by George J Elbaum

Luther Burbank School is a K-8th grades public school in with approximately 500 students.  A combination of demographics, economics, and language of the student body presents a major challenge to the school’s faculty and staff in providing academic advancement of the students.  Based on GreatSchools.com information, the demographics are 90% Latino, 3.5% Asian, 3% White, 2.5% Black, and 1% other, but 84% of the students are from low income families and 63% are now learning English.  The result of this combination is that the students’ test scores and their academic progress is markedly below state average, even though students/teacher ratio is at state average, the percentage of teachers with 3 or more years of experience is above state average, as is their salary structure.  While the difficulty is evident, its solution remains elusive.

My presentation to 55 7^th graders was organized by teacher Sandy Brooks as part of the collaborative program Holocaust & Resistance of the Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM’s Ron Glait) and the Jewish Family and Children Services (JFCS’s Penny Savryn.)