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Culture, collaboration, and community are the foundation for the two unique programs at Orion Alternative School in Redwood City, which have proved successful through test scores that scored better than other schools within the Redwood City Elementary School District and the state.
Orion Alternative School, an elementary school in Redwood City, has two programs, the Mandarin Immersion and Parent Co-Op. The school’s principal gave an annual update during a Jan. 10 board of trustees meeting on its program and progress, to which it received positive feedback for its success, which was proven through standardized state testing.
Wong said the two programs integrated through multiple disciplines, teaching techniques, and family-involved activities have contributed to a well-rounded and inclusive educational environment.
“The true strength of Orion lies in the unique perspective each student brings to the table,” Wong said. “By elevating student voices, we foster a school where every student feels a strong sense of belonging.”
According to data from the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, Orion Alternative School is leading in academic performance within the Redwood City School District. The school has higher percentages of students meeting or exceeding state standards in English language arts and mathematics than district and state averages.Â
In an interview with the Pulse, Jorge Quintana, Redwood City School District’s communications director, said the Mandarin Immersion and Parent Co-Op programs make up the school’s 450-student body. All students are randomly selected from a lottery of applicants living within the school district’s boundaries.
The elementary school teaches transitional kindergarten to fifth grade.
In 2021-22, the Orion Alternative school had 386 students, of which 19.2% were Asian, 0.8% were Black, 41.7% were Hispanic or Latino, 15.5% were two or more races, and 19.9% were white. Additionally, 21.8% of the students were English learners, 33.2% were socioeconomically disadvantaged, and 14.5% had disabilities, according to the School Accountability Report Card.
In one lesson, the school’s teachers work with a classroom to vote on a country to study throughout the year. They learn about architecture, geographical features, local cuisines, music, and art. Students host a travel day for their peers to present what they learned, said Wong.
Wong said it’s an example of how Orion is committed to teaching students how to be global citizens by learning about other cultures through events, education, and celebrations.
Mandarin Immersion
The Mandarin Immersion program began in 2014 after a group of parents who recognized the successful Spanish immersion program at Adelante/Selby School, which dates back to the late 90s, approached the school district and asked for the program, Quintana said.
The two-way immersion program teaches students in preschool to first-grade math, social studies, and science in Mandarin 80% of the day and 20% of the day in English. By fourth and fifth grade, students’ classes shift to instruction, and lessons are taught equally in both languages throughout the day.
Students are expected to be prepared to take an advanced placement test for high school Mandarin classes by the time they graduate eighth grade, Wong said.
“Our goal is that our students are fully bilingual and biliterate,” Wong said.
During the meeting, the district’s Board of Trustees took turns noting how the school could be one of the top Mandarin immersion schools in the country. And while there wasn’t specific data to back that up, it does exceed the rest of the district and state average.
According to the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, more than half, or 52.36%, of Orion students met or exceeded the state’s English language arts and literacy (ELA) standards. Of those students, 30.86% exceeded the standard, or level 4, the highest level in the state’s assessment.
In comparison, the rest of the district saw 46.4% of students either meet or exceed the ELA standards, of which 23.3% exceeded. The rest of the state saw 46.66% of students meet or exceed the ELA standards, of which 20.73% exceeded the standards.
The multilingual students receive supplemental English lessons through a new language power curriculum. Students receive targeted support in small group settings for their reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. Wong said the Mandarin curriculum aligns with the district’s curriculum and has been published on Level Learning, a widely used curriculum resource website for Mandarin immersion programs across the state.
While test scores are doing well, there is plenty of room for the teachers to find how their students best learn. This past summer, teachers participated in the state’s reading and literature project to deepen their understanding of how students learn to read. Teachers have one-on-one reading assessments with students, including the basic phonic skills test for primary-grade students.
Wong said that teachers use the data to target phonic instruction for their students.
Students learn about mental health and social-emotional learning, where they learn how to make friends or resolve conflicts. Students are taught art classes in Mandarin, they have physical education a couple of times a week, and they take music classes several times a week, according to the presentation.
While Mandarin Immersion appears to be a success compared to state average scores, the state education system is failing to enroll English learners into dual-language programs.
A Century Foundation report found that only 8.4% of the more than a million English-learning students were enrolled in a dual-language program. The state is ranked behind the District of Columbia and states such as Texas, Illinois, Alaska, Wisconsin, and New Jersey. The Century Foundation is a progressive research group that aims to develop solutions and drive policy change.
