Area School Scores Hit Highs, Lows : Districts: Affluent systems generally fare the best, while poorer ones struggle. But some schools that have been accustomed to success receive disappointing results.

A new generation of California test scores released today throws into high relief the dramatic contrast in student work in Los Angeles County’s 81 school districts.

From the tidy, well-appointed San Marino schools to the awesome diversity of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the county’s 1.4 million public school students scored at the highest and lowest levels of achievement, with even students from the best districts showing many weaknesses.

The county’s toniest communities still compare well under the new scores, but the test results contain plenty of image-busting numbers that show highly regarded districts can fall short when measured against rigorous standards.

Half of Beverly Hills fourth-graders, for example, were found to have limited or no math skills.

The Los Angeles County results also display another point consistently repeated by educators: Students who live in poor communities, those who speak little English and whose parents have limited educations commonly score in the bottom rungs.

“Who your mother and father are still dictates how well you do on any kind of assessment,” said Los Angeles County Supt. of Schools Stuart E. Gothold. “The poorer communities tend to have high transiency and students are not in a stable school situation. When they speak a language other than English, they are starting with a great disadvantage.”

Not one fourth-grader in the Lennox School District--where 82% of the students speak little or no English--scored in the top levels of math achievement.

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Overall, Los Angeles County scored well below the state’s students as a whole in reading, writing and math. When compared against new statewide math standards, more than two-thirds of Los Angeles County fourth-graders scored at the lowest levels. Math scores scores improved only slightly among eighth- and 10th-graders.

“I don’t think anyone is too surprised,” Gothold said of the results, the first under the new California Learning Assessment System. “The bottom line is that we are establishing a base line, which is unfortunately low, but represents where kids are in a new kind of assessment system.”

School districts in some of the most affluent areas--including Beverly Hills, San Marino, Palos Verdes Peninsula, South Pasadena and La Canada--consistently are among the highest achievers in all three academic areas, far outpacing the statewide scores.

In reading and writing, the vast majority of students from these communities tested at the highest levels, showing clear abilities to understand what they read and to write forcefully and creatively. Only a fraction, about 10%, scored in the lowest ranks.

In both math and writing, the tiny Hermosa Beach City School District topped the list of high achievers with 34% of its fourth-grade class reaching the top standards in math and 83% scoring in the top levels in reading.

Supt. Gwen Gross credited the high math scores to the intense teacher preparation for the test, which is designed in part to measure how well students are learning a new statewide curriculum. “For the past three to five years we have been gearing up for this,” she said.

But educators in even these elite districts, long accustomed to being on the top of the achievement scale, have been hit with some sobering statistics.

Beverly Hills Assistant Supt. Bert Pearlman said he is uncomfortable with the state standards that describe 50% of his fourth-graders as “limited” mathematical thinkers or as students with “little or no” mathematical understanding.

“This is a brand new test that is looking for expression of math competency that is new to us and our teachers,” he said. “I think the goal is admirable but the students have not had sufficient opportunity to prepare for being tested in this way.”

In San Marino, Assistant Supt. Jack Rose, whose eighth- and 10th-graders topped the county list in math, was also rankled by low fourth-grade scores.

“Those fourth-grade questions were tough, very conceptual. It’s expecting an awful lot out of them,” Rose said. “The state maybe has overstepped their reach in terms of what a fourth-grader can do conceptually.”

At the opposite end of the rankings, the test results show that a number of school districts--all home to many poor students who do are still learning English--repeatedly received the lowest achievement scores.

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In the 27,500-student Compton Unified School District, which was taken over by the state last year after becoming insolvent, scores were at or near the county bottom at every grade level and in every category.

The district’s new state-appointed administrator offered no excuses. “If the students are on the bottom, it means many of our teaching procedures are on the bottom,” said J. Jerome Harris. “It’s not the students who have to change; it’s the adults who have to change.”

The Lennox School District is only one notch above last-place Compton in fourth-grade writing and is last in that grade level in math. An overwhelming majority of the youngsters there are not fluent in English. For them, simply understanding the test was a challenge, officials said.

“So much of the stuff that is here on this new test is language-based,” said Assistant Supt. Dan Jurenka. “Even (for) the mathematical stuff you had to read first, then respond with a drawing of x number of coins--it’s all verbal, which isn’t easy for our kids.”

Although 90% of Lennox pupils entering kindergarten speak no English, more than 90% of eighth-graders graduate fully bilingual and ready for high school. Citing that accomplishment and others, the American Assn. of School Administrators named Lennox Supt. Kenneth L. Moffett the 1994 national superintendent of the year.

In the 645-campus Los Angeles Unified School District, scores fell below the statewide norm in nearly every grade and subject level tested. The giant district hovered in the bottom third when ranked with county school districts in all subjects and grade levels, except 10th-grade math.

Notable snapshots of student scores in Los Angeles Unified show:

* In math, the vast majority of students scored in the bottom two levels on the six-point scale used by the state. Results showed that 83% of fourth-graders, 86% of eighth-graders and 82% of 10th-graders have limited, or little, or no mathematical thinking skills.

