Students keep thinking

Marisa O’Neil

About 300 students at Wilson Elementary School in Costa Mesa stay

after school every day.

They didn’t do anything wrong. And they’re not in trouble.

They’re part of multiple after-school programs on the campus,

including the new After School Learning Center at Wilson, adding 180

spots for a program that builds on their daily classroom lessons.

“So many of us are dual-working parents,” program coordinator

Cathy Pierson said. “Many moms are working and can’t pick up their

kids at 2:30 [p.m.]. This is a great enhancement to what’s going on

in the day and a great help to parents.”

The new program opened in late November, just after a nearby

after-school program shut its doors. The Wilson Street THINK Together

program inside the Harbor Christian Fellowship Church closed because

of budget problems, leaving 70 students without a place to go after

school.

After shifting some funding from an existing federal grant, the

Newport-Mesa Unified School District was able to take all those

students and more to a new program on the school’s campus. Wilson

already had 140 students in existing after-school programs.

Now in addition to homework help, which the THINK program had, the

students’ after-school lessons are connected with what they learn

during school. That includes a special supplement to the district’s

new Houghton Mifflin reading program.

Thirteen fully-credentialed teachers and two aides, some from

Wilson, teach after school.

“A lot of these kids need to work on their basic reading skills,”

Pierson said. “This is an extension of what they learn during the

day.”

Roughly 80% of Wilson Elementary School’s students speak English

as a second language. With such a high population taking standardized

tests in a language they don’t fully speak, the school’s scores have

suffered and it was marked as a Program Improvement school this year

under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

If the school continues to fall short of English proficiency goals

in the coming years, it faces action, which could mean restructuring

the school or extending the school day or year. But, program

coordinator Jenny Dory said, after school lessons might help students

catch up.

“I hope with intervention and extra time in the classroom with

teachers [that] the test scores will improve,” Dory said.

For now, the after-school program gives students extra time with

teachers, and parents extra time to pick up their children.

“They help you do homework,” 8-year-old Cesar Hernandez said as he

worked on a math assignment. “The teachers always want to help you.”

* MARISA O’NEIL covers education and may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or by e-mail at [email protected].