
and emotional skills they may have
missed out on while attending virtual pandemic-era school closures have forced that leaves many California students at
school on small screens. many families to rethink the education an impasse.
Heather Skyler has an excellent process and take a more direct hand Our goal with this rather
piece on child-directed learning, or in their children’s learning — with the unconventional back-to-school magazine
what children pick up when they’re not percentage of families that have chosen was to offer insight into how education
attending school. This piece may help to homeschool more than doubling has changed, along with a little bit of
assuage parents’ concerns about pandemic during the pandemic year. inspiration and a dollop of practical
gaps in math and reading skills. Universities weren’t immune advice and perspective.
Megan Jamerson tells how some to changes and challenges either. We hope you find it instructive.
parents have decided their children are Author Andrew Gumbel explores the
never going back to the classroom and complicated system of transferring from FRANK PINE
will instead be schooled at home. Indeed, community college to university, and why EXECUTIVE EDITOR
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEWS GROUP ILLUMINATE 2021 5
ILLUMINATE21_EditorsLetter.indd 5 9/8/21 4:41 PM

P H OTO E S SAY
THENEWNORMAL
BACK TO SCHOOL LOOKED KAREN TAPIA, CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Parent volunteer Leigh Hansen, dressed as
A LITTLE DIFFERENT ACROSS SOCAL the alligator mascot at Gates Elementary in
Lake Forest, talks with Melanie Ramirez, 7.
I
B Y J E F F G R I TC H E N
t kinda feels like a regular year…

kinda.
It’s normal. Almost.
It’s the same, but different.
Those were the sentiments
overheard the first day of school around
Southern California.
Most public school students returned
to full-time classes in August, with
masks required when inside — a far cry
from the mixture of socially distanced
hybrid schooling and online classes that
students suffered through last year.
“Students, parents and staff have
been waiting for this day for nearly a
year and a half,” said Dr. Christopher PAUL BERSEBACH, SCNG
Downing, AESD superintendent. “Our In a sign of the times, second-grade teacher Wendy Verrall takes students’
temperatures before the start of the school dayat Tustin Ranch Elementary in
students will now have the full on- Tustin.
campus experience, learning alongside
their peers in person. Such interactions learning gaps that may have greeting each other with
are integral to their academic, social been accumulated during hugs and high-fives, greeting
and emotional growth.” distance learning and take friends as if they were the
In San Bernardino, Victoria Morales, students to the next level.” ones returning from summer
the principal at Paakuma Elementary In the north end of Orange vacation.
School, stationed herself outside the County, students at Weaver In the San Fernando
main entrance more than half an hour Elementary were among Valley, where all LAUSD
before the campus opened, just to make the first to start school. students were required to
sure any early arrivers knew where to The kindergarten through get a COVID-19 test before
go. fifth-grade students started returning to school, Liggett
“I’m looking forward to allowing instruction on Aug. 3 with a Street Elementary teacher Mia
the students to reacclimate with what noticeable difference from last Cortez said, “We’re all feeling
school is about — the friends and the year — parents. excited and also nervous,
learning and the companionship and During the 2020-2021 but really looking forward
just the encouragement from their peers school year, parents weren’t to finding something close
and their teachers that was so missing allowed on the Rossmoor-area to pre-pandemic ‘normal’
during distance learning,” Morales campus. But this year, moms and making the best of our
said. “I’m very, very eager to fill those and dads roamed around, situation safely.”
ILLUMINATE21_PhotoEssay.indd 6 9/8/21 5:21 PM

PAUL BERSEBACH, SCNG JEFF GRITCHEN, SCNG
Teacher Wendy Billman welcomes Eli Green, Jillian Houdek and Sophie Sergio Tovar takes a picture of his kids, fifth-grader Jacob Tovar and first-
Boyne, from left, to Laguna Niguel Elementary School with a group hug in grader Irie Tovar, as the new school year started at Weaver Elementary in
Laguna Niguel. Rossmoor.
PAUL BERSEBACH, SCNG

Third-grade teacher Becky Maturo, right, welcomes students as they return to the classroom at Stanford Elementary School in Garden Grove.


First-grade teacher Julie Smith leads her Don Le, left,
students during a tour of Anaheim’s Theodore adjusts a
Roosevelt Elementary, where about 450 protective face
kindergarten through sixth-grade students mask for his
attended the first day of the new school year on son, Donatello,
Aug. 12. AnaheimElementary School District 7, before the
completelyrebuilt the aging site, and welcomed student enters the
students back to campus with sparkling new Judson & Brown
buildings and clean classrooms. Even though Elementary
they are in the first grade, the majority of campus in
Smith’s students are in a classroom for the first Redlands. The
time – and shewas pleased with how mature school is named
they were at handling the transition. for two of the
city’s founding
fathers.
WATCHARA PHOMICINDA, SCNG
Campus
supervisor
Yolanda Fierros
directs Valentin
Quintero III to
his kindergarten
classroom on
the first day of
instruction for
the new school
year at Theodore
Roosevelt
Elementary in
Anaheim.
JEFF GRITCHEN, SCNG
Gabriella Worrell,
4, looks through a
hole in the gate as
she watches her
sister, Marjorie
Worrell, head to
her second-grade
classroomat
Theodore
Roosevelt
Elementary in
Anaheim.
JEFF GRITCHEN, SCNG JEFF GRITCHEN, SCNG

PHOTOS BY JEFF GRITCHEN, SCNG
ACOURSEINT.L.C.
Education specialist Bethany Garcia teaches third-graders during a pullout session at John Murdy Elementary School in Garden Grove.
Teachers are amping up to help handle students’ pandemic-era trauma

B Y E M I LY S T. M A R T I N
“Ugh! I just walked through spiderwebs! Obviously, Not only will teachers be playing catch-up, but this
we’ve been gone for a while – there are spiderwebs!” year they’re anticipating kids will need re-socialization
Julie Trujillo says as she’s walking from Riverside’s and may be grappling with the anxiety, trauma and
Foothill Elementary School grounds, where she grief that has been especially rampant for adults and
teaches fourth grade, to her car while we’re chatting on children alike since March 2020.
the phone. “When the kids came into the classroom, they were
Trujillo is one of the countless teachers gearing up terrified,” says Trujillo. “They were so worried that they
for a new pandemic-era school year as students return were going to be sick. We have this big machine in our
after what many are calling a lost year after time away room that scrubs our air all the time. It’s humongous,
from desks, classmates and teachers. probably about 7 feet tall, 3 feet deep and 3 feet wide,
Among the already steep set of tasks that teachers and it’s constantly going. I made mine look like a robot
aim to tackle this year are the newer variety of so it would be less daunting for them. It has arms and
challenges specific to a COVID-centric landscape. a face and antennas and things. It’s pretty hysterical.”
10-13 emotional final pages.indd 10 9/8/21 5:52 PM

SOC IA L- EM OT I ON A L L E A R NING
Teachers and school administrators are stepping up,
creatively and proactively approaching ways to hone in
on social-emotional learning this year more than ever.
“Different schools are at different places on their
social-emotional learning path,” says Michelle
Harmonson, a 29-year teaching veteran who teaches
seventh grade English at Suzanne Middle School in
Walnut. “That’s kind of a buzzword right now, SEL
(social-emotional learning).”
Basically, SEL can be summed up as learning to
understand and cope with your emotions, learning
to have empathy for others, and learning the social
and emotional skills needed to live a fulfilling life
personally, professionally and within relationships
with others. Because the pandemic has led to various
forms of trauma for children – such as financial
instability, social isolation, grieving the loss of a loved
one and even homelessness – it makes sense that
schools are amping up efforts to address academia-
adjacent needs like social-emotional learning.
Harmonson references Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
when explaining how she’s approaching the new school
Third-grader April Vuong waves to education specialist Bethany
year: To set children up for learning, their basic needs Garcia as she looks in to the affirmation mirror.
must be met first, she explains.
“Starting with food and shelter. After that, you’ve classroom with everything from a cool-down area for
got, ‘When I go to my school, am I safe?’ After that, recharging to an affirmations mirror where students
their sense of belonging and are they loved? And that’s can remind themselves they are smart, capable, brave
the one we’re going to spend a lot of time on this year and kind.
– rebuilding that sense of love and belonging, bringing “I really focus on incorporating a curriculum called
them back into that community of a school because zones of regulation, which helps students to identify
they were all on their own last year.” their emotions, helps understand why they are feeling
When Harmonson’s students returned to the the way they are feeling, and how to regulate those
classroom for six weeks during the past school year, emotions,” she says. “The students can understand
the first day she was there she handed out a pixie stick the different types of zones they are in, and I really
with a welcome back note attached for each kid. emphasize with my students that you don’t have to be
“In one class, nobody said thank you,” Harmonson in a green zone – which is you’re happy, you’re ready
recalls. “One boy actually said, ‘Oh, my gosh, we don’t to learn. You don’t always have to be in that zone, it’s
know any social skills anymore!’ And he looked at me okay to be in all the different zones. We just have to
and said, ‘Thank you.’ This is a 12-year-old. So, they’re learn appropriate ways to cope with the way that we’re
starting to become self-aware. But they really are feeling and how to regulate those emotions.”
going to have to be resocialized.”
As far as implementing social-emotional learning, ‘ TRY ING TO CO PE’
Bethany Garcia, a special education teacher and Hillary Miller teaches fourth grade at Valle Vista
education specialist at John Murdy Elementary School Elementary School in Rancho Cucamonga.
in Garden Grove, is a seasoned pro. She starts her “My stepdad died from COVID in February,” she
classes with a morning meeting and has equipped her says, sitting at her kitchen table on the eve of the
“
When the kids came into the classroom, they were terrified.They were so
worried that they were going to be sick.”
- JULIE TRUJILLO, FOOTHILL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, RIVERSIDE

