A.V. TEST SCORES PICK UP.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Antelope Valley students scored higher on a standardized achievement test - in some cases showing double-digit point gains - but generally remained below the national average, results released Monday show.

Students at Edwards Air Force Base schools and in the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified and Westside Union school districts posted top scores, with figures above the national average in most grades, according to a comparison of third-, sixth- and ninth-graders.

``Most of the schools show improvement,'' said Regina Rossall, assistant superintendent for educational services at Westside. ``We did a comparison of our students over three years. Generally we are seeing improvements all the way across the board over the three years.''

Results of the 2000 Standardized Testing and Reporting exam were released Monday by the state Department of Education, although some districts released their scores over the past two weeks.

The test was given in the spring to 4.3 million public school students in second through 11th grades.

The test scores have taken on added importance because they are used to calculate the state rankings of schools, called the Academic Performance Index. Schools that improve their scores could be eligible for extra money; those that don't could face sanctions.

While scores increased at several campuses in the Antelope Valley Union High School District, Lancaster High School posted declines over a three-year period for 10th-graders in math, language, science, and social science; and 11th-graders in reading, language, science, and social science.

At Littlerock High School, scores of 10th- and 11th-graders also went down slightly in reading over a three-year span. But ninth-graders there posted the biggest gain in the district, jumping 15 percentile points to 50 in reading.

``When you look at Littlerock High School, it's really impressive, not because they are the highest, but because of the improvement they've made,'' said Ray Monti, deputy superintendent of the Antelope Valley Union High School District.

At Palmdale High School, 11th-graders' scores in reading decreased by 2 percentile points to 32.

In the Palmdale School District, the largest in the Antelope Valley, students at seven of the district's 22 schools posted scores at or above the national average, including the third- and sixth-graders at Joshua Hill School.

Sixth-graders at Cimarron School and third-graders at Palmdale Learning Plaza and Palm Tree School made double-digit increases in scores for reading, language and math.

Palm Tree this past school year implemented a schoolwide reform program that emphasizes reading as part of plan to improve student performance and test scores.

In the Lancaster School District, third- and sixth-graders at three schools - Lancaster Elementary, Nancy Cory and Jack Northop - had scores above the national average.

Third-graders at Lincoln and Sierra schools posted double-digit increases in reading, language and math.

This is the third year California pupils took the Stanford Achievement Test, Ninth Edition, or Stanford 9, picked by the state Board of Education as California's standardized achievement test under 1997 legislation.

The 1997 legislation authorized a program called STAR, for Standardized Testing and Reporting, which requires that all California public school students in second through 11th grades take a single standardized achievement test each spring to measure academic progress.

The test is a multiple-choice standardized exam. A 50 percentile-point score is the national average.

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Antelope Valley Report Card