* Reading scores were better, but not by much. Two-thirds of fourth-graders placed in the bottom levels, as did 74% of eighth-graders and 82% of 10th-grade students. Writing scores were also alarming, with a majority scoring in the bottom levels.

* About 41% of all students taking the test were not fluent in English, more than double the statewide percentage. District officials say the lack of English skills hurts the scores and is not unexpected.

From school to school, the mammoth Los Angeles district also includes many bright spots.

At Porter Middle School in Granada Hills, two-thirds of eighth-graders scored high on the reading test. Principal Sherry Breskin credited an experienced and well-trained teaching force led by a highly motivated English department chairwoman. The school also has a large number of students rated gifted, and “a stable school environment,” she said. Only a small percentage are not fluent in English.

But at Carver Middle School in South-Central Los Angeles, 91% of students scored near the bottom in reading. Acting Principal Jose Rodriguez said 70% of his students speak little or no English and a third of his teachers have less than five years of experience.

At Pacoima Elementary, Principal Larry Gonzales was jolted by “pitiful” numbers showing 61% of his students struggling in math.

“I find it deplorable and I’m not willing to sit back and look for excuses,” Gonzales said. All his teachers will soon become test experts, he said.

Highs and Lows Los Angeles County school districts with the highest and lowest percentage of students who scored at the three highest test levels:

FOURTH GRADE MATH

Top Five Districts

Hermosa Beach Elem.: 34%

Palos Verdes Peninsula: 30%

La Canada Unified: 25%

Beverly Hills Unified: 25%

South Pasadena Unified: 23%

Bottom Five Districts

Lennox Elementary: 0%

Wilsona Elemntary: 1%

Azusa Unified: 1%

Compton Unified: 1%

Paramount Unified: 1%

* EIGHT GRADE MATH

Top Five Districts

San Marino Unified: 45%

South Pasadena Unified: 43%

Palos Verdes Peninsula: 41%

Beverly Hills Unified: 35%

La Canada Unified: 30%

Bottom Five Districts

Compton Unified: 1%

Eastside Union: 1%

Valle Lindo: 2%

Lynwood Unified: 2%

Pomona Unified: 2%

* 10th GRADE MATH

Top Five Districts

San Marino Unified: 44%

La Canada Unified: 35%

Palos Verdes Peninsula: 33%

Arcadia Unified: 22%

Beverly Hills Unified: 22%

Bottom Five Districts

Compton Unified: 0%

Inglewood Unified: 0%

Pomona Unified: 1%

Bassett Unified: 1%

Lynwood Unified: 1%

GRADE READING

Top Five Districts

Palos Verdes Peninsula: 61%

Beverly Hills Unified: 60%

Arcadia Unified: 59%

Las Virgenes Unified: 57%

South Pasadena Unified: 55%

Bottom Five Districts

Bassett Unified: 9%

Compton Unified: 13%

Keppel Union: 15%

Valle Lindo: 16%

Eastside Union: 16%

* EIGHT GRADE READING

Top Five Districts

San Marino Unified: 81%

Beverly Hills Unified: 80%

Manhattan Beach City: 74%

La Canada Unified: 73%

Palos Verdes Peninsula: 72%

Bottom Five Districts

Lancaster Elementary: 16%

Compton Unified: 17%

Pasadena Unified: 17%

Bellflower Unified: 19%

Los Nietos: 22%

* 10th GRADE READING

Top Five Districts

Temple City Unified: 64%

South Bay Union: 55%

Walnut Valley Unified: 55%

Culver City Unified: 52%

San Marino Unified: 50%

Bottom Five Districts

Compton Unified: 7%

Inglewood Unified: 7%

Baldwin Park Unified: 8%

El Rancho Unified: 9%

Pomona Unified: 10%

GRADE WRITING

Top Five Districts

Hermosa Beach Elem.; 83%

La Canada Unified: 80%

Beverly Hills Unified: 79%

San Marino Unified: 77%

Palos Verdes Peninsula: 75%

Bottom Five Districts

Compton Unified: 22%

Lennox Elementary: 23%

Eastside Union: 23%

Los Nietos Elementary: 25%

Lynwood Unified: 27%

GRADE WRITING

Top Five Districts

Beverly Hills Unified: 82%

Castaic Union: 79%

Palos Verdes Peninsula: 79%

Arcadia Unified: 70%

La Canada Unified: 70%

Bottom Five Districts

Compton Unified: 17%

Paramount Unified: 19%

Wilsona Elementary: 20%

Keppel Union: 22%

Bassett Unified: 24%

* 10TH GRADE WRITING

Top Five Districts

San Marino Unified: 88%

Beverly Hills Unified: 73%

South Pasadena Unified: 71%

La Canada Unified: 71%

Palos Verdes Peninsula: 68%

Bottom Five Districts

Compton Unified: 15%

Inglewood Unified: 20%

Lynwood Unified: 23%

Montebello Unified: 25%

West Covina Unified: 27%

* MAIN STORY: A1

* TEST RESULTS: B2-B11