“
I’m going to teach the same way that I would teach any other year. But I’m
going to know all along that I’m probably going to have to spend more time
on each thing and that I might not get through everything that I’m supposed
to get through.”
- HILLARY MILLER, VALLE VISTA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, RANCHO CUCAMONGA
new school year. “Coming from having that in my

background, I feel like it makes me a little more
prepared to deal with any students who might have
lost someone and are trying to cope.”
Miller says she anticipates kids coming back with
anxiety after being away for so long. Rather than have
an eagle eye on test preparation and academics the
way she has during the 18 years she’s been teaching,
Miller is hoping this year will create a new baseline
for kids.
“I’m going to teach the same way that I would
teach any other year. But I’m going to know all along
that I’m probably going to have to spend more time
on each thing and that I might not get through
everything that I’m supposed to get through. I’m going
to worry more about how they’re treating each other.
Are they following rules? Are they comfortable? Do
they feel safe? All of those things will be my number
one priority.”
Marcie Griffith, the principal at John Murdy
Elementary School in Garden Grove, has been busy
preparing the school’s new wellness center, equipped
with a counselor, cozy furniture, stress balls and fidget
gadgets where kids can go before school, after school,
during recess and lunch.
“I have teachers who have already said, ‘Hey, I’ll
volunteer my time to manage, so that kids can just
drop in. And if they need something, even if they just
need to be in proximity to a caring adult, and they
don’t want to talk, that’s a safe space for them to be.”
Griffith is expecting to see more trauma with
students than she’s seen in the past – whether it’s from PHOTOS BY JEFF GRITCHEN, SCNG
a death in the family, fear of a death in the family, Principal Marcie Griffith stands at the entrance to The Retreat, John
Murdy Elementary School’s new wellness center in Garden Grove.
parents who have lost their jobs, parents who are
having mental health crises – and are struggling to be
able to take care of their children the way they used totems of pandemic-era conflict, teachers have a new
to. “I’m expecting that we’ve only seen the tip of the cross to bear in enforcing mask policies at schools
iceberg in terms of the social-emotional needs that where some students might not understand their
we’re going to see.” significance, and while trying to amp up social-
emotional learning with literal barriers that for now
are certainly necessary, but in some ways, hindering
FR ES H CH A L L E N G ES nonetheless.
One challenge to consider is both teaching and Does Principal Griffith worry masks might make
learning while wearing masks. Julie Trujillo said she it increasingly difficult for kids at her school to
broke down when she heard the kids would have to resocialize?
wear masks this school year. “No,” she says. “And the reason I don’t think it’s
“The kids couldn’t tell whether I was smiling at going to be hard for them is because we’ve had
them or whether they were in trouble when I called Summer Bridge, which is a sort of summer program
them over,” she says. here. I’ve seen kids coming back so happy to see each
Because masks have become hyper-politicized other and so joyful. They’re wearing their masks.

After a year-plus of virtual learning, teachers are working to ease their students’ transitions back into the classroom. Above, education specialist Bethany
Garcia works with third-graders at John Murdy Elementary in Garden Grove.
They’re doing everything that we’re asking them to do.” say, hey, guess what, my dad lost his job. Usually, the
Mike Marnien, a social studies teacher at Chino teacher recognizes something’s off with the student,
Hills High School, works with 10th and 12th graders. because you get to know your students so well, and
Working with older students is no doubt much will recognize the student needs some type of extra
different than working with younger ones, but Chino support.”
Hills High School also has a wellness center, which Noticing the increasing and varied workload
they’ve since revamped to suit the needs of the for teachers and the mounting pressure to help
pandemic. struggling students catch up, I asked Marnien if he felt
“We’ve had students who have lost family members to overwhelmed or burdened by juggling the various hats
COVID or have experienced extreme financial hardship, that teachers are expected to wear today.
because parents had lost jobs, and all of a sudden they “Every teacher would probably answer that question
had to move or they ended up living in a hotel,” Marnien differently,” he says. “I personally don’t, because I enjoy
says. “As teachers, we’re the first line of defense. We see that aspect of teaching. In fact, I think it’s good for the
the students first, we see them all day long. Counselors kids to be able to have a place where they can come to
don’t typically see the students unless the students school and have a safe place to talk about things that
either seek them out, or teachers send them. are going on, or having an adult who’s in their corner.
“A lot of times, students are quiet about what’s going It turns out to be a pretty good support system for the
on,” he adds. “They don’t just come to school and students.” ■
“
I think it’s good for the kids to be able to have a place where they can come
to school and have a safe place to talk about things that are going on, or
having an adult who’s in their corner.”
- MIKE MARNIEN, CHINO HILLS HIGH SCHOOL, CHINO HILLS

UNSCHOOLING
THE LESSONS OF
PHOTOS BY MARK RIGHTMIRE, SCNG

Cassie Clausen, left, with her children, Reid, 7, Drea, 10, and Wesley, 12, play chess at Sycamore Park in Mission Viejo. The children’s
education is a program of unschooling, which is about following the child’s interests and living life together in a family, which means
pretty much anything can be part of the schooling program.
While much has been lost for students during the pandemic,
is there also a potential gain?
W
hat if everything your child enjoyed doing – lying in a hammock, building a
fort, playing a video game or whatever it may be – was considered a form of
school? This is one of the foundational ideas behind “unschooling,” a term
coined in the 1970s by educator John Holt.
Essentially, unschooling is child-directed The COVID-19 pandemic has been brutal for
learning. The core theory is that all day long, most children, who found themselves at home
kids are learning through their natural life in endless Zoom classes, often distracted and
experiences, including play, chores, reading falling behind. Current data collected by the
and even watching YouTube videos. Parents or education thinktank Curriculum Associates
other adults can step in to facilitate an interest revealed that by the end of the 2020/2021
by providing more information, or help with academic year, students were behind five
B Y H E AT H E R
SKYLER
complicated fundamentals such as reading or months in math and four months in reading.
math, but the child takes the lead. A doomsday view of this data was put forth
14-18 unschooling pages final.indd 14 9/8/21 6:05 PM

in a study by consulting firm
McKinsey & Company. They
predict students who experienced
this learning loss may earn
$49,000 to $61,000 less over their
lifetime.
No matter how you parse the
data, everyone can agree that much
has been lost this year. But is there
any upside? Have kids potentially
gained anything from staying home
and being left to their own devices
for such long stretches of time?
The philosophy behind
unschooling, or self-directed
learning, offers some insights, and
“
even a bit of hope.
The Clausen family pretty much has Sycamore Park to themselves as they play chess.
“A year or two isn’t going to
make a difference,” asserts Rachel
Schinderman of Culver City, that was safe from this world of
who took her son Ben, 14, out of adult expectations and pressure. I
traditional schooling entirely amid want them to deep dive into things
the pandemic. “Everyone keeps they’re interested in,” she says.
talking about how people will fall “We have a constant anxiety about
behind, but it’s such an arbitrary needing to do more, and we put
concept.” I’m quite the rule that anxiety on our children.”
follower and fairly
KIDSLEARN, TRYINGSOMETHINGNEW
EVENOUTOFSCHOOL traditional, so this was When schools closed in Los
Angeles last spring, Schinderman
“Nothing is considered time
difficult for me. But decided to homeschool Ben. After
wasting in unschooling,” says you have to do what’s some trial and error, she tried the
Cassie Clausen, founder of The unschooling approach.
Open School in Santa Ana, a K-12 right for your own “I’m quite the rule follower
self-directed school. “Everything child and this is what and fairly traditional, so this was
has a purpose even if it’s just that difficult for me,” Schinderman says.
you need a break or don’t know was right for us.” “But you have to do what’s right
what to do next. Even if you’re - RACHEL SCHINDERMAN, for your own child and this is what
engaged in something that the PARENT was right for us. And I was really
adult world finds frivolous like big on the philosophy this year
watching YouTube, etcetera – if that I didn’t care about algebra,
the child is finding meaning, that’s Montessori and John Dewey. for example – they can gain those
worthy.” “We just kept pushing kids skills later – I cared more about
A teacher by training, Clausen through this process. I was Ben’s level of happiness and family
founded The Open School six teaching Spanish. They’d come harmony.”
years ago after finding herself back for Spanish II and had only One interest of Ben’s that she
dissatisfied with the traditional retained 10%. I felt we were doing followed was the TV show “Lost.”
model of education. She was the kids a disservice,” she says. He binge-watched the show during
teaching at a college-prep, private When she had kids of her own, the lockdown, so Schinderman
high school, but she wasn’t seeing Clausen was inspired to create a checked out philosophy books
any of the “intrinsic motivation” school that aligned with the tenets and they discussed the philosophy
she’d read about while getting her of unschooling, but would have an behind the show.
master’s in education and studying actual campus. She also found an alternative
philosophers including Maria “I wanted to provide a space learning community in L.A. that

LEARNINGTHEBASICS
Many parents worry that if they
allow their children to direct their
own learning, then they may never
learn basics such as reading or
math. Or they’ll fall behind and
earn less and be less successful
over their lifetimes.
Clausen says kids will learn
these building blocks when they
need them to move forward with
their interests. For instance, her
son loved “Minecraft” when he
was about 5 or 6, and he needed
to learn to write so he could
communicate in the game, then be
able to code.
Her daughter, on the other hand,
was just curious about language as
a puzzle to solve. Clausen says she
would copy words over and over.
“Reading becomes a tool, a thing
A teacher by training, Cassie Clausen, left, with her children, Drea, Reid and Wesley, says the that they need to know how to do.
desire to learn can be sparked from the most unlikely places – including playing the video game
It’s not about a value connection
“Minecraft.”
to it. You’re not labeled a good or
opened its doors in January 2020, “The idea of allowing the kids bad reader. It’s just something you
then had to move fully online a few to design their own educations can do now,” says Clausen. “Not
months later. Alcove Learning, co- was very appealing,” says Burgess, everyone’s brain is ready to learn
founded by Alexis Burgess, is also who founded Alcove Learning, in certain skills at a certain age. That
grounded in the philosophy of self- part, to try and bring college-style can do some damage.”
directed learning. Schinderman education to a younger audience. Kids might get interested in
created and ran an online class “So we’re less paternalistic toward math if they want to measure out
for Alcove that taught kids about our teenagers,” he adds. ingredients to make brownies, or
history through comedy. Alcove began with three full- by building with Legos. And there
“We’d watch clips on YouTube of time students; Burgess says about does need to be an adult to help
Mel Brooks, for example, then talk 25 were signed up for fall, in facilitate learning and help kids
about the Holocaust and World part due to parents rethinking get to the next level when they’re
War II,” she explains. education during the pandemic. ready, Clausen acknowledges.
Burgess was a philosophy Some of the classes offered There isn’t a wealth of research
professor at Stanford, then virtually at Alcove this year were on traditional instruction vs.
moved to L.A. for his wife’s job logic, photography, art, writing, self-directed learning (sometimes
when he wasn’t offered tenure. programming and hardware, video also called discovery learning),
After teaching at a few different editing, a math class in number but many people are skeptical of
L.A. colleges, Burgess says he theory and the history class taught the idea that kids will learn what
started rethinking his academic by Schinderman. Many of these they need to know on their own,
values and began reading about were requested by the students. particularly in the areas of science
education – “Creative Schools” by One of the unique aspects of and math.
Ken Robinson was particularly Alcove is that classes only last as A 2004 study of 112 third and
influential – and talking to people long as students remain interested, fourth graders in early science
at a homeschooling center in which Burgess says is typically instruction, found that many more
Atwater Village. around two or three months. children learned better from direct
He thought about starting a “There’s no artificial endpoint instruction than from discovery
school, but says he always got hung for a class at Alcove,” he says. “We learning.
up on the curriculum question. just go until it’s not interesting.” A 1990 review of about 70

