But the Gap Is Narrowing : Test Scores at Minority Schools Still Lagging

Test scores of students in the San Diego Unified School District’s 22 predominantly minority schools continue to lag substantially behind those of their white counterparts despite another year during which they narrowed the gap, a study presented to the school board showed Tuesday.

In most categories, students in those “minority-isolated” schools in Southeast San Diego still perform better than minorities from the same neighborhoods who choose to ride buses to mostly white schools under the district’s Voluntary Ethnic Enrollment Program, the study showed.

The voluminous review also showed that students in the minority-isolated schools still have not quite reached the test score goal mandated in 1980 by Superior Court Judge Louis Welsh in the Carlin integration case.

Welsh ordered that 50% of the students in the 22 schools should score above national norms by 1985. A year after that deadline, the students have attained the goal in 31 of 35 testing categories and are very close in three others.

Grant Behnke, assistant director of evaluation services for the school district, said that despite the continuing gap between the minority-isolated and majority schools, the continued progress in minority schools is a good sign. “I think the gains continue to be there, and that’s good news,” he said.

With the opening of school just six days away, the school board received two other endorsements of its students’ performance Tuesday. In a separate, districtwide test, 5th-, 7th- and 9th-grade students equaled or surpassed the national norm in 29 of 30 categories, according to a report Behnke presented. Grade 5 scores are at a five-year high, and grade 7 scores are at a five-year high in all but one category.

The only “blemish” on the record is a decline in reading vocabulary scores for 9th-graders, Behnke said.

In addition, district officials learned Tuesday that the district’s most recent California Assessment Program scores exceed the state average in all categories, Behnke said. State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig released the scores in Sacramento. Detailed scores for the school district will be available next month.

The study of minority-isolated schools showed that students showed strong progress in language and math skills, but that reading continues to be their biggest problem. The four categories in which the minority-isolated students fall short of the 1980 court order are grade 5, 8, 9 and 11 reading scores.

“Reading is a very difficult concept area, especially when you’re dealing with a minority population, and a limited English-proficient population,” Behnke said. Reading and vocabulary scores for Latinos, some of whom do not speak English as a first language, “are still well below norm, especially for grades 3 through 9,” the report shows.

Another concern highlighted in the report is the widening of the gap between students in the minority-isolated schools and students citywide in some categories.

But overall, the students in the 22 schools showed progress, narrowing the test score gap between themselves and the rest of the district’s students in most categories. During the last year, they came closer to the majority scores in 9 of 12 categories.

In 24 of 36 testing categories, they also continued to post higher test scores than their peers who are bused to predominantly white schools in other parts of the city.