Portland 'priority zone' would give seven schools special treatment | OregonLive.com

Portland 'priority zone' would give seven schools special treatment | OregonLive.com

Portland 'priority zone' would give seven schools special treatment

By Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian

May 14, 2010, 5:28PM

View full sizeBenjamin Brink/The OregonianJimmy Vang, a sixth-grader at George Middle School, gets help from teacher Kirsti Neidig to solve a math problem during an intensive “math camp” class, his third math class of the day. Superintendent Carole Smith has proposed that schools including George, which has high academic needs and a concentration of low-income and immigrant students, be placed in an Academic Priority Zone that guarantees them special treatment.Tucked in Portland Superintendent Carole Smith's high school redesign blueprint is a companion plan to give unprecedented help and protection to a handful of high-poverty elementary and middle schools along with the city's two longest-struggling high schools.

Among the promises: better principals, a longer school year, more hands on deck and the right to reject teachers offloaded from other schools.

The hope is that Jefferson, Roosevelt and Franklin high schools -- which would receive students who move up from the five elementary and middle schools slated to receive special treatment -- will see a burst of success as more of their incoming freshmen arrive prepared. Jefferson and Roosevelt would also get extra resources and special treatment to help them keep students on a strong trajectory.

The other five schools, from the district's northernmost reaches to its southeastern corner, are George Middle School, Bridger and King K-8 schools, and Kelly and Sitton elementaries. Minority and low-income students make up the bulk of enrollment at all seven.

View full sizeDan Aguayo/The OregonianThe pledge to those schools, laid out in Smith's 88-page high school plan now before the Portland School Board, is that they'll be ushered into an Academic Priority Zone. They would be guaranteed extra help, such as instructional coaches, after-school or summer school sessions; more power to choose their own teachers; and case managers to help troubled students and families.

Even as other schools see cuts in the next few years -- somethingPortland Public Schools expects unless state funding forecasts improve -- schools in the priority zone would get to keep their extras, Smith and school board members say.

Why? Getting students to arrive prepared for freshman year requires more time, coordination