“
PHOTOS BY MARK RIGHTMIRE, SCNG
Reid Clausen, 7, hangs his fishing pole from the bridge to catch crawdads at Sycamore Park in Mission Viejo.
studies that examined math

instruction produced a more WHATABOUTTESTS?
nuanced outlook. The meta- Another red flag often raised
analysis found that while higher- when it comes to unschooling is
skilled learners can thrive with less the lack of testing or other
guided instruction, lower-skilled objective assessments of progress.
learners tend to do better with We have a constant The Open School doesn’t give
more guidance and structure and anxiety about needing assessments or evaluations, and
showed a measurable learning Clausen says it’s a misnomer to
loss without strong instructional to do more, and we even refer to them as “objective”
support. because all external assessments
Another small 2017 study looked
put that anxiety on have an agenda and a bias.
at students learning computer our children.” “Adult-driven assessments
programming. The results revealed inherently send the message to
- CASSIE CLAUSEN,
that higher skilled – or gifted and children that they are judged on
FOUNDER OF THE OPEN SCHOOL
talented – learners did just fine a metric that they have no control
IN SANTA ANA
learning on their own, but the over and don’t buy into. We do have
lower-skilled students did poorly the option for students to create a
and “may benefit more from We get scared if we’re messing them self-assessment transcript, but it is
traditional education than self- up and they won’t be productive opt-in and usually only asked for
directed learning.” members of society. It’s a life-long when a student is matriculating.
Clausen agrees it can be scary learning process as a parent of self- Even then, it’s not often necessary,”
to make the leap to self-directed directed learning because you’re she says.
learning. “It’s hard sometimes always coming up against how you Clausen has had students
because we’re all indoctrinated. were raised.” leave The Open School for more

traditional institutions, and says model, wants to help families who exclusive, some parents have
that when it’s the student’s choice, can’t afford to have both parents simply noticed the way school can
they have done well. stay home and unschool their kids, sometimes hinder kids’ natural
“For example, we have had but he thinks under-resourced inclination to learn.
students who decide that they families also worry that they’re Clausen says that during the
would like to have a traditional high risking their kid’s future by taking lockdown parents would see their
school experience, so they transfer a chance on an alternative form of kids getting into really interesting
to a conventional school at ninth schooling. projects then they’d have to get on
grade. This was their decision. They “But staying in school has its Zoom and it would be interrupted.
undertook the work of identifying own set of risks; they’re just more “They’d be building a big thing
their knowledge gaps and studying familiar,” he says, listing problems with Legos and learning more
those areas.” Clausen says. “I’m still such as mental health issues, math doing that than in class,
in contact with the parents of those inefficient education, learner apathy then they’d have to stop and listen
“
kids, and they tell me how they and a failure to foster executive to a 45-minute lecture,” she says.
were so worried for their child’s function due to paternalism. “The school was interfering with
transition, but that they are actually learning. It was kind of a wakeup
doing great and had no real issue call for parents.”
making the switch. This is because Some parents and teachers also
they chose it. saw shy kids blossom in a virtual
“If a student is pulled out of our setting, an unexpected benefit of
school by a fearful parent and put online classes and other types of
into a traditional school where communication, such as texting.
they are taking the STAR test, but
But staying in school Raquel Casey says her daughter
this wasn’t something they chose has its own set of Claire, 13, who attends The Open
or found meaning in, they will fare School, was meeting and connecting
about the same as any other student risks; they’re just with kids she typically didn’t while
in a classroom who doesn’t find more familiar.” attending in-person school because
meaning in the exam.” she had to participate in – and
- ALEXIS BURGESS, sometimes create – new online
UNSCHOOLING–ONLYFOR CO-FOUNDER OF ALCOVE events. “I noticed her being more
THEPRIVILEGED? LEARNING IN L.A. vocal and speaking up more online.
The pandemic has revealed the Usually, she is one to hang out in the
great disparity, once again, between He added that the most back.”
the haves and have nots. The interesting thing happening in Clausen noticed this in other kids
families who could afford to hire the self-directed or unschooling too, and says she often saw different
tutors or enroll their children in space right now is unschooling sides of kids, particularly on the
private schools, or even move them communities of color cropping text-based communication platform
to second homes to escape surges up in the interest of “decolonizing Discord.
of the virus, have fared much better education” – a phrase Burgess first “It gave them this other way
than the kids struggling in Zoom encountered in the work of Akilah of communicating and some of
classes at home while parents tried Richards, a podcaster, author and them opened up and built deep
their best to help teach and also unschooling mother of two in the relationships this way. It allowed for
keep their jobs. Some parents had Atlanta area, who “uses audio and different social styles,” says Clausen.
to quit their jobs altogether to stay written mediums to amplify the “The kids who aren’t as easy to see
home with kids. ways that unschooling, in particular, and are in the background really got
A 2013 survey of 255 unschooling is serving as healing grounds a chance to flourish.
families, however, revealed that and liberation work for Black, “I also think a positive is how
they “represented a wide range in Indigenous/Native and People of it slowed families down. I’ve
terms of socioeconomic strata.” Color communities.” seen people reevaluating their
People often get creative with their priorities. Do we need three sports,
work schedules to ensure a parent is BRIGHTSPOTSFROMTHELOCKDOWN and something happening every
home, or enroll kids in self-directed While some unschooling weekend? I’m a big advocate for
learning communities. practitioners, including Richards, unscheduled time when things can
Burgess says Alcove, which see it as a tool of liberation from blossom. I’ve seen that as a huge
operates on a pay-what-you-can systems that have been historically benefit during the pandemic.” ■

MILKA SOKO
Fourth grader Ashley Aranda talks to Dr. Linda Ventriglia-Navarrette, the creator of Project Moving Forward, at La Granada Elementary in Riverside.
LEARNING FROM
MRS. PANDA
The pandemic forced educators to learn new tricks and created
at least one innovation that is here to stay
BY SAMANTHA DUNN
T
hey say necessity is the Adalente Moving Forward, an Ventriglia-Navarrette’s program,
mother of invention. In early childhood literacy initiative which was initially launched in
this case, it’s the mother of that develops a curriculum called the Moreno Valley but now serves
a talking cartoon named “ABC Rule of 3,” aimed at leveling students across seven states, has
Mrs. Panda. the achievement gap for English received many laurels and millions
But let’s back up a little. learners. It’s a huge area of need of dollars in federal grants. In
A highly regarded research because estimates show that by 2019, a yearlong randomized
professor in education at UC 2025 English language learners study with 339 students in 16
Riverside, Linda Ventriglia- will make up 25% of the school kindergarten classrooms from nine
Navarrette, Ph.D., directs Project population nationally. different schools demonstrated
19-21 Virtual Final pages.indd 19 9/9/21 10:41 AM

Students at Las Palmitas Elementary School
practice the Rule of 3.
the Rule of 3’s effectiveness:

73.9% of English learners given
the intervention met national
benchmarks, compared to only
6.9% in the control group. PHOTOS BY SANDRA BALTAZAR MARTÍNEZ, UCR
Yet all of this success didn’t mean Teacher Gloria Perez, in March 2020, demonstrates the Rule of 3 at Las Palmitas Elementary
much when the pandemic hit. in Thermal.
When the lockdowns swept the Ventriglia-Navarrette explains. there and listen. Online, you can
nation, Ventriglia-Navarrette, like The learning curve for online turn me off anytime you feel like it,
millions of educators nationwide, was, for many, like trying to get right?” says Ventriglia-Navarrette.
suddenly had to find a way – and a 747 off the ground with no “The teachers, they did a good
fast – to translate a program runway. Not only were teachers job, but the young kids were not,
designed for in-person instruction trying to figure out how best to you know, engaged, to tell you the
into an online experience. teach via online, but parents also absolute truth.”
“Online experience.” That sounds were thrust into the position of Argh. The clock was ticking,
too neat and contained. What that facilitating that online teaching. opportunities to learn crucial,
really meant was finding a way to So what to do? How to get fundamental skills being lost.
grab the attention of wiggly 4- and her program online in a way that Then, one of her former students
5-year-olds who were now stuck would reach students and make it – now a teacher – happened to
at home in front of a computer easier for teachers and parents? mention that he had been reading
screen. Her first thought was to an article about the effectiveness
Then, assuming you could videotape really expert, experienced of what in education lingo is called
get their attention, teach them educators teaching the program. “animated pedagogical agents.” In
foundational skills like the sound Great idea! other words, cartoon characters
and shapes of letters – only one Except for one problem: Kids teaching lessons.
of the many vital foundational soon lost interest in the videotaped That gave Ventriglia-Navarrette
skills they must have. “If you can lessons, their attention wandering. an idea. In some of the children’s
get past those grades successfully “For teachers, the difference books she had authored, she’d
and, you know, accelerate, then between online and on-ground created a character named Mrs.
“
you don’t have to remediate later,” is that face to face you have to sit Panda who was pretty, patient and
I had to kind of make myself be Mrs. Panda. What would I do if I was

teaching this lesson? How would I reinforce it?”
- LINDA VENTRIGLIA-NAVARRETTE, PH.D., PROFESSOR IN EDUCATION AT UC RIVERSIDE
19-21 Virtual Final pages.indd 20 9/8/21 7:15 PM

smart: “So I thought to myself, well
maybe I can do it, take Mrs. Panda
out of the books and use her.”
So she hired an animator and
got to work. But honestly? She
struggled.
“I thought I could write it. I’ve
written a lot of curriculum and
teacher’s manuals, you know,” says
the award-winning researcher.
“But the animator said to me,
‘Look, this is no good. You can’t
write a teacher’s manual. You’ve
got to write a movie script.’ I had
never done that before, and I was
like kind of taken aback when he
said that to me. He said, ‘You’ve got
to develop her like she’s a person,
like you’re writing a movie and
you’re giving her the lines to say.
You’ve got to make or have passion,
a character with motivation, all of
those things that we do when we
write scripts.’”
So this seasoned educator –
Claremont College- and Harvard-
educated, and an author of
numerous academic books about
literacy and language development
– found herself in the role of
student, having to learn an entirely
new skill while blending in the
pedagogy she knew so well.
“I mean, now I know what a
script writer feels like because
as you’re doing it you have to
put yourself in a totally different
PHOTO COURTESY DR. LINDA VENTRIGLIA-NAVARRETTE
mode,” she says. “I had to kind of Dr. Linda Ventriglia-Navarrette
make myself be Mrs. Panda. What
would I do if I was teaching this program to accelerate learning and Ventriglia-Navarrette says she
lesson? How would I reinforce it?” differentiate instruction. Students came away with a whole new
But learn she did. Ventriglia- who need the remediation can respect for the possibilities offered
Navarrette adapted the Rule of 3 watch the Mrs. Panda lesson over through online learning.
by adding imaginative PowerPoints and over until they master the “I have to say, I was very
to enrich children’s vocabulary, skill, whereas kids who don’t need adamant, being involved in
animated phonics charts, and as much remediation can move linguistics and second language
catchy songs. Mrs. Panda also offers ahead at their own pace. It also learners, that conversations are
lots of empowering catch phrases offers teachers the example of how you learn a language. I mean,
like “Kiss your smart brain!” – how to most effectively implement I wrote a book while I was at
details that kids seem to love. the lessons in their classroom – Harvard about this very topic.
The end result turned out better and, for those parents of English And while I still think that is true,
than Ventriglia-Navarrette could language learners, they too can there are many different ways to do
have imagined. She says teachers watch the lessons with their it,” she says. “Online has so many
report they can use the structured children and learn. potential advantages.” ■
19-21 Virtual Final pages.indd 21 9/8/21 6:21 PM

