PARENTS DRAFTED TO AID KIDS.

Byline: Greg Gittrich Daily News Staff Writer

Margarita Ruiz said she was glad to rearrange her work schedule at a Van Nuys grocery store to spend Tuesday afternoon plunking green marbles into water with her two children at Valerio Elementary School.

The day was a little silly and wet, but much more than fun and games for Ruiz: She was among more than 200 parents who accompanied their children to a special after-school program at Valerio aimed at boosting student performance in mathematics and science.

``I'm happy we get to play together, but it also gives us a chance to learn together and learn something new,'' said Ruiz, 24. ``I want them to be excited about school and do as well as they can.''

Like most schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, Valerio's students, most of whom speak Spanish as their primary language, were outperformed by their peers nationwide on the Stanford 9 exam of reading, mathematics and language.

``We're trying to improve the students' critical thinking and give them a higher level of cognitive skills in science and math,'' said Sheila Milov, a fourth-grade teacher at the school who organized the event with colleague Gail West.

During Tuesday's Math and Science Family Afternoon, parents learned simple ways to teach children skills including spatial relations, geometry, static electricity and buoyancy.

``The true way of learning is doing and understanding the concepts and ideas visually. Eventually the language will catch up,'' Milov said.

Valerio is not on the list of 100 worst-performing schools compiled by Superintendent Ruben Zacarias in 1997. But the school's math, reading and language scores on the Stanford 9 exam last year lagged behind most other Valley elementary schools.

Valerio's 1,500 students improved by an average of three percentile points on the test between 1997 and 1998, but only 18 of the Valley's 136 elementary schools recorded lower scores in the mathematics section, officials said.

Valerio scored in the 19th percentile in math, the 15th percentile in reading and the 21st percentile in language. The national average for each section is the 50th percentile.

``In view of its test scores for 1998, they are below average for math, reading and language,'' said Patrick Spencer, a spokesman for the district. ``They have some work to do.''

Milov and West, who have a combined teaching experience of more than 30 years, realized they need to parents if students are ever to improve.

With help from Principal Anais Ruiz, the two teachers won a $5,500 grant from the district's Los Angeles Systemic Initiative to hold Tuesday's after-school event and buy take-home educational materials for parents and children. Twenty-four teachers volunteered their time to teach the classes.

``One of our big goals is to engage parents in mathematics and science teaching. Sometimes parents feel uncomfortable with math and science, so we try to show them how easy it is to get involved,'' said Nonnie Korten, an instructor for the Systemic Initiative.

``That involvement absolutely translates into a better understanding by the students and improved test scores,'' Korten said.

The Systemic Initiative operates with $15 million in federal money from the National Science Foundation. Its purpose is to show teachers how to present math and science disciplines through hands-on methods that stress everyday relevance while de-emphasizing textbooks.

Over the life of the federal grant, the district has devoted more than $7 million in state funds to train teachers in the new integrated methods. Some 24 teachers from Valerio are scheduled to attend professional development courses today at the program's Momlux Math and Science Technical Center in North Hollywood.

While parents at Tuesday's event were enthused with the chance to get more involved, the future of the Systemic Initiative's integrated teaching program remains up in the air. The federal grant is in its final year of five.

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PHOTO (color) Margarita Ruiz, right, works Tuesday with her son, Bryan, and Cristina Rivera on science lessons at Valerio Elementary School in Van Nuys.

Gus Ruelas/Daily News