4 Valley Schools Top Statewide, District Scores

Senior classes at four San Fernando Valley high schools--Granada Hills, Birmingham in Van Nuys, and El Camino Real and Taft in Woodland Hills--beat statewide and Los Angeles district scores.

Seven other Valley senior classes scored above the Los Angeles Unified School District average: Reseda, North Hollywood, Chatsworth, Canoga Park, Monroe in Sepulveda, Cleveland in Reseda and Grant in Van Nuys.

The CAP test has been given to the state’s public school seniors since 1961. It is, according to the Guide to Interpretation of the CAP Test, an attempt to measure the “effectiveness of school districts and schools in assisting pupils to master the fundamental educational skills.”

Test results from individual schools are compared only with results from schools where the student body has a similar socioeconomic composition.

Locally, only the Los Angeles school district has released CAP results. Scores from the Burbank Unified School District, William S. Hart Union District in the Santa Clarita Valley, Las Virgenes Unified School District in the western part of Los Angeles County and from Ventura County high schools will be released later this month.

Bill Honig, state superintendent of public instruction, has made publication of CAP scores part of the foundation of his education-reform movement. According to Honig, the scores are one way the public can evaluate the performance of schools.

Last week, Honig said this year’s statewide scores--the highest in 10 years--proved that “high standards and rigorous courses make a difference.”