H I G H E R E D U CAT I O N
Too many chutes,

notenoughladders How can colleges
clear the red tape and
roadblocks hindering
the progress of
California’s low-income
students?
BY ANDREW GUMBEL
UC Berkeley student Alexis Atsilvsgi

Zaragoza at UC Berkeley
RAY CHAVEZ, BAY AREA NEWS GROUP
ILLUMINATE21_CollegeFeature.indd 22 9/7/21 5:25 PM

A
lexis Atsilvsgi Zaragoza is income students across the
a model student by any state, Zaragoza has had to wage
measure. endless fights against a complex
She was a superstar at and baffling bureaucracy that
Modesto Junior College, has frequently threatened
where she earned twin associate to derail her college career
degrees in political science completely.
and geography and became an She faced rejection right
effective student advocate for out of the gate, even before
access to financial aid. She now she finished high school
is a respected campus leader at in Patterson, a small farm
Berkeley, where she transferred community outside Modesto in
in 2019, and was last year’s the Central Valley. Humboldt
student representative on the State University rescinded an
University of California Board of offer it had previously made
Regents. because one of her senior year
Yet, in common with math grades fell short of its
hundreds of thousands of lower- standards. Nobody had informed
her, or her high school, what
those standards were.
Every year since, she has
struggled to complete her
financial aid forms because
her father, a carpenter, is on
state disability, and the higher
education system requires her
to produce an avalanche of extra
paperwork to prove it. “I am

picked every year for verification,” she
says.
When it came time to transfer to a
four-year institution, Zaragoza was on
her guard. As a student activist, she
knew about “the danger zones” — the
thicket of requirements to get her
course credits recognized and to meet
the thresholds demanded by different
four-year institutions. She knew that
her efforts would stand or fall on having
a first-rate counselor, and she was
forthright enough to reject the first two
she was given before finding one who
earned her confidence.
DAVID CRANE, SCNG
Even then, she almost lost one of Michele Siqueiros, president of Campaign for College Opportunity, at her home
her essential credits, an online course
she took from San Bernardino Valley wanted to go to a four-year school, only degree (compared with 47 percent of
College while she worked a summer job 28 percent managed to transfer within white Californians). Black Californians,
in Sacramento. An administrator from six years. Theoretically, it should take meanwhile, have the highest dropout
San Bernardino informed her she’d have just two years to earn the credits needed rate of any racial group: one-third of
to come in for a meeting or the course to transfer, but in recent years fewer than them go to college but never finish,
would not end up on her transcript. But 3 percent of community college students according to U.S. Census data.
San Bernardino was six hours away and have managed to move on that fast. “We’re breaking the promise of
she didn’t have the time or the money The reason? Without expert guidance opportunity to so many students,” says
to go. — and, ideally, a pre-established Michele Siqueiros, who as president of
“It turned out the meeting was to relationship between a community the Los Angeles-based Campaign for
confirm my name and birth date,” she college and a four-year school (as College Opportunity has been one of
says. “Something ridiculously simple, but Berkeley City College has with Berkeley, the state’s strongest advocates for equity
they couldn’t take it over the phone.” and Santa Monica College has with in higher education. “Our high school
As it happened, her summer job was UCLA) — students end up taking far graduates are more prepared for college
with the California Community Colleges, more than the minimum 60 credits than ever, but there’s a huge gap between
so she took the problem to her bosses required for transfer, because target those students and the access they have
who not only solved it but got the entire schools are forever demanding one more to the system.”
procedure changed. Still, the lesson was thing, and the criteria keep shifting. A decade ago, in response to lobbying
clear. Typically, students will rack up 85 or 90 by Siqueiros’ group, the California
“This kind of process can take regular credits before a four-year college finally legislature introduced something called
students on so many different routes,” takes them. the Associate Degree for Transfer,
Zaragoza says. “Maybe they’ll go see their Every setback has a cost in terms which should have smoothed a lot of
counselor, who will send them to the of time and money, putting undue this bureaucratic friction. Yet only 27 of
financial aid office, who will then send pressure on lower-income students for California’s 115 community colleges have
them somewhere else. Maybe they’ll reasons unconnected to academic merit. fully embraced the Associate Degree
end up owing money to the system that Students who have no family history of for Transfer, in part because it is not
they never needed to pay. This is why so higher education often come to question uniformly recognized across the Cal State
many students drop out or give up on whether they truly belong in college and system and is barely recognized at all in
transferring.” lose the will to keep pushing. the elite University of California system.
***
The numbers, unfortunately, only
The racial implications are particularly
ugly, because Black and Latino students
are left swirling in the community
Other reforms — including proposals to
allow community colleges to offer four-
year degrees and thus circumvent the
confirm Zaragoza’s analysis. college system in vastly disproportionate transfer obstacle altogether — have made
The Public Policy Institute of numbers. Latinos make up 40 percent similarly modest progress.
California recently studied the freshman of California’s population, but as of a In a report published in June, the
community college class of 2013 and few years ago only 15 percent of Latino Campaign for College Opportunity
found that, of those who said they adults reported having a bachelor’s likened the transfer system to a game

of Chutes and Ladders, in which even
the most talented and driven student is
one bad roll of the dice from potential
disaster.
“Transfer rates are low because
navigating the process remains a
cumbersome, confusing and time-
consuming experience,” the report says.
The main culprits? “Duplicative, ever-
changing coursework requirements and a
lack of unified, system-wide, transferable
course agreements.”
The positive spin higher ed
administrators sometimes put on this
PHOTO COURTESY GEORGIA STATE
mess is that a student who successfully Tim Renick, executive director of the National Institute for Student Success in Atlanta
navigates her way through the system is
ready for anything that life could possibly Timothy Renick, who runs the a variety of programs, many of them
throw at her. In other words, the process National Institute for Student Success intended to improve outcomes for lower-
is the education. at Georgia State University and consults income students. And another bill from
Such an argument, though, ignores regularly with California administrators the legislature may soon be crossing the
the vast cost to those the system crushes and government officials, agrees that governor’s desk, focusing specifically on
underfoot — not so much Chutes and transferring more students is key to any transfer.
Ladders as “The Hunger Games.” It long-term solution. The COVID-19 pandemic has only
ignores the growing demands for social “In a system where the majority heightened the sense of urgency. But it
and racial justice in the age of Black of students are transfer students and also presents an opportunity to enact
Lives Matter. And it ignores the fact that are expected to finish at a different what Gov. Newsom’s senior policy adviser
the California economy can no longer institution from the one where they on higher education, Lande Ajose, has
tolerate such dizzying inefficiencies, were first enrolled,” he says, “there’s no called “recovery with equity.”
because it needs all the skilled graduate way you can tackle equity gaps unless The pandemic has forced everyone to
workers it can get. you begin to address the coherence of rethink how to deliver higher education
In a world in which roughly two thirds academic requirements from one sector and how to interact with students, which
of all jobs now require some form of post- to the next.” provides a basis for more permanent
secondary qualification — a huge change It’s rare to hear such sentiments structural change. It’s time, Dr. Ajose told
from a generation ago — economists from California’s system administrators me, to stop talking about the institutional
estimate that California will need to mint or from faculty leaders, who tend to interests of the California system and put
hundreds of thousands more bachelor’s disregard what happens outside their the focus instead on student need and
degrees by 2030 than it is currently on own bailiwicks and assert that all is for how to meet it.
track to produce. the best in the best of all possible public It is, to put it mildly, a daunting task.
While the state has started closing the university systems. That hasn’t been true,
gap, thanks to increased enrollment and
higher graduation rates in the UC and
CSU systems, a lot more remains to be
though, of California’s last two political
administrations, which have not only
recognized the deep structural flaws in
***
A dozen years ago, almost nobody in
done. the system but also expressed a growing California was talking about equity in
The Campaign for College Opportunity urgency to correct them. higher education. When The Campaign
does not expect the Latino graduation Gov. Gavin Newsom made higher for College Opportunity proposed a report
rate to rise much above 30 percent by education reform one of his signature on racial achievement gaps in 2010,
2030, when it needs to be closer to 60 issues, and said earlier this year he several people sought to talk them out
percent. The only way to reach that wanted to see 70 percent — not just 60 of it. If minority students see how grim
goal, Siqueiros and others argue, is to percent — of California adults obtain their prospects are, Siqueiros was told,
break the logjam at community colleges, at least an associate’s degree. (The they will only become more discouraged.
because that is where most Latinos – and attainment rate is currently below 50 “All people cared about then was
the majority of higher education students percent.) In July, he signed a budget access,” she says. “It didn’t matter if
overall — currently are. trailer bill to pump $47 billion into students failed.”

