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LA PALMA – State education officials say an Orange County high school that issued color-coded identification cards to students this year based on their standardized test scores is violating the students’ privacy and the unlawful practice should be curtailed.

Kennedy High School in La Palma is requiring students to carry school ID cards in one of three colors based on their performance on the California Standards Tests – black, gold or white – plus a spiral-bound homework planner with a cover of a matching color. The black card, which is the highest level, and the gold card give students a range of special campus privileges and discounts, while the white card gives students no privileges and forces them to stand in a separate cafeteria lunch line.

Kennedy parents and students say the cards and planners unnecessarily embarrass and single out students who did not perform as well as their peers on state standardized testing, while the California Department of Education characterizes the practice as “inappropriate” and a violation of state law.

“We understand they’re trying their best to encourage the kids to perform, but they’re not supposed to identify them based on color-coding,” said department spokeswoman Tina Woo Jung. “It’s clear – when you see a white card, that inadvertently identifies a student as low-performing. We really urge them to find another way.”

Kennedy High Principal Russell Earnest did not return a phone call Tuesday seeking comment.

A spokeswoman for the Anaheim Union High School District said district officials were aware of Kennedy’s color-coded ID cards and planners, and that they would be revisiting the program in light of the concerns raised.

“Kennedy’s sole motivation was recognizing kids for their achievement,” district spokeswoman Pat Karlak said. “At this point, we’ll look into this to determine if unintentionally, confidential information has been released; clearly, we have no intention of doing that.”

Karlak said other schools in the district have similar incentive programs but could not immediately confirm how they work.

While a wealth of student testing data is published each year, California Education Code protects student privacy by barring publication of aggregate scores of 10 or fewer students.

“In no case shall any group score be reported that would deliberately or inadvertently make public the score or performance of any individual pupil,” the department says in Section 864 of its Standardized Testing and Reporting Program administrative regulations.

Frustration, outrage

A group of Kennedy High students and parents interviewed by the Register expressed frustration and outrage at the program, which was rolled out last spring and expanded this fall. The students and parents said the color-coded ID cards and planners remind students daily of how they stack up against their peers, leading to bullying, harassment and intimidation.

“You see a lot of condescending attitudes toward everyone without a black card,” said Kennedy senior Kiana Miyamoto, 16, of Buena Park, who has a black card and is enrolled in the school’s college-level International Baccalaureate program. “One IB student said in class, ‘Hey, you’re in IB. Anyone who has a white card shouldn’t even be in IB.’ It’s really sad to see people who have the black cards acting this way.”

“Even in regular classes, if a kid has a black or a gold card, they act like they’re on top of the world,” added Kennedy sophomore Samantha Lopp, 15, of Buena Park, who has a white card. “It just makes the rest of us feel worse inside.”

At the beginning of the school year, Kennedy students received one of three color-coded ID cards, Karlak said, based on performance on the California Standards Tests. Student scores on these exams fall into one of five categories – advanced, proficient, basic, below basic and far below basic.

Black cards: Kennedy students who scored “advanced” last year in all subjects tested received a black ID card and a matching planner with a black-colored cover. Black cards give students free admission to all home athletic events, as well as discounts to school dances and at local businesses.

Gold cards: Kennedy students who scored “proficient” or above last year in at least two subjects, or who had moved up a level in at least two subjects, received gold ID cards and a matching gold-colored planner. Gold-card holders get free admission to certain home athletic games, as well as more limited discounts.

White cards: All other Kennedy students received white-colored ID cards and planners, which come with no benefits.

Karlak said about 1,000 students have earned gold and black cards, while the remainder of the student body – about 1,400 students – hold white cards.

The colors of the cards do not correspond with Kennedy’s official school colors, which are green, gold and white.

Separate cafeteria lines

The reminders of the three-tiered system are everywhere. At the school cafeteria, Kennedy administrators have created two lines with separate entrances – one for black- and gold- card holders, and another for white-card holders. Because the school has more white-card holders, the white-card-holder line is typically longer, students say.

In addition, black- and gold-card holders are known for crowding up to the front of the white-card-holder line and pushing their way inside, without waiting in any line at all, students say.

“The cafeteria runs out of the good food, so they take all the good stuff,” said freshman Nick Lindeman, 14, of La Palma, a white-card holder who buys lunch in the cafeteria daily. “I feel like I’m being bullied because they’re rubbing it in our faces that they’re better than us, and the school isn’t doing anything to stop it.”

On a recent day, the line was unusually long, and so many students were cutting that Lindeman gave up and didn’t eat, he said.

Lindeman’s mother, Peggy, said her son has a learning disability that prevents him from scoring well on standardized tests, making the color-coded ID cards a particularly bitter pill to swallow.

“Any student with a disability, this really shuts them down,” Peggy Lindeman said. “They’re like, ‘Why try? You’re already labeled.'”

Kennedy students say the student body is divided – many of those with black and gold cards love the perks, and others point out that it provides a strong peer incentive to do well on state tests.

Indeed, schools across Orange County have developed various incentives to encourage a strong showing on state testing, such as promising an extra school dance, or a commitment by the principal to shave her head if the school’s Academic Performance Index rises to a certain level.

Crossing a line

The Kennedy students and parents who spoke to the Register said their school’s three-tiered, color-coded system crosses a line in that it singles out students who are struggling academically.

Academic success should be rewarded, the students and parents agreed, but students who struggle academically should not be singled out.

“It makes you feel dumb, that you’re being put down by your school,” said senior Danielle Field, 17, of Buena Park, who is in the IB program and had a white card last year.

Field received a gold card this year after raising her state test scores in two subjects.

“I was one of three people in my IB class who didn’t get a gold card last year,” Field said. “They’re preparing us for the IB exams, which are totally different. I’m not used to the CSTs at all.”

Kennedy parent Carol Lopp of Buena Park said she has already approached school administrators to express her concerns, especially after she learned that a school administrator jokingly told female students at an assembly that they should aspire to go to dances with black-card holders instead of white-card holders.

“I said, ‘You are bullying them; you are degrading the white-card holders and making them feel like they are inadequate,'” said Lopp, a special-education instructional aide in another school district. “They said, ‘You don’t understand; everyone was laughing.’ I said, ‘Because you laugh about it, that’s ok?’ They said, ‘You don’t understand.’ I said, ‘No, you don’t understand.’ They used to put a dunce cap on kids to make them do better in school.”

The state Department of Education says that student privacy laws concerning test scores do not have an enforcement mechanism – in other words, it’s up to parents to bring the issue to the school district’s attention and ask for a remedy.

Only if the issue is not resolved at the local level can the California Department of Education intervene, Woo Jung said.

“If a school district creates a program, they don’t need the state’s permission to implement it,” she said. “Since they started it locally, they have to resolve it locally.”

Contact the writer: 949-454-7394 or smartindale@ocregister.com