AREA EDUCATORS SEE EFFORTS PAYING OFF WITH STANFORD 9.

Byline: Krystn Shrieve Staff Writer

Officials at most local school districts say this year's improved scores in the Standardized Testing and Reporting program are proof that last year's hard work paid off.

Ventura County schools superintendent Charles Weis said the Conejo Valley, Simi Valley and Moorpark school districts were among the highest scoring in the county - and significantly above national averages.

``Generally it appears that Conejo Valley was the top performer and was at the top last year, too,'' Weis said when comparing middle school scores in those three districts. ``Simi had the greatest gains in nearly every area. Moorpark didn't show as consistent a set of gains. But in a smaller district, even a small gain is significant.''

This is the second year students have taken the Stanford 9 test - one of three tests in the state's STAR program - which assesses how well students perform in areas of reading, math, language, spelling, science and social science.

The tests were administered last spring to students statewide in grades 2 to 11, and results were made public this summer.

Weis said middle school students at Conejo Valley Unified School District had gains in every subject. Simi Valley Unified School District sixth-graders had gains in reading, math and a substantial gain in spelling; seventh-grade scores were up in every area; and eighth-graders' scores showed a tremendous jump in spelling and also rose in reading, math and language.

Simi Valley Unified's director of elementary Education, Becky Wetzel, said that for the past four or five years, teachers have been careful, especially from kindergarten through eighth grade, to make sure students have adequately learned material before moving on to new topics.

``You don't see those kinds of gains because for one year there was a change in teaching at a middle school,'' Wetzel said. ``It doesn't happen overnight. It starts in kindergarten.''

Wetzel said teachers also have focused on students' ability to understand the content they are reading.

``When we looked at middle school scores, we looked at the fact that a lot of students can read a fictional novel. But when they're given a science or social studies book, they have difficulty with comprehension,'' Wetzel said. ``So we've been telling teachers that even if they teach science, they have a responsibility to teach reading. And if they're an English teacher, they still have to teach content reading and not just fiction.''

Weis said that in Moorpark, sixth-grade scores were consistent with last year's. However, both seventh- and eighth-graders were down slightly - 2 percentage points - in reading.

``Spelling went up slightly in the district, but they're still well behind,'' Weis said.

Frank DePasquale, Moorpark's assistant superintendent of instructional services, said the district already has taken steps to improve scores by offering more remedial classes in language arts and math during this year's summer school program.

Summer school classes were extended from four to six weeks, and when school resumes in the fall, he said, there will be more remedial attention for students.

``What will happen when school starts will be that the same types of remedial programs will be offered in before- and after-school programs as well as on Saturdays,'' DePasquale said. ``There are not enough hours in the day to assist some of these students, so we need to increase our contact time with them.''

Richard Diaz, a manager in the assessment office of the California Department of Education, said there are some limitations to the STAR program's ability to determine how well students are making the grade.

``We may be able to test overall comprehension, but we can't get down to the level of details taught in the schools. That's one of the shortcomings,'' said Diaz.

So individual districts and schools have had to figure out for themselves how the scores can lead to progress in the classroom.

Based on last year's inaugural Stanford 9 scores, Oak Park Unified School District administrators determined where students needed an extra boost and tinkered with their programs.

``This year we focused carefully on math,'' said Superintendent Marilyn Lippiatt. ``Last year, some of the weak areas indicated that students were better skilled in concepts than they were in procedures. We didn't change our programs, but we focused more time on math procedures.''

Lippiatt said her staff was still in the process of analyzing this year's scores to find out how to create further growth.

Conejo Valley Unified School District Superintendent Jerry Gross said overall he was impressed with the results. This year he hopes to concentrate on students who scored at or above the 25th percentile.

``One thing we found is that they respond favorably to peer tutoring. We hope to involve more parents from that population and establish other specific support groups,'' said Gross.

John Fitzpatrick, superintendent of the Las Virgenes Unified School District, said that last year teachers concentrated on reading and math. This year, one of the goals is to motivate high school students to take the tests more seriously.

``High school students take a lot of tests including (Advanced Placement) tests and might not feel this test is as important,'' Fitzpatrick said. ``So we are looking at possibly making the test part of their grade or include it on transcripts.''

CAPTION(S):

chart

Chart: Stanford 9 results