Parent Co-Op program model
The parent Co-op program is a unique and collaborative program that has existed since the late ’80s. The school’s success relies heavily on parent involvement and a hands-on curriculum that incorporates a variety of off-site learning experiences that align with the state’s standards, according to the SARP website.
Parents from both programs not only help fundraise to support the school’s programs such as science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (or STEAM), arts, and climate science.
However, some parents recently started a tutoring program to support students needing help in math and reading.
“(The parents involvement in the school) fosters a sense of community and sharing responsibility among parents and caregivers,” Wong said. “Our goal is to guide our students to embrace the many cultures in the world as global citizens.”
Maribel Ibarra, a fifth-grade teacher at the elementary school, said the parents’ support and ambition are the foundation of the school’s success.
The school is equally successful in its math scores that outperform district and state averages. In 2022-23, more than half, or 52.94%, of students met or exceeded the state’s math standards.
Of those students, 32.12% exceeded the state’s standard. In comparison, in the rest of the district, 37.16% of students met or exceeded the state standard, with 22.08% surpassing the standard. Meanwhile, the rest of the state saw 34.62% of students meet or exceed the state standard, of which 17.14% exceeded the standard.
While test scores reveal the school’s students are on the right track, parents and other educators have noticed. Quintana said he has spoken with multiple families who have moved to
Redwood City specifically for the school’s programs.
The Mandarin Immersion program was previously located at the same property as John Gill Child Development School; Orion was previously in Downtown Redwood City. The schools merged after the district moved Orion in 2019.
This article has perfect timing as RCSD pretty much confirms everything I mentioned in several of my recent blog posts: https://www.rwcpulse.com/category/blogs/peeking-at-plans/
AI is needed, since human intelligence has already forgotten that Orion Alternative is historically the school that started School Segregation in the 80s. With “School of Choice” in the 90s, the district just accelerated the process.
Point One: Financial Surplus
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Everything in this article sounds very expensive and very luxurious, because it is. In a district with a majority of 60% low-income, federal and California funding that is supposed to benefit these kids has constantly been routed towards surplus schools like this. Surplus schools are schools without categorical funding. They often go by names or themes like “Alternative”, “Academy”, “Parent Participation”, “Parent Co-Op”, “Enrichments”, “Electives”, “Immersion”, etc. California officially calls them Magnet Schools.
There is also a confirmation by the school district, that these are “Wants” and not “Needs”: “The Mandarin Immersion program began in 2014 after a group of parents … approached the school district and asked for the program” and “the state education system is failing to enroll English learners into dual-language programs”.
What cash-strapped school district would just out-of-the-blue install a Mandarin Immersion program? Menlo Park School District turned the idea down as too expensive. But RCSD said yes and the question is why?
And why would it be the state’s fault that RCSD created a Mandarin program that isn’t a good fit in a district with 60% UPP (another word for low-income, English Learner).
Point Two: School Segregation
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Historically Magnet Schools have been used to re-segregate school districts in the 1990s, whereas good school districts used magnet programs to de-segregate neighborhood schools.
Magnet programs would of course be located in low-income neighborhood schools. When Trustees put Magnet Schools in rich neighborhoods the goal has always been privatize the public school system and give affluent families more of the funding that was supposed to go to low-income children.
This is notable in one point of reference around socioeconomically disadvantaged children (SED). While the district overall has around 60%, this particular school has only >30%. But the trajectory looks even worse, 2019 (59% SED), 2020 (43% SED), 2021 (39%), 2022 (33%). The superintendent and his trustees are choosing who attends Magnet Schools and there is clear tendency who they don’t want there.
Historically despite having a co-op system running, the class rooms in this school are the smallest in the district. Real parent participation would have 40 kids in a classroom with one teacher and two parents (as example), but a teacher with 15 kids doesn’t need help. On average children in these two schools are sitting in classrooms of 15-20, whereas many children at low-income neighborhood schools like Garfield ES sit in classrooms of 25-30 and more (2022 data).
Point Three: Achievement
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The district tries to make a point how well their Education focus is, but the data shows the opposite. This school that has the full support of the Board, has the newest (surplus) building in the district, parent co-op and mandarin immersion, affluent families, and the smallest classrooms in the district. And in this perfect environment, 47% of students don’t meet math standards and 48% don’t meet ELA standards. And remember the School Board goal is that all students (100%) can read at grade level, which would require meet and exceeding standards. “Almost meeting” isn’t good enough for a district that takes so much money from neighborhood schools into their Magnet School system, that has no financial support from federal or state sources.
Something is seriously wrong in this district.
Nobody who wants to be good, can be that bad.