BLACKS, LATINOS CLOSING TEST SCORE GAP GAINS BY 9-YEAR-OLDS OF COLOR OUTSTRIP WHITE STUDENTS'.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

Gains by 9-year-old black and Latino students on standardized tests over the last five years outpaced those of whites, leading to the smallest academic achievement gap ever, according to a national study released Wednesday.

The 2004 National Assessment of Education Progress - which tracks long-term trends and is considered the ``nation's report card'' - found that 9-year-olds overall are doing much better on math and reading exams than older students, who failed to make significant progress from 1999 to 2004.

The study compares scores on a test that has been administered by the federal Department of Education since the early 1970s. In 2004, a representative sample of 14,000 students was tested, including students from the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Although the LAUSD results were not separated for the study, the district's achievement trends - based on other standardized tests - reflect the NAEP study, said Veronica Melvin, executive director of the Alliance for a Better Community, a policy and advocacy organization with a focus on educational equity in Los Angeles.

``LAUSD elementary test scores are rising over the past few years, and it is a result of educational reform at the elementary level in Los Angeles,'' Melvin said. ``We have seen the most significant gains in students of color since there has been a lot of focused attention, and we're finally seeing the results.''

The achievement gains at the lower grade levels can be attributed to the bulk of energy and resources in educational reforms being directed at lower grades, school officials said.

Standards-based reforms spelling out clearer expectations of what students should learn, aligning curriculum and instruction with those standards and a concerted effort to train and support teachers at struggling schools have all contributed to the improved test scores at lower grades.

``I think it establishes that these kids (blacks and Latinos) are capable of much higher levels of achievement than we've given them credit for in the past and it also helps us to see that when we focus on improving public education we absolutely can make progress,'' said Ross Wiener, policy director for the Education Trust.

``These results for 9-year-olds are tremendously positive. These are historic gains, and what's so hopeful in these results is that white students' performances went up, but the students farthest behind made the biggest gains.''

The white-black score gaps in both math and reading categories were smaller in 2004 than in the first assessment years by 18 and 12 points, respectively.

The white-Latino score gap in mathematics for 9-year-olds narrowed from 26 points in 1999 to 18 points in 2004.

While the performance of 9-year-olds was encouraging, that of 13- and 17-year-olds is cause for concern and should be immediately addressed, Wiener said.

Since 1999, math achievement has gone up for 13-year-olds, with black and Latino students showing the largest gains. But in reading, achievement has remained stagnant for all demographic groups.

Overall achievement of 17-year-olds has remained flat in both reading and math since the early 1970s. Also, the study does not include those students who have dropped out. Nationally, 30 percent of students don't complete high school and most of them drop out in the ninth and 10th grades.

The problem, Melvin said, is the achievement gap begins to widen again at the middle and high school levels due to the lack of focus on secondary education.

The LAUSD began to give the problem attention last year with its focus on creating smaller learning centers, where students get personalized attention and one-on-one interaction with teachers and administrators, she said.

Also, the recent action by the school board to make college preparation courses - or the A-G curriculum - a requirement for all students, is a step in the right direction.

At the LAUSD, 15 percent of Latino students complete the college prep requirements in four years, 21 percent of blacks, 36 percent of whites and 50 percent of Asians.

``When you increase the rigor of students' course work, they perform to those higher levels of expectation, if they are provided with the necessary resources,'' Melvin said.

In order to maintain achievement through middle and high school, the district needs to ensure that those students who are not achieving at their grade levels are receiving the intervention needed to get them back on track.

Last year, the LAUSD noticed for the first time a slight upward movement in LAUSD middle school scores, said Esther Wong, assistant superintendent, planning, assessment and research.

``We're beginning to see a trend at middle schools of a slight upward movement, and I think that part of the reason for it is because the basic foundation has been laid at earlier grades,'' she said.

While there were gains in test scores, the study reveals that black and Latino 17-year-olds read and do math at the same level as white 13-year-olds.

``That is a national disgrace and it's something that demands leadership and attention. We have to close that gap. That's the moral imperative for this country,'' Wiener said. ``That statistic really brings a sobering reality to the conversations about high school reform, which has only recently entered the national consciousness, and this just reinforces the sense that we really need to bring some level of focus and resolve to improving our high schools that we've seen showing some success at the lower grades.''

Public education still doesn't give students of color equal opportunities for learning, Wiener said.

``They are assigned to lower level curricula, they have the fewest qualified teachers and we even spend less money on their education, so we've got to turn those patterns around if we want to finally close those achievement gaps,'' he said. ``I think what we can learn from the results today is when we do focus and set higher expectations for schools and students, they absolutely can rise to the challenge.''

Naush Boghossian, [phone]

naush.boghossian(at)dailynews.com

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MAKING THE GRADE

SOURCE: National Assessment of Educational Progress 

Associated Press