API RESULTS QUESTIONED STATE TEST'S RANKINGS CAN DIFFER.

Byline: Angie Valencia Staff Writer

SIMI VALLEY - Becky Wetzel, Simi schools director of elementary education, questions how a school like Vista Fundamental Elementary scores 911 out of a possible 1,000 on the state's Academic Performance Index but drops when compared with schools with similar demographics.

The score achieved by the magnet school - the highest in the Simi Valley Unified School District - gave the campus a statewide ranking of 10. When compared with similar student populations, Vista only placed in the top 20 percent.

At Atherwood Elementary, the contrast is even more dramatic. The school is ranked in the top 10 percent of schools statewide but in the bottom 20 percent when compared with similar schools.

``I have not emphasized the similar schools ranking because I compare Atherwood to Atherwood,'' said Principal Aileen Buhring. ``The progress our school is making and how we're doing compared to the state is important to me.''

Atherwood made a 42-point jump from 802 in 2002 to 844 in 2003.

The California Department of Education this month released the 2003 API base reports. The index uses scores ranging from 200 to 1,000 - reflecting performances on statewide student assessments. Each school is also rated on two 10-point scales.

More than half of Simi Valley's 27 campuses placed in the top 20 percent when compared with all the state's schools but took a beating when compared with schools with similar demographics - also known as the apples-to-apples comparison.

The similar schools rank looks at pupil mobility, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and the concentration of English-language learners, among other factors.

More than three-fourths of Simi schools ranked in the bottom half of the similar-schools ranking - a result district officials and administrators said could reflect some omissions in the district's reporting.

``We don't report all the data to the state,'' Wetzel said. ``There are numerous factors and one is parent education level, which we leave out. When you throw it out of the equation, it puts you into a different grouping of schools.''

Simi schools officials made the decision not to report parent education levels because students are the ones who report the information and it might not be accurate.

State officials assured the district that leaving the information out wouldn't affect scores by much, but district officials now question that.

School board member Carla Kurachi said omitting that kind of information ``is messing us up.''

``We're going to need to be intrusive,'' she said, adding that the issue might be back for discussion at a future board meeting.

``I know how fragile data collection can get, so I look at our target scores and I want to see if the schools have met their target,'' she said. ``The other, there's too much data that might not be valid or reliable.''

Robert Bernstein, with the State Department of Education, said there are 17 variables in the similar-schools equation and with Simi schools only reporting 16, the scores are as accurate as they can get given the data.

``It's still accurate because we're using 16 of 17 variables,'' he said. ``We still have a lot of variables in the equation.''

Wood Ranch Elementary, like Vista, ranks in the top 10 percent of schools statewide, and the top 20 percent when compared with schools with similar demographics.

Despite the school's success in every level, Principal Liz Silverman said tests aren't everything.

``Scores are important but are one snapshot of our students' success,'' she said.

While accountability is necessary, educators said, growth is most important.

``I'm worried we're creating a generation of kids that can perform brilliantly on a bubble sheet test but won't know how to fix a car when it breaks down,'' said Arleigh Kidd, president of the Simi Educators Association. ``Labels are not good. It's one focus but to make it the focus is wrong.''

But the cycle continues as students began another round of testing this week.

Berylwood Elementary is a Title I school, in which half of the school is classified as socioeconomically disadvantaged with a handful of English learners and special-needs children. The school sits below the state's 800 targeted minium API score but has consistently made gains through the years.

A 44-point jump last year put Berylwood at the 708 mark. The school is now aiming toward a 712 as they calculate their growth yet again in a series of tests through May.

Some of the kids - many recent immigrants - struggle as they learn to adapt to a new curriculum and foreign language. But teachers and staffers work as a team to tackle laborious challenges.

``We try really hard to make these kids feel successful,'' said Principal Nancy Mason. ``We don't want to just teach the best and leave the rest.

``They don't get the headlines. They don't get the awards. But if we're growing, we're OK.''

Angie Valencia, [phone]

angie.valencia(at)dailynews.com

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5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Berylwood Elementary School student Jason Lopez works with a fellow student Thursday.

(2) Berylwood Elementary Principal Nancy Mason says the school teaches to every student, not just the most successful ones.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News

(3) Beverly Coutts, left, teaches a sixth-grade math class at Vista Elementary School on Thursday.

(4) Kindergartners Jessie Butcher, left, Andrew Lee and their fellow classmates work on an assignment Thursday at Vista Elementary School in Simi Valley.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer

(5) Berylwood Elementary student Sandra Orozco takes part in a lesson in Mary Parent's first-grade class.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News