What people did care about was that students from disadvantaged down a lot of people can cover up a lot of
the Holy Grail of higher education in backgrounds were doomed to fail in problems.”
California, the 1960 Master Plan, which large numbers, because they developed a Second, California has been unable
established the state’s three-tier system series of cutting-edge support programs to build a seamless, all-encompassing
and the dividing lines that persist to that eliminated all achievement gaps and data warehouse, the sort that has driven
this day: the University of California dramatically improved retention and Georgia State’s success, because the
system, reserved for the top 12.5 percent graduation rates, even as the university different parts of the system like to
of high school graduates; the Cal State doubled its population of lower-income hold on to information and resist any
system, for the rest of the top third; and students. push toward uniform definitions and
community college for everyone else. These programs seized on emerging standards. It’s almost impossible to dig
The beauty of the plan was that it data technologies to identify the biggest out even basic data about financial aid
made college affordable and accessible, obstacles Georgia State students recipients, or figure out what proportion
a vital ingredient in California’s postwar faced and found ways to eliminate of California high school graduates enter
prosperity. In those days, though, most them. Classes were scheduled when the public higher education system.
college students were white, male and students with jobs and other outside What’s more, there has been no
solidly middle-class — and plenty of responsibilities needed them, not when uniformity even in course numbering
good-paying jobs did not require a college faculty felt like teaching. Academic across community colleges, so it’s
education at all. advisers adopted a sophisticated almost impossible to compare student
In the decades since, the demographics interactive dashboard that could trajectories, much less begin the arduous,
and the economy of the state have quickly steer students into the right years-long work of standardizing lower-
changed dramatically, and the grand major and ensure they took classes level math or English courses across the
promise of social mobility enshrined in in the right order. Students who hit a three systems.
the Master Plan has slowly ossified into a financial crunch received microgrants Data matters not just because policy
sort of caste system in which families of that dropped right into their university wonks love it, but also because it is the
college graduates are able to perpetuate accounts. And the university offered bedrock of meaningful reform. If, say, a
their wealth and success with relative a variety of platforms, including an faculty union is skeptical about the need
ease, but those seeking to break into artificial intelligence chatbot, for students to hire large numbers of non-faculty
the middle class for the first time face to ask questions and receive timely academic advisers — an important part
constant roadblocks and frustration. answers without standing endlessly in of the Georgia State model — the first
Serving this new generation of line at campus offices. question often will be, where’s the data to
college aspirants did not become California has since piggy-backed show it will improve student outcomes?
any sort of priority until the 2008 on many of these ideas, and much of Many institutions do not have it.
recession, when economic pressures the progress in graduation rates since Lack of data contributed to a flare-
made the inefficiencies of public higher 2015 — particularly at CSUs like Cal up a few years ago when CSUs were
education suddenly intolerable — across State Long Beach — can be ascribed deciding whether to make ethnic studies
the country and across the political to the introduction of more efficient a mandatory part of the core curriculum.
spectrum. At a time of steep budget cuts, course schedules, more robust academic Timothy White, then the CSU chancellor,
state legislatures resented having to fund advising, and a greater all-around wanted to keep ethnic studies optional,
systems that, like California’s, provided a awareness of student need and how to because he felt that was most conducive
lousy return on investment. Civil rights meet it. to higher retention and graduation rates.
leaders deplored the number of young But two important things cloud this He didn’t have the data to prove this,
Black and brown Americans who left seemingly rosy picture. however, and he soon faced a furious
college mired in debt but with no degree. First, the UCs and CSUs are able faculty and student backlash. Ultimately,
And business leaders wanted to know to cherry-pick their students, because the legislature forced ethnic studies back
where they were going to find the skilled the entire higher education system is on to the CSU syllabus.
labor they needed once the economy oversubscribed, a result of California’s Stories like this alarm higher
recovered. robust population growth over decades. education experts in several states
Arizona State University’s idiosyncratic So, a campus like UC Riverside, which — including Georgia, Tennessee and
president, Michael Crow, started talking was designed for large numbers of Florida — that have enacted effective
about a new sort of American university, minority students, can brag about student success reforms with little or no
defined by who it included, not who narrowing achievement gaps, but it also political interference and get nervous
it excluded. At Georgia State, Renick sets its standards high and rejects one- at the thought of legislators inserting
and his colleagues in Atlanta managed third of its applicants. As one expert who themselves in areas where they are not
to bury the conventional wisdom knows Riverside well put it, “Turning expert. In California, though, many

LEO JARZOMB, SCNG
Colleges and universities in California have often fallen short when it comes to providing equal access, higher education advocates say. Above, students wait to
register for classes in pre-pandemic times at Rio Hondo College in Whittier.
advocates for lower income students Ajose was a noted advocate for student of feeling lost in a large lecture hall. Or
say there is no alternative to lobbying equity in her previous role running the it could mean more classes on Fridays
politicians, because the system is too nonprofit California Competes, and and weekends, or boosting summer
impervious to change on its own. she and Newsom have drawn up an enrollment. “It should all be on the table,”
“None of this requires legislation,” ambitious wish list: Everything from Ajose says.
Siqueiros says, “but none of this will introducing dual enrollment, so students When Michele Siqueiros first lobbied
happen without legislation.” who start at community college already to ease the transfer process a decade ago,
The governor’s office, meanwhile, have a guaranteed place at a follow- a student advocate she worked with told
believes it has a vital role to play because up institution, to helping high school her: “This whole time I thought there
higher education feeds into so many other graduates complete the notoriously was something wrong with me. It never
state interests — everything from the complex federal financial aid form, to occurred to me it was my college that
economy to anti-poverty programs — and building a comprehensive statewide data should have been doing a better job.”
because California, unlike many other system, to investing in student housing Now the governor’s office is echoing
states, still believes in improving the and helping lower-income families that same message — and it implicates
system through public investment and establish college saving funds. every level in higher education, from
smart budgeting. Not only should the three system tiers community college to the Board of
“The institutions are the durable, sit down and transform their silos into a Regents.
permanent parts of the system … but “holistic ecosystem,” she says; they should
students are transitory and … [it’s easy] also think creatively about moving people Andrew Gumbel’s book recounting the student success
to lose focus on them,” Ajose says. “The through the system faster. revolution at Georgia State, “Won’t Lose This Dream:
role government can play is to bring That could mean putting some large How an Upstart Urban University Rewrote the Rules of
that student voice and experience to the intro courses online, where students can a Broken System,” was published by The New Press in
forefront.” absorb them at their own pace instead 2020.

Ryan Stephanik, center, works on a homeschool lesson with her daughter, Evelyn, 7, left, as her other daughter,
Phoebe, 4,works on a different assignment at their home in La Verne.
ILLUMINATE21_HomeSchooling.indd 28 9/8/21 3:33 PM

HOMESCHOOLING
NEVER GOING BACK

SOME PARENTS ARE FINDING
A LONG-TERM SOLUTION WITH
AT-HOME LEARNING
R
B Y M E G A N JA M E R S O N
yan Stephanik’s 7-year-old daughter

squeezes a handful of green slime
before sharing over Zoom that
the title of her short story is “The
Wizard and the Boy.”
The goal was to try writing a single
paragraph for a creative writing lesson,
explains Stephanik, smiling. But she saw
her daughter was deeply engaged, and since
there are no class bells in homeschool, she
let her daughter write seven pages.
This flexibility is just one of the reasons
Stephanik, who lives in La Verne on the
border of Los Angeles and San Bernardino Drawing is one of the homeschool assignments
counties, has no doubts about deciding to for Phoebe.
start homeschooling her daughter during the
pandemic. There are many reasons these families
“I honestly, in my heart, feel that when say they are making the switch from
kids go back this year, they’re going to COVID-19 concerns to the quality of
be behind,” says Stephanik, a teacher by distance learning. Parents report that
training. “That just made me sad, and some children with sensitivities struggle
I knew that I didn’t want that for my with masks, others want learning centered
daughter. I didn’t want her to be one of the around religious world views, and still
ones who was behind.” others worry about bullying and racism in
the standard classroom. After 18 months of
FAST-GROWING TREND uncertainty, and with so many Californians
still centering their lives around the home,
Families like the Stephaniks came to some families may never return to brick-
homeschooling at record rates during the and-mortar schools.
pandemic, with the numbers doubling from “I have seen nothing like this in the
5.4 percent to 11 percent between March last 27 years that I’ve been reading and
2020 and March 2021, according to the studying or following this area,” says
U.S. Census. Homeschool associations Martin Whitehead, spokesperson for the
across California saw memberships and Homeschool Association of California.
social media followings grow, and places Whitehead, who homeschooled his two
that offer curriculum received calls from daughters all the way through high school,
PHOTOS BY WATCHARA PHOMICINDA, SCNG first-timers eager for solutions. describes the pandemic increase as a

“breakthrough” number.
It’s hard to know exactly how big that
number is in California because the state
doesn’t track how many students homeschool
in its many forms. Under the umbrella of the
public school system, there are independent
study programs and homeschool charter
programs. The traditional route is where
parents choose a curriculum and teach their
kids themselves. To get an estimate of how
many parents are doing this, many turn to
data on private school affidavits.
Affidavits for five students or less are
generally a good indication of a homeschool,
but it’s not absolute, says Scott Roark,
spokesperson with the California Department
of Education.
The state saw a 35 percent increase in
these small private schools during the 2019-
2020 school year. The 2020-2021 school
year numbers are still coming in, but are
already showing another 34 percent increase.
Among Southland counties, Orange leads the
way with a 42 percent increase, followed by
Riverside, Los Angeles and San Bernardino
counties.
Whitehead, who lives in Orange
County, says some local school districts classroom. increase in homeschooling of any group with
are responding by working “feverishly” at Before the pandemic hit, her oldest a rise from 3.3 percent in spring 2020 to 16.1
distanced learning options and exploring the daughter would come home complaining percent by that fall, according to the U.S.
potential partnerships they could have with about being treated poorly by teachers at her Census. Not far behind were Hispanic and
homeschoolers. South Los Angeles high school. Hall knew Asian households.
“People are wanting educational the area’s schools were plagued by systemic Instead of traditional parent-led
connections and communities that are really inequalities, but she found it hard to believe homeschooling, Hall opted for an online
more centered around their homes, and thinking, “No teacher would talk to you like charter program. Within a short while, her
they’re really dissatisfied with the traditional that.” daughter was receiving all A’s and B’s in her
school environment,” Whitehead says. Then Hall overheard teachers berating classes.
Parents appreciate the extracurriculars the senior during online instruction. As “The difference is a supportive learning
— including band and sports — offered at an educator and owner of a music school, environment — teachers who actually care,
schools, says Whitehead, but he maintains she was shocked. Soon, her daughter was teachers who are meeting the students where
that kids are not getting the customized failing. Feeling rebuffed by the school’s they are,” Hall says.
learning and attention they need. He sees this administrators, she pulled her daughter out The online charter provided tutoring and
in conversations around access and equity shortly after Thanksgiving. other services to help her daughter learn
for students with disabilities and learning Hall is not alone. Nearly two-thirds of time management and study techniques
differences. With local Black and brown Black families in Los Angeles didn’t like — resources that weren’t provided at her
families, they are raising concerns about the what they saw during distance learning and traditional public school.
school-to-prison pipeline, safety and bias. weren’t sure they wanted to send their kids Hall’s daughter graduated from high
“Folks feel their kids are underserved,” back to L.A. Unified schools last spring, school and is headed to college to study
Whitehead says. according to survey results released in June criminal justice. While homeschooling
by the education advocacy group Speak Up. was exactly what her oldest needed, she
LIFTING THE CURTAIN Some parents cited COVID-19 worries, but
43 percent say they have concerns around
is sending her 15-year-old daughter and
11-year-old son back to their charter schools
Distanced learning meant parents like bullying, racism and academic achievement. for in-person learning this fall.
Tanisha Hall suddenly got a back seat in the Nationally, Black families saw the biggest “I thought the online [school] was

