Scores Continue to Rise at District Schools

By Olin Ericksen
Staff Writer

September 5 -- Overall achievement scores are on the rise at local schools, but marks sent home last week by the State indicate there are continued signs of a learning gap between white and minority students.

The School District posted continued growth of 11 points in 2006, according to the State Department of Education’s Academic Performance Index (API), which is used to gauge academic performance at schools throughout California.

With a district-wide score of 817, SMMUSD surpassed the State-mandated benchmark of 800 for the second year in a row, an achievement hailed by local school officials.

“There is no doubt, Santa Monica-Malibu’s growth of an additional 11 points on this year’s API is simply remarkable,” said Dianne Talarico, the district’s new superintendent.

Nine schools in the local district are currently above the 800 mark, according to the report.

Yet a well-documented achievement gap still exists, and the district must remain mindful to close it, Talarico said.

“While our district scores are well above state and county levels, we continue to strive for improvement for all students at all levels and especially for those groups who, across our district, state and nation, have traditionally been deemed as underperforming,” she said.

Although the score for all students in the district is pegged at 817, African Americans students scored 692, up 14 points from last year, while Latino students faired slightly better at 715, up 17 points.

“Economically Disadvantaged” students scored 706, up nine points, while English learners scored 733, up 20 points.

While moving in the right direction, education officials said much work lies ahead.

“Clearly, we are on the right path, in terms of closing the achievement gap,” said Maureen Bradford, the district’s director of educational services. “But we will need to magnify and intensify our focus in two critical and complementary areas.”

The district, Bradford said, must boost its “ high expectations for all students and differentiated instructional approaches to meet diverse learning styles in order to continue and accelerate the closing of achievement gaps.”

Many schools also showed continued gains on the API scale, with some, such as the districts’ largest school -- Santa Monica High School -- registering measured growth of 25 points from last year, though still under the state benchmark with a score of 767.

API scores can range between 200 and 1000 and are a summary of various indicators from the California Standards Tests (CSTs), the CAT/6 norm-referenced test, and the California High School Exit Exam.

“These gains are the result of our staff’s dedicated and focused work on effective teaching practices aligned to State standards, and an accountability system for students, teachers and administrators,” said Dr. Ilene Straus, senior director of secondary education and the former principal at SAMOHI.

Yet at least two of the districts schools, Adams Middle School and Rogers Elementary, which have a large Hispanic and Latino enrollment, showed some backsliding on the recent achievement tests.

Rogers slipped four points to 768 while Adams fell 6 points to 761.

On the other end of the spectrum, four schools – Franklin, Point Dume, Roosevelt, and Webster – each scored over 900 points.