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Last Updated 4/16/08

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Bursch Elementary Earns State Honors
School being recognized as the ‘best of the best’ following a decade of teamwork and high expectations

By Allison Jean Eaton
Bulletin Staff Writer

COMPTON – When she first took the reigns of the 156th Street school, Dr. Ambibola Ajala was facing an uphill battle.

The school community at Bursch Elementary lacked continuity after control had been handed off to several different principals in the span of just a few years. Test scores were in the single digits (this was prior to the 1998 statewide launch of STAR testing), the aging school site's facilities were run down and the district was in the midst of state receivership.

With the strong belief that character is the basis of a good education and the notion that literacy is a weak point in the nation's education system, Ajala embarked upon a near total overhaul in the school's learning environment that continues today.

Now, 10 years later, dedication to creativity and thinking outside the box have landed Bursch in the spotlight. Last week, it was named a 2008 California Distinguished School.

It is only the second time a Compton Unified school has earned the honor.

“It’s been a steady and rewarding process and I’m overjoyed by the outcome,” said Ajala. “It validates the hard work that our staff, students and parents collaboratively put in. For their tireless efforts, I truly appreciate this honor.”

State Superintendent Jack O'Connell notified Ajala early last week that the school had been selected following a March 18 visit by a team of educators and state representatives. The state Department of Education made the official announcement April 9. According to the school district, Bursch received a perfect score from state inspectors.

State and federal test scores – the Academic Performance Index, or API, and Average Yearly Progress, or AYP, respectively – substantive narrative applications from school administrators and an extensive site visit were all considered.

Statewide, 343 elementary schools were selected for the honor. Eight Hundred Thirty-nine schools applied. Elementary and secondary schools are recognized during alternate years.

Schools must have an API of at least 800 to be considered. But what the state is really looking for, according to Ajala, are progressive ideas in education.

“What they're looking at is what are the schools doing differently, out-of-the-box kind of thinking – what makes it come together for each of the schools, what are they doing extra,” the Nigerian native explained.

Bursch is a blossoming example of how breaking away from the status-quo can assist students, especially minorities and those from socio-economically depressed communities.

Numbering about 440, Bursch's student body is 72 percent Latino, 27 percent African American and 1 percent “other,” Ajala said. English is a second language for a majority. All but one percent qualify for free or reduced-price meals.

Student character development and strong professional staff development and training were at the top of Ajala's list when she came to Bursch from Kelly Elementary, where she served as assistant principal.

“For me, character was so huge. They (the students) needed to sort of retain their minds to do things differently,” said Ajala. “Character development helps the mind.”

Today, the school grounds are adorned with character keywords. A mural facing the school's quad features “The Six Pillars of Character:” respect, citizenship, responsibility, trustworthiness, fairness and caring. Outdoor walkways are named such things as “Honesty Avenue” and “Fairness Way,” with the names painted by parents on the concrete and blacktop in large blue and gold letters. In addition to classroom character lessons, Ajala said seeing the words every day serves as a constant reminder to students to be the best they can be.

With that foundation in place, the next issue to tackle was the school's kindergarten program, which Ajala felt was not as challenging as it should be.

“We started looking into how to augment the program to really get children a jump-start when it comes to school so they're not always playing catch-up.”

At the time, studies showed that students will do better if they are reading by the end of first grade, not by the age of nine as previously thought.

“All this research says that if students aren't reading well by first grade, then they're going to be playing catch-up for the rest of their lives. So how do you really get there? At first grade, you're talking about kids in low socio-economic areas, it's not like they have private tutors or somebody reading to them at home,” said Ajala. “The question really spurred us to action.”

The solution: Combine portions of the first grade curriculum into the kindergarten curriculum.

When the district made the switch to full-day kindergarten, Ajala and her staff decided to double up the lessons for the students each day, who were now in school for six hours rather than just three.

By the middle of the school year, the kindergarten classes had completed the full year's curriculum.

“So we decided to jump start them on first grade.”

Kindergarten teacher Sonia Bravo, who's worked at Bursch since 1995, said she believes her students are now mastering kindergarten standards more thoroughly. Previously, not all students would master the standards, but today, every last one of them does.

Parent Maria Preciado, whose 6-year-old twins, Arturo and Arlene, attend kindergarten at Bursch, said she believes her children are doing better than their contemporaries at other schools because of the integration of first grade curriculum.

“My nephew's in some other [CUSD] school, and I'm not mentioning names, but you can tell the difference,” said Preciado. “It's my belief that if a child is well prepared in kinder, then he's going to be well prepared for first grade and so on, so I think that that's a very important key for the kids. If kinder is more challenging for them now, then they're going to be able to do better in other grades.”

And the results speak for themselves.

The 156th Street school's API scores have climbed steadily ever since. In 1999, the first year of STAR testing, the school's score was 526. Over the next nine years, it rose a total of 319 points to its current score of 845, averaging a 40-point gain each year.

Ajala also links the continual increase to the school's focus on literacy.

“Having gone to school in a different country, one thing I've observed as a classroom teacher here in the United States is that children do not write enough,” said Ajala. “We take all these bubble tests, whereas in other countries, like in England and Nigeria and some of the other countries, people take written tests. You explain your answers, you don't just bubble them in.”

So the principal embarked upon integrating more writing into each grade level's curriculum. During her first three years at the school, students would write daily on a schoolwide topic. Now they do so with a classroom topic designed by teachers and tied into the curriculum.

She also brought in the WriteConnection, a program developed by an inner city educator that stresses language arts mastery and, according to its creator, assists in closing the achievement gap.

“Just as basketball players have to practice, musicians have to practice, children need to practice reading and writing,” said Ajala, who wrote her dissertation on fluency.

The school's popular afterschool program is also credited. Nearly half of students participate in the program choc full of extracurricular activities including cheerleading, scrabble, chess and band in addition to science, math and homework clubs.

Overall, through teamwork, parent involvement and high expectations, the school has earned its time in the limelight.

“The school culture is more cohesive, and we're (teachers) all willing to put in extra time and effort,” said kindergarten teacher Bravo. “It's a new school culture.”