The "LIST" is out. It's that anxiously anticipated roll call of the state's 188 worst schools, as determined by the California Department of Education through a complicated process that most of us wouldn't understand.

Like it or not, 188 schools are held up to shame, ridicule or sympathy. All over the state, teachers and principals in California's several thousand other schools are breathing a sigh of relief that they aren't on the hit list.

How did a school make the slate? Criteria included low test scores in reading and math, lack of significant improvement on the state's academic performance index, low graduation rates for high schools and a variety of other factors.

Poverty and demographic makeup are major causes, but, apparently, you can't blame either of them. Instead, blame the teachers, the principals or the district offices. Close the schools, fire the staff, turn the kids over to a power-hungry charter operator who's after that multibillion-dollar state education budget. But don't point a finger at the real causes for making that list: parental neglect, student apathy, inadequate command of English, broken homes and poverty.

Some educators will be surprised that the number of cited schools located in big cities is not greater. From all the criticism of Oakland and Los Angeles Unified districts, those cities should dominate the chart. They don't. Instead, there's a disproportionate number of rural schools from the Salinas/San Joaquin valleys and

other areas with a large farm labor population.

The names of the schools on the list are an indication of the root causes. A handful carry the name of Cesar Chavez. An equal number are named for George Washington Carver. There are no Ronald Reagan nor Calvin Coolidge schools among the 188. Some of the schools listed bring with them a tinge of embarrassment. The names of two renowned Supreme Court justices appear there. Both the John Marshall and the Thurgood Marshall schools are among the lowest achieving institutions in the state. In San Francisco, both the Willie Brown and Phil Burton schools gained this dubious honor. Believe it or not, Horace Mann, perhaps the nation's most prominent 19th century educator, is there, too.