ENGLISH-LEARNERS POST GAINS GLENDALE, BURBANK TEST SCORES OUTPACE STATE.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

GLENDALE - Glendale and Burbank students learning English as a second language posted solid gains on state English-fluency tests and outperformed their peers statewide, according to results released Tuesday.

In Burbank, 63 percent of the 2,436 students tested achieved the top two levels of proficiency on the 2004 California English Language Development Test, as did 56 percent of the 7,852 tested in Glendale. Statewide, 47 percent of English learners were deemed English proficient.

``This is very good. It says that we have outstanding programs,'' said Joanna Junge, Glendale's director of special projects and intercultural education. ``We have a lot of intervention programs ... and we're focused on English learners and their needs.''

All students who either speak a second language or are exposed to a second language at home are required to take the test when they first enter a California school district.

Students can take the test, which assesses students' listening, speaking, reading and writing skills, annually until they are reclassified as fluent English proficient.

The majority of students tested each year in Burbank and Glendale schools fall into the top two categories. Last year, 57 percent of Burbank students tested were English proficient and 50 percent of Glendale students tested.

Burbank's George Washington Elementary School tested 154 students and 56 percent achieved English proficiency - the result of aggressive English-learner programs, Assistant Principal Arlene Mooradian said.

``We provide in-class programs, intervention classes before and after school and we have parent support in place,'' she said. ``Their education is our highest priority, so of course we give them whatever we possibly can to get them out of the English Language Learner program.''

The small number of Burbank students performing in the lower categories of the test makes their performance this year even more impressive, said Joel Shapiro, the district's director of curriculum, instruction and assessment.

``We have so few at the lower levels of proficiency it becomes harder and harder to improve your scores, so when we do, it's very encouraging,'' he said.

School districts use the results, along with teacher evaluations, parent consultations and other standardized test performances, to determine whether students will be reclassified as fluent in English. Those statistics will be released in August.

Junge emphasized that more important than the performance on the test is each district's rate of reclassification, which in Glendale is very high - at least double that of the state for the past few years.

For example, the state reclassified 8.3 percent of the students as fluent in English last year, compared with Glendale's 30.37 percent.

Both districts are experiencing a trend of declining English-learner populations - reflecting a decline in their general student populations - which officials hope will mean a continued high rate of movement for English learners into proficiency.

In the 29,000-student Glendale district, in which the top five primary languages for students are Armenian, English, Spanish, Korean and Tagalog, the 8,890-student English-learner population is on a decline.

``Glendale is not getting as many brand-new students and the immigration rate has declined, so as long as the English learners stay here and participate in our programs, they will have a very high rate of success,'' Junge said.

Naush Boghossian, [phone]

naush.boghossian(at)dailynews.com