Mojave schools fare poorly in state rankings

Of the Mojave Unified School District's five schools, only two were able to achieve average rankings in the Department of Education's recently released Academic Performance Index.

The other three schools earned dismal marks.

The school standings, or API, are 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, 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.

Mojave Elementary had the lowest score with 459, and ranked at 2. Joshua Middle School did slightly better, with 491, also ranking at 2.

The district's top-performing school was California City Middle, which scored 610 and ranked at 5.

The district high school, Mojave Senior High, scored 603 and ranked at 5.

Robert Ulrich Elementary ranked slightly below average with a score of 572 and a 4 ranking.

State officials said the statewide median for elementary schools is 629, while the statewide median for middle schools is 633.

Mojave Assistant Superintendent Penny Swenson attributed some of the lagging scores to the district's high population of working-class families, where both parents in the home work and are unable to give their children the extra time for homework and reading.

Swenson added that the district's high number of limited-English students was a contributing factor.

"A lot of families are struggling. Both parents are working and they're not at high-paying jobs," Swenson said.

These factors also played a role in lower-scoring schools across Kern County and the state.

An analysis of the rankings conducted by the Associated Press showed that schools with higher populations of black, Hispanic and poor students scored well below the median ranking, while those with primarily white and Asian students were above it.

Other factors that played a role in the results included 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.

Of the 191 students at Mojave Elementary who took last year's STAR test, 39 were Hispanic and 83 were white. Almost one-quarter of the school's were listed as "English language learners," meaning they had only a limited understanding of the language.

Swenson said that since they received a state grant, Mojave and Joshua schools have been working with an external evaluator to assess programs and teaching methods.

Under the Immediate Intervention/Underperforming Schools program, 430 schools, including eight in the Antelope Valley, are using their share of $96 million to work with an evaluator and community team in order to draw up student improvement plans.

Having selected an evaluator from California State University, Chico, Swenson said administrators are looking into the factors that contribute to a student's learning. They include a child's ethnicity, parents' education levels, and family income.

"We're trying to get a picture of where our schools are at. Sometimes we have to admit to ourselves that are students are not always achieving, and then we have to figure out why," Swenson said.

Working with their evaluator, the two schools have until April 15 to identify its weaknesses so administrators can implement student improvement plans.

The two schools will receive up to $200 per student to put their plans in place beginning in the fall.

Other Southeastern Kern county elementary and middle schools' scores ranged from high to just below average.

Southern Kern Unified School District scores and rankings hit the average mark in all but one school: Rosamond Elementary, which scored 568 and ranked at 4.

The district's highest marks went to its middle school, Tropico Middle, which scored 663 and ranked at 6.

Two schools in the Muroc Unified School District ranked near the top of the list. Irving Branch and Forbes Avenue elementary schools achieved 9 rankings with scores of 768 and 747, respectively.

Uploaded January 29, 2000