L.A. Schools’ Scores Low; Change Vowed

Most students in the Los Angeles Unified School District scored at the lowest levels in all subject areas in the latest batch of California Learning Assessment System (CLAS) tests, prompting officials to pledge widespread educational changes in city schools.

The 1994 scores, released Tuesday by the state Department of Education, show that the vast majority of the district’s fourth-, eighth- and 10th-graders were well below basic competency standards set by the state in reading, writing and math.

The tests measured 92,000 Los Angeles Unified students against tough statewide performance standards, ranking each student at one of six levels.

School Supt. Sid Thompson said he will use the scores to bolster a new effort to improve and update teaching in the district, beginning in the primary grades.

“I want to talk to our teachers and administrators . . . we need to make fundamental changes,” Thompson said. “I’m taking the test results seriously. We cannot accept this. . . . Our kids have got to get into the mainstream.”

Among the Los Angeles Unified results were these:

* Only 17% of the district’s fourth-graders scored in the top three levels in reading, compared to 22.8% statewide. In writing, 26% scored in the top levels, compared to 32% statewide.

* Among eighth-graders, only 24% scored in the top three levels in reading and 28% in writing, compared to 38.8% in reading and 46.3% in writing statewide.

* Only 25% of the 10th-graders scored in the top three levels in reading, compared to 34.6% statewide. In writing, 26% scored in that top tier, compared to 38.9% statewide.

* More than eight in 10 students at every grade level showed little understanding of math, scoring in the bottom three levels. Among fourth-graders, 85% scored at the bottom, compared to 72.2% of fourth-graders statewide. Ninety percent of the eighth-graders scored in the bottom tier, compared to 76.9% statewide. And 94% of the 10th-graders ranked at the bottom, compared to 85.7% statewide.

* The top-scoring Los Angeles Unified elementary school was Balboa Gifted/High Ability Magnet School in Granada Hills; the top middle school was Palms, which has a magnet program for gifted students, and the top high school was the King/Drew Medical Magnet. But other magnet schools did far worse than expected. At Brentwood Science Magnet, 60% of fourth-graders scored in the bottom tier in math, and at the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, 85% of 10th-graders ranked at the bottom.

Thirty-eight district schools--including 11 elementary schools, one middle school, two senior highs and 24 continuation campuses--received no scores because too few students took the tests.

School district officials attributed the low results primarily to the high number of students who do not speak English. About 56% of the district’s fourth-graders do not speak English fluently, compared to 25% statewide; 38% of the eighth-graders speak limited English, compared to 19% statewide, as do 36% of the 10th-graders, compared to 19% statewide.

Nonetheless, several principals said that they believe the tests were a valid measure of students’ knowledge--and of the curriculum--and that they are sorry that the tests have been scrapped.

“It’s a shame,” said Hugh Gottfried, the principal at Palms Middle School, where 60% of the eighth-graders scored in the top three levels in reading and writing. “I think it’s much improved over what we had previously. It’s testing the kinds of things we believe kids should be learning in school.”

Hancock Park Elementary Principal Penny Hooper, whose school was among the top performers in math, said teachers have made math, science and technology their priorities.

“When the children have an ongoing, strong curriculum with hands-on experiences and critical-thinking skills, the CLAS test is something in which they can be successful,” Hooper said.

But the low districtwide results show that even schools that typically perform well did not make it to the top levels of the CLAS test.

Some parents, particularly in the South Bay and the west San Fernando Valley, took advantage of an opportunity to exempt their children from the exams, citing what they believed were intrusive questions.

At Wilmington Park Elementary, 37% of parents requested that their fourth-grade children be exempted. “We spent a lot of effort preparing our teachers . . . and we were all ready to go,” Principal Nora Armenta said. “But the parents felt it wasn’t a valid test for their children.”

Times director of computer analysis Richard O’Reilly contributed to this report.

* CLAS SCORES

Individual school results by district. B3-B5