GAP PERSISTS ON HIGH SCHOOL EXIT EXAM.

Byline: NAUSH BOGHOSSIAN Staff Writer

More students in Los Angeles and statewide are passing the California High School Exit Exam on the first try, although minorities continue to lag behind, reflecting a persistent achievement gap, results released Tuesday show.

While most of the high schools in the San Fernando Valley posted results that topped state averages, those in predominantly Latino communities followed the same disturbing trend exhibited throughout California.

Of all the state's sophomores, juniors and seniors who took the exam in 2006, about 61 percent passed English and 59 percent passed math. The numbers were lower statewide among students from low-income families, with 48 percent passing English and math.

Among all students in the Los Angeles Unified School District, half passed the math portion and 55 percent passed the English test.

``I remain troubled by the persistence of the achievement gap,'' State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said during a teleconference.

But there was some good news in the numbers, with more sophomores passing the exam on their first attempt. Statewide, 77 percent passed English and 75 percent passed math as sophomores, up 1 percentage point from the previous year.

Among L.A. Unified 10th-graders, the number who passed the English test rose from 62 percent to 67 percent and the math test from 58 percent to 62 percent.

``These results show that we are moving in the right direction,'' district Superintendent Roy Romer said. ``We will continue to focus on instruction and successful intervention so that every student can pass this test.''

While district officials praised the moderate increase, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office said the results demonstrate a lack of real improvement in L.A.'s public schools.

``The fact that the Los Angeles school district continues to score below state averages is the strongest argument possible that we need fundamental reform in our public schools,'' said Villaraigosa spokeswoman Janelle Erickson. ``With low expectations and a culture of complacency, achievement gaps continue to grow, and there seems to be no real plan in place to turn these scores around.''

Villaraigosa has made student achievement one of the hallmarks of his legislative effort to seize control of L.A. Unified.

Assembly Bill 1381 includes provisions that would give Villaraigosa control over three clusters of the district's lowest-performing schools and give educators more control over budget curriculum and instruction at local schools to improve student performance.

There were no figures on how many students had passed both portions of the exam, which took effect for the Class of 2006.

The number of incoming seniors who have passed both parts of the test will be released in October, and the results of the July administration of the test will not be released until next month.

``The vast majority of the Class of 2007 and the Class of 2008 have already passed the exit exam and, at this pace, we are on track toward a passing rate greater than that of the Class of 2006,'' O'Connell said.

To pass, students need to correctly answer about 60 percent of the English questions, which cover state standards through the 10th grade, and 55 percent of the math questions, which cover sixth- and seventh-grade material and some algebra.

The test became a state graduation requirement beginning with the Class of 2006.

LAUSD has spent about $7.7 million on special tutoring and remediation programs to help students pass the test. However, by summer, more than 3,000 members of the Class of 2006 had failed the exam.

``We have to do better,'' school board President Marlene Canter said. ``But in a district as diverse as ours, every single intervention we do -- the (exit exam) boot camp, the after- school and weekend classes -- all of these are attempts to close these achievement gaps by giving students the boost they need to pass the test.''

Education Trust-West, a division of a national nonprofit policy organization, released its own analysis Tuesday of the exam results and commended the LAUSD's efforts to help students pass the test through prep courses.

The report also noted that the district was carefully using exit-exam data to identify weaknesses in its instructional practice, particularly with English learners.

The district's own analysis revealed that of the English learners struggling to pass the exit exam, two-thirds had been in English-learner classes for more than 10 years -- information that would allow district officials to tackle a long-standing problem of students languishing in such classes, the study said.

Nearly $70 million has been allocated in the state budget to assist those students in the Class of 2007 still struggling to pass the exit exam. The California Department of Education has provided every 10th-grader with study guides and has released more than 300 questions from past exit exams for teachers, students and parents to review.

The exit-exam results were released one day after the district held a training seminar for its $10 million Diploma Project aimed at keeping students in school when they are at risk of dropping out or re-enrolling those who have left.

Special dropout advisers assigned to each campus will track and get acquainted with all potential dropouts and their families to make attending the large high schools a more personalized experience.

naush.boghossian(at)dailynews.com

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