Students Who Pass Top Tests Up 253% : Education: The success rate on Advanced Placement exams far exceeds the state’s increase over six years.

The number of Ventura County students who passed Advanced Placement exams--the rigorous tests that top high school seniors take to earn college credit--has increased by 253% over the past six years, a state report released today shows.

“The state average has gone up nearly 149% and many Ventura County districts have gone up beyond that,” said state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig, who attributed the gains to a statewide push among educators to urge students to take advanced courses.

“Their basic message is: ‘I don’t care where you are or who you are, you can handle these high-demand courses,’ ” Honig said.

The tests, offered by the New Jersey-based Educational Testing Service, are taken by students nationwide. A student who passes an Advanced Placement physics test, for example, would not be required to take a beginning physics course in college.

Despite the six-year gains by the county’s students, which have outpaced gains statewide, the average number of county students who passed the tests in 1990, 23.3% of all high school seniors, is below the statewide average of 23.7%, the report shows.

In 1984, just 6.6% of the county’s seniors passed the Advanced Placement tests.

But 23.3% of seniors in the Class of 1990 passed the exams, which are given in 24 subjects, including foreign languages, English literature, physics, calculus, art, history and computer programming. A score of 3 or better on a scale of 1 to 5 is needed to pass the test.

In districts where significantly more students than average passed the tests, such as Ojai Unified, Oak Park Unified and Conejo Valley Unified, officials said they have pushed hard to encourage students to prepare for the tests as soon as possible.

“We begin in freshman year with honors classes,” said Supt. Susan Hearn of the Oak Park Unified School District. Some districts do not offer honors courses until 10th grade.

Officials countywide said they are offering more Advanced Placement courses.

“That’s been one of our major focuses for the last several years, to challenge students and get them to realize their potential,” said Ron Barney, principal of Ojai’s Nordhoff High School. “We’re in a valley that has nine private high schools, and we feel we have to offer courses that will compete with those schools in order to attract students.”

One reason the number of Ventura County students who pass is lower than the state average is because some districts, including Santa Paula Union High and Moorpark Unified, are just launching programs. Officials said it takes several years to prepare students for the tests.

At Santa Paula High School last year, just one student took an Advanced Placement exam, said Carolina Erie, district superintendent since last year.

Until last year, “efforts were not made to really encourage students to take the tests,” Erie said. “We do have kids who can certainly pass Advanced Placement exams, and they deserve to have that opportunity.”

This year, Santa Paula has added honors courses in government and American history, Erie said. Some students in those classes will take Advanced Placement exams over the next few weeks, she said. The district also will add Advanced Placement courses next year.

Moorpark High School began offering four of its five Advanced Placement courses just three years ago, Principal Cary Dritz said. English was the only advanced course offered before 1988, he said.

“I know we weren’t up to the state average this year, but I guarantee you, we will be in a few years,” Dritz said.

In the Oxnard Union High School District, the number of students who passed was also below average. But Bert Pearlman, director of curriculum and assessment, said the district has improved its program over the past 10 years.

In 1982, just 42 students took Advanced Placement exams, Pearlman said. This year, 494 have signed up for the tests, which will be given over the next two weeks.

Oxnard encourages as many students as possible to take the test, Pearlman said. “We think it’s a good experience, whether or not they’re going to pass it,” he said.

One factor affecting pass rates is student demand for a course in a given subject.

At Ventura’s Buena High, 13 students signed up for an Advanced Placement government course for next year--too few to justify forming a class, Assistant Principal Judith Bysshe said.

The placement classes “have to have an average of about 24 to 25 kids” compared to the average in other Buena classes of about 31 students, Bysshe said.

Not all eligible students take the test, officials said. “We have a goodly number of students, very capable young people, who can’t afford to go to a four-year college and don’t take the exams,” Pearlman said.

However, counselors try to encourage poor students in particular to take the exams, Pearlman said. If they pass, they can save money because they will not be required to take some courses once they enroll in college, he said.

ADVANCED PLACEMENT TESTS

Exams passed per 100 seniors; number of students tested in parenthesis:

% Change From 1984 1989 1990 1984 Conejo Valley Unified (559) 14.5 33.9 45.6 +214 Fillmore Unified (*) * 7.7 11.3 ** Moorpark Unified (46) * 12.9 13.9 ** Oak Park Unified (37) * 34.7 38.7 ** Ojai Unified (57) 18.4 36.2 44.0 +139 Oxnard Union High (419) 1.7 9.1 12.6 +641 Santa Paula Union High (1) * * 0.5 ** Simi Valley Unified (486) 9.4 20.7 22.2 +136 Ventura Unified (*) 1.5 13.6 18.7 +1,147 Countywide Average (*) 6.6 18.3 23.3 +253 Statewide Average (55,948) 9.5 20.3 23.7 +149

* Unavailable

** Unable to calculate

Source: State Department of Education