STRONG SHOWING MADE FIVE LOCAL SCHOOLS MEET STATE STANDARD; TWO ARE CLOSE.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Five of Antelope Valley Union High School District's seven comprehensive high schools met state-set goals for improving their Academic Performance Index scores, state results released Thursday show.

Antelope Valley, Highland, Lancaster, Littlerock and Palmdale high schools met their API growth targets both on a schoolwide basis and among socioeconomic and ethnic subgroups of students.

``They all look good. Naturally we are pleased,'' said Susan Custer, director of program improvement. ``We've now given STAR (standardized) tests for several years. Our teachers are very familiar with standards. Kids are learning and the district is moving forward.''

Quartz Hill High School improved its score by 10 points to 728 but was not considered to have met state goals because the gains did show up in all student subgroups.

Knight High School, which opened in the fall of 2003, had a 2004 API score of 630. Because it's a new school, there was no comparable 2003 API score.

Antelope Valley High School made the biggest point gain with a 50-point increase.

``We are real happy about that. We did a lot of interventions, particularly that addressed instruction in the core areas of English and math. Those are critical areas in terms of demonstrating student improvement,'' Principal Karen Patterson said. ``We were able over the last year to hire instructional coaches who worked with our staff. That's made a tremendous difference.''

Despite the large score increase, Antelope Valley High School will not be eligible to receive a monetary award from the state because of what the California Department of Education termed ``adult testing irregularities.''

``In a very small sampling of students taking the Algebra I content exam, test prep materials fell outside the guidelines as defined by the state,'' district officials said in a written statement about the testing irregularity. ``Individual student results were not affected by the error, and the district reported this matter to the state immediately when the situation came to light.''

Not qualifying for a monetary award is not important because the state's financial difficulties mean no API award money has been given out for several years.

Littlerock High's API score went up by 49 points to 619.

``I think it went up because teachers are working really hard to implement standards and making sure they have time to collaborate with each other, looking at student data and seeing what works,'' Principal Lisa Oates said. ``There's a lot of professional development going on here as far as looking at data and how to best serve students.''

The high school district's scores were not released last October with those of all other schools because officials had to correct demographic data sent to the state.

The state has set an API performance target for all schools at 800.

The median score for elementary schools in California this year was 735, up from 728 last year. The median score for middle schools was 703, up from 685, and for high schools, 670, up from 668.

Created by a 1999 state law, the API is designed to show how California schools rate against each other. Each school receives a single score - between 200 and 1,000 - based on student test scores.

The API rankings are used to determine whether schools are meeting federal guidelines contained in President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind Act.

Karen Maeshiro, [phone]

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com

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