“
If we didn’t have this option, honestly I
would be so lost. I don’t even know what
we would do.”
Roxann Nazario, parent, Sylmar
PHOTOS BY WATCHARA PHOMICINDA, SCNG

Above, Ryan Stephanik guides Phoebe as she works on a puzzle. At left, Evelyn’s task is a
Language Arts assignment.
amazing,” says Hall. “But just for myself, I flexible work schedules and “there is a for more than 100 new parents weekly.
needed a break and I need these kids to be certain amount of privilege involved there.” Now, it’s closer to 50. For families where
back in school.” Cost is another consideration. the shortcomings of distance learning forced
Homeschool charters are state funded and them into homeschooling, a lot of them are
BACK TO free, but traditional homeschooling can saying, “Wow, this kind of worked out. So,
THE NEW SCHOOL range from a few hundred dollars to $1,000
per year or more, if parents are paying for
let’s continue,” says Heston.
Ryan Stephanik has no plans to send her
Roxann Nazario had a problem to solve fancy online courses, says Heston. Internet 7-year-old and 4-year-old girls back to a
when L.A. Unified schools announced a access issues can usually be overcome by brick-and-mortar school. Pre-pandemic, she
return to the classroom this year. library resources which she says are really was eager to send her kids to school since
“As [coronavirus] numbers and cases are supportive of homeschooling families. she was starting a real estate career.
going back up and we are getting closer to Nazario is now working from home “I never in a million years thought that I
going back to school, there is no way I can indefinitely due to the pandemic, so would be a homeschooler,” Stephanik says.
see my daughter stepping foot on campus,” homeschooling this fall became a reality. Now, the family is a one-income
says Nazario, who lives in the northeast San She saw distance learning lift a weight household. What at first felt like a necessity
Fernando Valley community of Sylmar. off her daughter’s shoulders last year, so to avoid learning loss, Stephanik now values
Nazario’s 13-year-old is terrified of Nazario found an online charter program homeschooling for the ability to incorporate
COVID-19, and since kindergarten she where her daughter will move at her own her Christian faith into the curriculum. She
has struggled with school-related anxiety. pace through each school day and gain also sees how the flexibility allows her to
Homeschooling was something Nazario more independence. They plan to take challenge her oldest daughter, who loves to
considered in the past, but as a single mom homeschooling a year at a time. read and learn big words, and says one of the
with a job that kept her in the field most “If we didn’t have this option, honestly beautiful surprises has been the bond that’s
days, it simply wasn’t possible. I would be so lost,” says Nazario. “I don’t grown between her daughters.
“There is a time sink in homeschooling,” even know what we would do.” “This year just taught us that the time we
says homeschool consultant Jamie Heston, Nazario may be part of the tail end of the have with them is really short,” Stephanik
who has seen single parents and two working homeschooling surge. Last fall, Heston was says. “And now I just feel less worried. I feel
parents do it successfully, but most have hosting a virtual Homeschool 101 workshop less anxious about their futures.” ■
ILLUMINATE21_HomeSchooling.indd 31 9/9/21 11:14 AM

GETTINGAREAD
on the next generation
To teach the classics, or not to teach the classics?
That is the question.
BY E M I LY S T. M A R T I N
S
helby Shepherd wears a judge’s robe and holds a gavel in her hand
as high school students file into her classroom.
They’ve just finished reading Mary Shelley’s classic novel
“Frankenstein,” which means Dr. Victor Frankenstein is set to be tried
for reckless abandonment in the literary court of Shepherd’s classroom.
After weeks of diving into case studies of human genetic experiments,
discussing ethics in science and pondering whether a creator should be
held accountable for his creations, the mock trial begins.
This is just one of the ways teaches a preliminary class in which

Shepherd inspires intrigue and boosts students simulate a crash landing on a
enthusiastic engagement among deserted island. She tells them to pick
students studying classic literature that a leader and dole out responsibilities –
teenagers might otherwise find boring, and then watches as the chaos unfolds.
outdated or dull. “I think that classical text is
Before teaching “Romeo and Juliet,” definitely fading out,” says Shepherd.
Shepherd opens class by discussing “But I do think it still has a place,
teenage love and heartbreak, finding a and that a lot of these themes are
way to make her students see their own more overarching – there’s a reason
angsty affairs in the one Shakespeare Shakespeare has lasted so long. These
brought to life centuries ago. are universal themes that everybody
For “Lord of the Flies,” Shepherd can relate to.”
32-35 final pages.indd 32 9/8/21 6:31 PM

“ Any educator, any
English teacher today is
going to understand that –
especially an urban educator.
I’m going to select titles that
reflect my student body. And I’m
going to select titles where the
protagonist is a person of color, and
that have cultural experiences that
my students have, so that they can see
themselves in the books that I choose.”
- LORI HUNT
20 YEAR LAUSD TEACHER
GETTY IMAGES 33

Shepherd, who teaches AP English police. It made the 2020 top 10 most
at Hesperia High School and has challenged books list, an annual
full autonomy in choosing the books survey by the American Library
she uses in the classroom, is correct Association and compiled by the
in saying that interest in teaching Office for Intellectual Freedom.
classical text is waning. Many English The immediate bestseller landed
teachers, bibliophiles in their own on the list alongside “Of Mice and
right, are starting to prefer a more Men” and “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
contemporary, diverse reading list, While those classic titles were both
one they feel represents the students challenged for racial slurs and what
they’re instructing and the world they the Library Association termed
currently inhabit. “negative effects” on students, “The
With AP classes specifically Hate U Give” was challenged for
though, there’s a Catch-22: Advanced profanity and a perceived anti-police
placement classes, which factor message.
heavily when applying to competitive “I’ve never been for classics, it’s
colleges, are taught to prepare kids like they’re being held on a pedestal,
for the AP test. The AP test relies or (have) some educational value
on students being well-versed in the as opposed to more contemporary
literary canon, much of which is not works,” says Wieman. “The classics
especially diverse nor contemporary. don’t foster a love of reading in
When ninth grade teacher Jhenna teenagers. That’s why we want
Wieman is working with her English them to read novels – to help them
department to bring newer novels love reading.
and contemporary authors into the “With ‘The Hate U Give,’ you have
curriculum she says, “Let’s make students who are saying, ‘I normally
it somebody who’s not dead and don’t like reading, and I love reading
white.” this book.’ And that’s because it’s a
A ninth-grade English teacher at young adult book written for them,
Citrus Hill High School in Perris, written not that long ago, with
Wieman says that while her district contemporary themes.”
has been progressive in many ways – Kit McConnell teaches seventh
one of which is making ethnic studies grade English at El Sereno Middle
a graduation requirement – the School in Los Angeles. One of the
process of bringing new book titles classes he’s taken on is an intervention
into the fold can be a daunting one, class for kids who are struggling,
met with pushback. have lower test scores, and can be
While ninth graders at Citrus Hill disruptive in other classes.
are still reading mostly classics such “I think that [social and political]
as “Of Mice and Men,” “To Kill a themes are part of the author’s
Mockingbird” and “Romeo and Juliet,” intention when they write a story
the school’s 10th graders are able to for a young adult audience, to have
dive into “The Hate U Give.” them ponder big ideas in relation
“The teacher who got it on the list to the characters they create,” says
said, ‘You have no idea what I went McConnell.
through to get them to agree to teach “I read ‘Hunger Games’ with my
that,’” Wieman says. intervention class,” he adds. “None of
“The Hate U Give” is author Angie the guys had read very many novels
Thomas’ 2017 debut novel about a in their life. We had class sets at the
teenage girl who witnesses the murder school. We read it, we digested it, we
of her best friend at the hands of talked about it. They asked questions

throughout the whole thing. Shelby Shepherd is still teaching
“And then right around the time we the classics, but she’s found a
were wrapping up our study, the movie way to address the argument for
was being released. I figured out a contemporary over classics by
way to take those kids on a field trip to following in the footsteps of Mary
Universal CityWalk. We went there on E. Styslinger, who wrote the book,
the opening Friday during the school “Workshopping the Canon.” The idea
day. As we were walking out, the kids is to pair a classic text like “Romeo
were like, ‘Mr. McConnell, they ruined and Juliet” with a contemporary
it.’ I think they walked away with that young adult novel like “These Violent
appreciation for reading an original Delights” by Chloe Gong – a book
written text, as opposed to getting all that explores the same star-crossed
of your storytelling through visual lover theme.
multimedia.” Shepherd also has been looking
McConnell works within the Los at teaching “Pride and Prejudice”
Angeles Unified School District, alongside “Pride” by Ibi Zoboi, a book
where the teachers have much more with an Afro-Latino protagonist who
autonomy in choosing the literature grapples with cultural identity, class,
they teach in their courses, versus love and gentrification in Brooklyn,
in a district such as Val Verde New York.
where teachers select titles from an When she doesn’t have a comparable
approved list. title to teach in tandem with a classic
According to Lori Hunt, who has text, Shepherd gets creative, whether
been a teacher working in the LAUSD it’s a “Frankenstein” mock trial or the
for nearly 20 years, smaller districts bunny project.
seem to have a tighter grasp on “I give them all a piece of paper –
curriculum. So, while Citrus Hill High it’s got a bunny on it,” says Shepherd
School teachers are fighting for titles when describing how she gears up to
like “The Hate U Give,” teachers teach “Of Mice and Men.” “I have them
like McConnell are able to teach color their bunny, name their bunny.
“Hunger Games.” They do activities with their bunny,
In a school district where teachers they have it every day in class. I make
have the freedom to choose the books them take their bunny to the mall,
they teach, the students have the walk around the grocery store, take
opportunity to read literature that pictures with the bunny.
more obviously reflects their own lived “They get really attached to this
experiences. With classics, there’s often piece of paper, really attached. Then
some translating that needs to be done right when we start reading ‘Of Mice
when identifying parallels and themes. and Men,’ I tell them okay, now pull
“Things have changed so much in your bunnies out and rip them up.”
the last two years, certainly in the last In “Of Mice and Men,” the
10 years in education,” says Hunt. “Any protagonist, George, mercifully kills
educator, any English teacher today is his friend Lennie to save him from the
going to understand that – especially brutal mob killing that would have
an urban educator. I’m going to select awaited him otherwise.
titles that reflect my student body. “They all get looks of horror on their
And I’m going to select titles where faces, they don’t want to do it,” says
the protagonist is a person of color, Shepherd. “So, I tell them, either you
and that have cultural experiences that rip up your bunny or I rip up your
my students have, so that they can see bunny. And then you see them slowly
themselves in the books that I choose.” rip up their bunnies.” ■

CULTURE
Phung Huynh
poses for a
portrait inside her
home studio in
South Pasadena.
ALL AROUND
PHOTO BY DREW A. KELLEY
36-39 Culture Final pages.indd 36 9/8/21 6:54 PM

