County Beats State Average on Exams : Education: Advanced Placement tests challenge students with college-level material. Oak Park High has top score.

An increasing number of Ventura County high school students have been boning up on tough subjects from English composition to physics in an effort to pass exams that give them college credit, a new report shows.

Students in the county outperformed the state average on Advanced Placement exams last year, both in the number of students tackling the grueling exams and in their test scores, according to a California Department of Education report released this week.

With college tuition skyrocketing, educators say more students are opting for Advanced Placement credit to get basic college courses out of the way early.

“It saves them time and money,” said Jim Johnson, a history teacher at Oak Park High School.

In the report, state educators measured the Advanced Placement performance of all high school districts by considering the number of tests passed in a district as a percentage of the total population of high school seniors. So the greater the number of students who take and pass the exam, the higher a district’s score.

Under this formula, the county had an overall 29.8 score on the college-level exams in 1992-93, far surpassing the statewide score of 21.9.

Across the county, 1,801 of the most highly motivated high school students took the exams last year.

That was a 10.9% increase over the 1,624 students who submitted to the rigorous tests the previous year. And the increase helped boost the county’s score beyond the 26.8 in 1991-92.

Ventura County students are not only turning out for the tests in higher numbers, they are performing better than the statewide average, the report shows.

Altogether, county students passed 68.3% of their Advanced Placement exams last year, which is about even with the county’s performance the year before, but higher than the 65.5% rate statewide in 1992-93.

But the figures garnering the most attention from local and state education officials are those that measure the county’s Advanced Placement performance against its student population.

And state officials say the higher number of Ventura County students taking the Advanced Placement tests mirrors a statewide trend.

Most colleges in California and around the country grant credit to students who pass the exams, which are given nationwide each May in subjects from chemistry to calculus.

The College Boards grade the exams on a 1 to 5 scale, with a mark of 3 considered passing by most colleges.

Johnson, the Oak Park High School teacher, said preparation courses for Advanced Placement exams have their own allure. “It’s become kind of a showcase. I’m sure there’s a little status that goes along with it.”

The courses are demanding, he said.

“If I was teaching my regular U.S. history course, I basically cover the 20th Century,” Johnson said. “In Advanced Placement, I cover all 200 years of American history. It’s quite a lot of reading and kind of high-powered. Basically, what you’re talking about is high school juniors and seniors taking college-level courses.”

Despite the difficulty, many ambitious students take Advanced Placement classes and exams in more than one subject. And some students begin to take the courses as juniors.

In Ventura County, every school district except Oxnard Union High School District showed gains in the number of Advanced Placement tests given last year.

And those districts that had the most dramatic rise in tests taken by students also showed the biggest improvement in scores.

Oak Park Unified School District continued to lead the county, with an overall score of 86.6--almost four times the statewide average.

The district’s sole high school had only 119 seniors last year. But its ambitious students took 148 Advanced Placement exams, 33 more than in the previous year.

Fillmore Unified School District also dramatically improved its ranking in the 1992-93 school year, nearly doubling its score from 8.2 to 14.2.

Although the district’s performance still fell far below the state average, Fillmore gave significantly more Advanced Placement exams last year--35 compared to 21 the year before.

In the Conejo Valley Unified School District, seniors and juniors took 939 tests in 1992-93 compared to 800 the year before. And the district’s overall score jumped from 46.0 to 52.2.

Simi Valley Unified School District likewise gave 74 more exams last year and improved its performance rating from 28.9 to 36.5.

Only Oxnard Union High School District showed a drop in Advanced Placement participation, with 491 tests given in 1992-93 compared to 514 in 1991-92.

The district’s score also dropped slightly, from 16.6 to 15.8.

But Oxnard Supt. William G. Studt said officials in the massive district, which includes five high schools in Oxnard, Port Hueneme and Camarillo, view the decline as insignificant compared to the district’s long-term increases in Advanced Placement participation.

“We’re not concerned about it,” he said.

Two other districts showed slight declines in their scores.

Although Santa Paula Union High students took 39 exams in 1992-93 compared to 33 the year before, fewer students passed, causing the overall score to drop from 9.1 to 7.8.

And in the Ojai Unified School District, Nordhoff High School gave 131 tests last year, five more than the year before. But the district’s score fell from 49.5 to 41.9 because more students failed the exams.

In small districts, such as Ojai and Santa Paula, scores can vary widely from year to year with only slight changes in how many students take the tests or how well they perform, said Barbara Wilson, a state education researcher.

Nordhoff High School counselor Steve Bennett agreed that school officials and parents should not be overly concerned about year-to-year fluctuations.

The important thing is, Bennett said, “we’re seeing a steady increase in the number of students willing to take the challenging test.”

Exam Scores

Percentage of Ventura County students passing Advanced Placement exams.

SCHOOL DISTRICT ‘91-’92 ‘92-’93 Conejo Valley Unified 46.0 52.2 Fillmore Unified 8.2 14.2 Moorpark Unified 24.1 27.3 Oak Park Unified 67.2 86.6 Ojai Unified 49.5 41.9 Oxnard Union 16.6 15.8 Santa Paula Union 9.1 7.8 Simi Valley Unified 28.9 36.5 Ventura Unified 19.4 21.9 State average 20.7 21.9 Ventura County average 26.8 29.8

Source: State Department of Education