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Few Valley schools shine in state rankings
This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press January 27, 2000
By STACI HAIGHT
Valley Press Staff Writer
PALMDALE - The Valley's westside schools dramatically outscored eastside and core-neighborhood schools in student performance results released this week by the state.
And how Valley schools fared in the results coincides with a statewide trend that demographics played a key role in lower scores and rankings.
In the Valley and across the state, schools with higher populations of black, Hispanic and poor students scored well below the median ranking, while those with white and Asian students were above it.
Other factors that played a role in results include the average education levels of students' parents, how active parents were with their students' education and the number of emergency-credentialed teachers at a school.
The school standings, called the Academic Performance Index, is the state Department of Education's first-ever school-by-school rankings. The scores are based on the standardized basic skills test, the Stanford Achievement Test (STAR), which students took last spring.
The API is a numeric index that scores schools in a range from 200 to 1,000, with 200 being the lowest. Schools then were ranked against similar schools across the state on a scale of 1 to 10 - with 1 considered poor, 5 or 6 considered average and 10 considered excellent.
Four of the Valley's lowest API scores and rankings were schools in the Eastside Union School District, where there were high percentages of students on free lunches, of minority children, of English learners and of teachers working on emergency credentials.
Conversely, the Westside Union and Acton-Agua Dulce Unified school districts had the top performing Valley schools in the rankings.
In Westside, Rancho Vista Elementary School led the way with a score of 733 and an 8 ranking, with other several schools just slightly trailing, but still ranking above average.
Cottonwood, Leona Valley and Sundown elementary schools also had 8 rankings, achieving scores of 727, 729 and 726, respectively.
The state-wide median for elementary schools is 629, while the statewide median for middle schools is 633.
Eastside Superintendent Connie Webb said Wednesday that it was not hard for districts across the state to predict scores based on last spring's STAR test.
At Eastside Elementary, where 120 Hispanic and 123 white students took the 1999 STAR test, the school ranked below average at 2 and scored 480.
Most of the school's 471 students are from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds and are recent English language learners, Webb said.
In addition, more than 39% of the district's students qualify for federally subsidized free lunches.
"The subgroups play a very important role in our scores and rankings," Webb said. "Imagine going to a foreign country where you don't speak the primary language and than have to take a test in that language."
In the fall, the district received a $112,000 grant to develop a plan of action to combat low STAR results. The program the district set in place, administered by the Galef Institute, is called, "Different Ways of Knowing." It is geared to help teachers learn different ways to present content material.
Regina Rossall, Westside's assistant superintendent of educational services, said the district was pleased with all the schools' results.
"I think its a tribute to the students, teachers and staff, by showing how well prepared everyone is at mastering the district's curriculum," Rossall said. "We have a very strong retention policy that, if we see a student who is at risk of falling behind, we get to that student immediately and place him or her in a remedial or intercession class to catch up."
Of those counted into the API at Rancho Vista Elementary, only about 49 students were Hispanic and 27 black. Whites accounted for the majority of the school's 372 student population.
"There's going to be greater resources in the more affluent districts where families tend to value education highly," Webb said. "The parents are more likely to be professionals, so they tend to push education."
The highest-scoring schools were in affluent suburbs or catered to gifted students, as Webb indicated.
The Valley's top score, 737 for an 8 ranking, went to Acton Elementary in the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District. Three of the district's four schools posted above-average rankings of 8. Agua Dulce Elementary and High Desert School had scores of 728 and 717, respectively.
Other Valley elementary and middle-schools' performance scores ranged from high to poor.
Palmdale School District's rankings ranged from average to below average. The district's top-performing school was Joshua Hills Elementary, with a 674 and a 7 ranking, while Tamarisk Elementary scored 442 and for a 1 ranking.
Scoring the highest mark in the Lancaster School District was New Vista Middle School, with a 645 and a 6 ranking. The lowest score went to Linda Verde Elementary, with a score of 435 and a 1 ranking.
Two schools in the Wilsona School District - Vista San Gabriel Elementary and Challenger Middle - scored 573 and were ranked at 4. Wilsona Elementary led the district with 639, a 6 ranking.
Keppel Union School District's six campuses scored from average to below average, with three schools below average and three average.
Keppel's highest score went to Pearblossom Elementary, which scored a 656 and a 6 ranking.
Hughes Elizabeth-Lakes Union School District received a score of 694 and a 7 ranking.
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