How the teaching of art and prayers are sung like Hebrew nursery rhymes.
Studies have shown that language immersion leads
to long-term gains in education. It also gives kids
language helps knit together insight into other cultures. The state of California
agrees that multilingual academics are important.
the diverse SoCal population Recently, the California Department of Education
created this goal: “By 2030, half of all kindergarten
BY J E N N TA N A K A through grade 12 students will participate in programs
P
leading to proficiency in two or more languages,
hung Huynh is hopeful for the future. either through a class, a program, or an experience. By
As an art professor at Los Angeles Valley 2040, three out of four students will be proficient in
College, she is constantly inspired by the next one or more languages, earning them a State Seal of
generation. “I feel so lucky for that,” she says. Biliteracy.”
“There’s an exciting new group of artists coming up Translation: California’s multilingual education
right now.” programs will make our children better global citizens.
As an educator with previous experience at For older pupils seeking outside-of-school
Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design and Scripps assistance, Language Door in Irvine offers in-person
College in Claremont, Huynh continues to encourage and online classes. Arabic, Armenian, Polish, Russian,
budding talent. “I’m getting older,” she says. “I need to German, Dutch, Hindi and Hungarian – more than 40
give a platform for younger and emerging artists. I try languages are available.
to do that as best as I can and support others.” But speech is only one aspect of culture. What about
Huynh, who is the first creative strategist for the the customs, traditions and tastes?
Office of Immigrant Affairs, often asks herself: How At Chinmaya Mission in Tustin, pupils learn Hindu
do you teach culture in Southern California? culture taught by swamis. Loosely translated to mean
One way is through language. L’Héritage Français in “father” or “pastor,” the swamis lead a series of Nirvana
La Habra, the International School of Orange and The Shatkam guided meditation and Vedanta courses,
Language Academy at Aronoff Preschool in Irvine, while an on-site early childhood learning center
not to mention the Irvine Chinese School and Chinese introduces young learners to Hindu traditions.
Cultural Center, are just a few places in our region This year, other teachers began offering cultural
offering immersive language classes for younger classes online. The pandemic led instructors –
students. Children spend their school days conversing including Kat McDowell, who teaches Kintsugi, the
fully in French, Mandarin, Italian and Spanish. Circle Japanese art of repairing broken pottery – to pivot in
time and songs are taught in foreign languages. the way they approach students.
At Aronoff, the children are also introduced to Kintsugi Academy revitalized an ancient Japanese
Judaic culture in a fun way. Shabbat Star students art form after the tsunami that devastated the country
light candles for the Friday school assembly and in 2011. The idea is to honor our broken bits by
PHOTOS BY MINDY SCHAUER, SCNG

Irvine Chinese School first-graders perform during the Chinese New Year Irvine Chinese School second-graders sing traditional songs celebrating
Festival in Irvine. the new year.

“I feel like the pink
box drawings I do
reference food as
a culture, and as a
way to talk about
our assimilation
experience.”
- PHUNG HUYNH
ART PROFESSOR AT
LOS ANGELES
VALLEY COLLEGE
PHOTOS BY DREW A. KELLEY

Phung Huynh draws a portrait on a pink doughnut box at her home in South Pasadena.
repairing cracked cups and bowls. The thought that 8-10 offers “a taste of the Greek Islands without
we celebrate our scars and rebuild, even when you leaving Southern California.” Festivities include dance,
feel shattered, resonated with many people during music and Greek food. Each bite is a reference point
the lockdown. Isolated teenagers also found solace in for understanding another culture. (Information:
McDowell’s classes. irvinegreekfest.com)
In the spring, she plans to host intimate in-person In a similar vein, the 47th annual Valley Greek Fest
workshops. But for now, her online sessions and returns to Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in
performances – via the live streaming platform Twitch Northridge on Memorial Day weekend. (Information:
– are the ways she reaches a younger audience. (More valleygreekfestival.com)
than a third of Twitch viewers are 10-19 years old.) For Huynh, food also symbolizes her immigration
experience – specifically, doughnuts, as 90 percent of
● ● ● all independent doughnut shops in SoCal are run by
Cambodian families.
Culture in Southern California is an amalgam of “As a kid my parents would take us to Ted Ngoy, the
different countries. We mesh here in ways that shape Donut King. My father is a survivor of the (Khmer
our region’s art and lingo. It also flavors the food Rouge) genocide in Cambodia. He biked his way to
we eat. Vietnam to seek asylum. ... So I feel like the pink box
The Little Arabia District in West Anaheim offers drawings I do reference food as a culture, and as a way
tastes of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Turkey. to talk about our assimilation experience.”
In the 1990s, this area began cultivating a thriving Huynh is speaking about her next body of work,
Arab-American community centered on the nearby called “Donut Hole: Portraits on Pink Donut Boxes
religious centers – mosques, Coptic Orthodox and of the Second Generation.” It focuses on “The Donut
Christian Arabic churches. Yet, it’s the food that most Kids” of Southern California.
locals in the area are familiar with. Egyptian-style “These are kids that grew up in doughnut shops,”
feasts at El Mahroosa restaurant in Anaheim are tasty she says. “Their parents would take them to the
ways to introduce children to another country. doughnut shop at 3 in the morning, put them on
Other cities such as Irvine host pop-up experiences. the flour sacks to sleep while their parents made
The 43rd annual Saint Paul’s Greek Festival on Oct. doughnuts, and then get them up to go to school.

These kids worked in the doughnut shops, did
homework at the doughnut shops, so I’m so excited to
honor them.”
● ● ●
Honoring our past is something that Huynh

examines in her public art commissions for the
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation
Authority. The idea is that through these images,
passersby will learn about a neighborhood’s past and
absorb some of its cultural heritage.
“Especially for public art, it’s a service for the
community,” Huynh says. “It’s important to research
history. Not only the written history because a lot of
written history is privileged by those who can afford
to write it. But the history of working folks who don’t
have time to write down their history. For me, it’s
important that public art reflects the community ... So,
I do research and interview people who live there. I try
to do that because it gives me the opportunity to learn.”
At a Metro stop in El Monte, Huynh’s “In the
Meadow” piece showcases a lion head, a nod to the
shuttered Gay’s Lion Farm theme park and the local
high school’s mascot – inklings of the city’s past. Who
knew that El Monte once had a theme park dedicated
to lions? Huynh wants us to remember our past so we
can build a better future.
“History is alive,” she insists.
At Laurel Canyon/Valley Village, “Lucky California”
features whimsical cherubs playing in blooming
California poppies and plump oranges. For the
Alhambra Bruscard poster, Huynh dug into the city’s
history and painted its innovative iron pipe system,
the first of its kind in California.
As an educator, Huynh encourages the next
Two drawings by Phung Huynh of her children Sid, top and Quinn, are
generation of artists to create their own path. Their on display inside her home in South Pasadena.
cultural identity doesn’t have to limit them. She
credits her relationship with another Los Angeles-
based artist/activist and retired teacher for her
passionate ties to history.
“It emanates from Charles Dailey, my mentor,”
she says. “There are so many points of healing and
connection in that relationship for me. When you’re a
Vietnam war refugee [like me], and you’re seeing all
these horrible Hollywood films where Asian folks have
no speaking roles, women are objectified; and then for
Mr. Dailey, my second dad [and an African American
Vietnam veteran], calls me his child, and convinces
my parents, ‘Let her be an artist’ as opposed to a
doctor or a lawyer. ‘She’s going to make it.’ He believed
in me. That’s life changing and powerful.” ■
Detail of the painting “Resistance Matriarch” by Phung Huynh
FOR MORE, VISIT :: PHUNGHUYNH.COM

BREAKING
THECODE
UC Irvine researchers hope
that finding a way to teach
computing language
to kids will help level
the playing field in life
BY NORA BRADFORD
W
hat if there could be a way to
teach kids to use technology
while gaining language skills at
the same time?
That’s the question researchers at UC
Irvine are trying to answer.
Professor Mark Warschauer and his
team at the university are hoping to
level the playing field to ensure that all
students – rich or poor, native English
speakers or not – have the same access
to learning to communicate with
computers.
From logging onto Zoom every
morning and playing online games,
America’s students have spent more time
interacting with technology over the
last year than ever before. It’s clear that
students who are unfamiliar with digital
tools will be at a disadvantage in our
rapidly digitizing world.
40-43 coding final pages.indd 40 9/8/21 8:34 PM

GETTY IMAGES

“
We want students to feel that their backgrounds are
celebrated and are important for classroom learning
and the learning of computer science.”
- SHARIN JACOB, PHD STUDENT
But not all students are exposed to computer Computing for All curriculum was Santa Ana
science classes early on in their schooling. Students Unified, a school district with 93% Latinx students.
placed in English as a Second Language (ESL) Warschauer and his team worked with teachers,
classes are generally not afforded time in their day many of whom had never coded before, over
for extra classes like computer science. the summer to prepare them for teaching the
To encourage students from all backgrounds to curriculum. Then the teachers began guiding
learn coding – the language of computers – the students through weekly computational activities
team of researchers developed a program called that integrated culture and language learning.
“Elementary Computing for All,” which integrates
computer science into literacy instruction. BU ILDING ST EM IDENTITI ES
“This is personal for me,” says Sharin Jacob, a According to a 2013 survey by the National
PhD student on the team. Jacob grew up bilingual Science Foundation, only 4.2% of the people in the
in English and Arabic, thanks to her mother’s U.S. who get doctorates in science and engineering
Egyptian upbringing, but at the age of 11, her are Hispanic. That is drastically lower than the 17%
teachers tried to place her in ESL classes because of of the U.S. population who identified as Hispanic
her accent. in 2013.
“My parents decided from that day on to only Because of the disparities within science
speak to me in English. I lost my Arabic, and to me fields, studies have shown that students from
that is tragic. I don’t want to see that happen to the underrepresented groups are less likely to feel like
next generation,” Jacob says. they belong in STEM fields. Most curricula don’t
make a point of highlighting diverse computer
L I T E R ACY, CO M P UTATI ON AL THINK ING scientists or incorporating students’ diverse
Many of us think of computer science as a STEM identities into coding activities.
(science, technology, engineering and mathematics) This is where the ECforAll curriculum comes in.
field, but it’s more than that. Built into the ECforAll curriculum are stories
Warschauer explains that the type of simple that celebrate the accomplishments of computer
coding that students are first introduced to “is scientists from different backgrounds. For instance,
really very narrative based. It’s writing stories about one unit begins with a video about Margaret Zoila
their lives and about other things. ... There’s a lot of Dominguez, an optical engineer at NASA. Scenes
overlap with literacy and narrative.” of her in the lab, wearing head-to-toe protective
The curriculum that he and his team developed equipment, are overlaid with audio of her telling
allows students, both native English speakers and the story of how she got involved in the research she
English learners, to work on their literacy skills and does now.
computer skills simultaneously. Communicating After a short clip of Dominguez teaching a dance
with a computer, through coding, has many of class in her free time, the video closes with her
the same elements of communicating with others proudly saying, “I’m Latina and I love technology.”
through language. Stories like this are so important for under-
Learning to code relies on the ability to find and represented minority students to hear because they
learn from patterns in our environment, whether allow students to imagine themselves as computer
they be patterns in the shapes of leaves on different scientists, doctors or even optical engineers.
trees or patterns in the way COVID-19 spreads in Warschauer and other researchers in the field refer
different settings. And what is language full of? to this as building a STEM identity, or the feeling of
Patterns. From verb conjugations to pluralization fitting in with STEM fields.
of nouns, language learners rely on finding and Another way the ECforAll curriculum aims
learning from patterns to become fluent. to build students’ STEM identities is through
Their first stop in implementing the Elementary encouraging students to infuse aspects of their

Mark Warschauer, professor of education at the
University of California, Irvine, sits in front of
a sample project from the curriculum in which
students can analyze its code and how it works and
then create their own projects.
MARK RIGHTMIRE, SCNG
identity into their projects, like in the “About Me” year highlights the importance of the face-to-face
project. Here, the students learn about coding component of the curriculum. For students, getting
“events” – actions that cause other things to happen. in-person support from their teachers and socializing
Such as pressing a button that causes a bell to ring. with their peers while completing these projects
The students brainstorm facts about themselves really improves their learning of the material.
that they’d like to share, a scenic background that’s The pandemic also highlights the importance
relevant to their interests, and a character that of digital technology in education and has ignited
suits them. Then they put together a sequence of interest from various school districts to incorporate
blocks that make the character say something like the curriculum into their classrooms.
“I like to play soccer.” Changing the character’s The UCI researchers have already partnered with
costume, adding background music, and making the a team at the University of Chicago to try out the
character move around are also options they have to program in Chicago Public Schools, as well as schools
customize their program. in San Francisco. While this curriculum was built
“We are working to develop a computer science with Santa Ana’s Latino students in mind, the team
curriculum that builds on the rich cultural hopes the principles of diversity and inclusion will
and linguistic assets that students bring to the help other students around the county.
classroom,” says Jacob. “We want students to feel “When we open doors to computing, diverse
that their backgrounds are celebrated and are students will contribute new perspectives that foster
important for classroom learning and the learning creative and innovative approaches to solving the
of computer science.” problems that we as a nation face,” Jacob says. “By
breaking the language code, we can not only help our
C OM PU T I N G AC ROSS T HE C OU NTRY students, but, with them, start to build a better and
While the pandemic stifled the research, this past more just world.” ■

Teaching kids in juvenile hall has its own lessons
CAGED
MINDS
O
B Y M AT T H E W G O L D M A N
nly two out of four accounts are logged into Zoom at the start of class.
A warden walks up to the camera and greets me. “Hello, Mr. Goldman!” she
says. “It takes about 15 minutes to get everyone in here. Be patient with us,
but we’re so excited to have you as a teacher. You’re going to love these kids!”
Having recently graduated from Chapman University with my master’s degree,
I was looking for a job and had agreed to take over teaching juvenile hall students
as a long-term sub.
Before I started, the former teacher wrote me connection would be poor and microphones
several warnings. Students would test me to see shoddy. Students’ writing proficiency ranged
what they could get away with. They would push from college-level to barely literate.
to end class early since it was just before lunch. I had no idea how to prepare for this challenge,
Technology would be a barrier; kids came from so I imagined topics that might be important
several facilities, each having a single computer to them. I settled on an article that dealt with
that students would share. The internet challenging unwanted labels. I figured these

First-year teacher Matt
Goldman, needing
to work during the
pandemic, took a job
teaching kids at juvenile
hall – and learned about
hope and resiliency along
the way.
PHOTO BY PAUL RODRIGUEZ
44-46 final pages.indd 45 9/9/21 10:45 AM

kids had all worn words that may have influenced the writers, and that I’m sorry anyone made them
people they became. I built the class around the way feel stupid. I mention that being multilingual
language shapes reality. is a superpower. I promise to help with college
I was interested in teaching incarcerated people applications if they want me to. The next session, a
because of my dad. Today, he coaches youth soccer. student approaches the screen. “Hey, Goldman, I’m
He volunteers for the Special Olympics and used to gonna get you that homework from the other day. You
play Santa for inner city kids every Christmas. He’ll gonna write me a response, too?”
have a beer at parties, but I’ve never seen him drunk. My inbox soon fills with completed assignments.
He’s come a long way since being a heroin addict I tell them that I’ll be teaching class the same way
charged with armed robbery and attempted homicide. I teach college students. They cheer and pump their
I begin class by having them write about who they fists. After one particularly dense lecture, I notice
are, how they feel about school, and to share their there’s only a few minutes remaining. Remembering
hopes and dreams. Three screens are filled with what I’d been told about this being the period before
serious students, sitting too far from the camera lunch, I end class early. Instead of being relieved,
for me to see them clearly. Their heads bend they boo and wag their fingers.
down, and they seem focused. Students Every day, I brag to anyone who will
in the fourth screen sit up front. listen about how brilliant these kids
They keep switching seats. They THEIR are. They are not the disruptive
make goofy faces at the camera. slackers I was led to believe they
They shout out to friends in the HOPES COME would be. They are excited
other rooms. A warden asks if INTO FRICTION WITH to learn and cherish every
there’s any way to limit their moment I spend working with
view so they can only see me, THE OBSTACLES THAT them.
but there isn’t. Then, three weeks into
Only eight students of 35 PUSHED THEM AWAY teaching, I learn that I failed
turned in what they wrote, my background investigation.
but their words made me FROM SCHOOL, OUT TO I can only imagine it’s due to a
realize the first warden had been THE STREETS. marijuana-related misdemeanor
correct: I love these kids. from 2005. The temporary
One writes of his newfound authorization I had been given to
passion for classic literature. Outside, work at the juvenile hall is revoked
he cared only for money, women and and I’m immediately cut off from the
drugs. Now, he has fallen for Shakespeare students without getting to say goodbye.
through “Macbeth.” He wants help writing stories I’ll miss their animated gestures over topics they
with stronger hooks than heroin. Another hopes enjoy. I worry I’ll become another in a long list of
to leave juvenile hall and become a voice for the people who have abandoned them. Most of all, I’m
oppressed. He enjoys writing and hopes to develop angry at what this teaches. If I can be punished for
a vocabulary like the politicians he sees on TV. And mistakes from nearly two decades ago, what hope do
yet another is proud of completing his high school these kids have when their incarceration ends?
diploma, which never would have happened outside I often wonder if we, as Americans, even believe in
of juvenile hall. He’s currently taking courses for rehabilitation. America has more incarcerated people
college credit and plans to pursue a four-year degree per capita than any other country. Are we capable of
when he gets out. moving beyond the prison-as-punishment model? My
Their hopes come into friction with the obstacles own father proves that change is possible.
that pushed them away from school, out to the streets. I still wonder about them. Most of the kids in
Educators had called them stupid. Parents had juvenile hall had been left with a void that the streets
neglected them. They had no support system when came to fill. When given the opportunity and support
they struggled with schoolwork. Not a single person to learn during their incarceration, they possessed a
encouraged them to go to college. Speaking English hunger for knowledge that I’ve rarely encountered as
as a second language had subjected many to brutal a teacher.
discrimination. I had gone into juvenile hall to take a job, but now
I write each student a one-page response, mostly I realize those kids taught me more about our innate
words of encouragement. I tell them they are fine desire to learn than any lesson I could offer. ■

Great CAPISTRANO
beginnings UNIFIED
SCHOOL
start here DISTRICT
College and Recognized

career pathways commitment to
& partnerships music education
Championship STEM-focused
athletics curriculum
CAPOUSD.ORG
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THE OPPORTUNITIES
FOR YOUR CHILD PreK-12th
ARE ENDLESS... GRADES
N F O R » STEAM Labs
Laboratorios STEAM
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IN- CTION AT Dos Idiomas
INSTRU SCHOOL! » Visual and Performing Arts
E VERY Artes Visuales y Representativas
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IÓN
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Oratoria y Debate galardonado
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Oportunidades para padres
www.sausd.us/ENROLL 714.433.3481 • #WeAreSAUSD • #SAUSDStrong

OC Register: Sept. 26, 2021 (Part 3)

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OC Register: Sept. 26, 2021 (Part 3)

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SEPTEMBER 2021 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEWS GROUP

0921_Cover.indd 1 9/9/21 12:46 PM

COVERAGE OF PROTESTS AND RACIAL JUSTICE

Whether it’s breaking news or a detailed special report,

VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING

COVER 10 | TIME TO UPDATE THE CL ASSICS? 32

COPYRIGHT © 2021 SOUTHERN

4 ILLUMINATE 2021 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEWS GROUP

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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEWS GROUP ILLUMINATE 2021 5

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t kinda feels like a regular year…

6 ILLUMINATE 2021 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEWS GROUP

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PAUL BERSEBACH, SCNG

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEWS GROUP ILLUMINATE 2021 7

ILLUMINATE21_PhotoEssay.indd 7 9/8/21 5:22 PM

ILLUMINATE21_PhotoEssay.indd 8 9/8/21 5:22 PM

WATCHARA PHOMICINDA, SCNG

JEFF GRITCHEN, SCNG

JEFF GRITCHEN, SCNG JEFF GRITCHEN, SCNG

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEWS GROUP ILLUMINATE 2021 9

ILLUMINATE21_PhotoEssay.indd 9 9/8/21 5:22 PM

Teachers are amping up to help handle students’ pandemic-era trauma

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new school year. “Coming from having that in my

12 ILLUMINATE 2021 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEWS GROUP

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PHOTOS BY MARK RIGHTMIRE, SCNG

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16 ILLUMINATE 2021 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEWS GROUP

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studies that examined math

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEWS GROUP ILLUMINATE 2021 17

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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEWS GROUP ILLUMINATE 2021 19

19-21 Virtual Final pages.indd 19 9/9/21 10:41 AM

the Rule of 3’s effectiveness:

I had to kind of make myself be Mrs. Panda. What would I do if I was

20 ILLUMINATE 2021 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEWS GROUP

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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEWS GROUP ILLUMINATE 2021 21

19-21 Virtual Final pages.indd 21 9/8/21 6:21 PM

Too many chutes,

UC Berkeley student Alexis Atsilvsgi

RAY CHAVEZ, BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

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24 ILLUMINATE 2021 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEWS GROUP

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26 ILLUMINATE 2021 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEWS GROUP

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