Standardized Test Scores for Area Raise Hope, Concern

School administrators across the San Fernando and Antelope valleys began sending home standardized test scores this week that revealed promising results for several school districts, but raised concerns for others.

A review of five of the region’s largest school systems--those outside the Los Angeles Unified School District--showed that students in most performed at or above the national average in reading, math and language.

In the Las Virgenes Unified School District, for instance, seventh-graders reached the 83rd percentile on the language portion of the Stanford 9 exam.

“People expect kindergartners to read immediately,” Las Virgenes Supt. John Fitzpatrick said of expectations in his district. “People here expect those things.”

But school districts with large numbers of limited-English-speaking students grappled with lower scores. Tenth-graders in the Glendale Unified School District, where nearly half of students have limited English skills, landed in the 32nd percentile in reading, the bottom one-third nationally.

The Stanford 9 was administered this spring to more than 4 million students in grades 2 through 11 across California. School districts are now releasing results as they become available.

Earlier this week, the state Department of Education released statewide test data for students who are fluent in English. A court order barred the department from publishing test scores for students with limited English skills, saying such action would be harmful.

But districts are free to release their own information.

L.A. Unified offered its own limited analysis this week showing that its composite score rose by one point over last year--from the 31st to the 32nd percentile--for students proficient in English. The school district is expected to release more complete scores next week.

Several of the 16 local school districts in the San Fernando and Antelope valleys say they are still analyzing the data.

But five of the largest area school systems--including Burbank Unified, Saugus Union School District and the William S. Hart Union High School District--have made their information available.

Glendale Unified, with 30,000 students, is the largest of the local districts to do so.

All grades in the district scored below the national average--or the 50th percentile--in reading; three grades landed in the bottom third nationally. Students performed better in language and math, mostly scoring at or above the 50th percentile.

But district administrators--like their counterparts in Burbank and elsewhere--said including test results of students who speak limited English skews the results. They said just 1.8% of the students in the Stanford 9 national sample were classified as limited-English proficient, far less than many local districts.

“The concern is that the test doesn’t give an accurate representation of student achievement,” said Linda Kaminski, the Glendale district’s coordinator for research and evaluation.

An analysis by Glendale administrators showed, among other things, that English-speaking sixth-graders scored in the 55th percentile in reading while their counterparts with limited English skills landed in the 10th percentile. Some of the Glendale students who took the Stanford 9 spoke no English, and a handful were tested even though they had just arrived in the United States, the administrators said.

“If we look at our students who do speak English, for whom the test is designed, they are doing as well as students across the country,” Kaminski said. “I think that speaks highly for the district.”

School districts with small numbers of limited-English speakers voiced similar objections.

The Hart high school district in Santa Clarita, where just 5% of the 14,000 students are classified as limited-English proficient, tested students regardless of their language abilities. But administrators reported results only for those who have a command of English.

“If students can’t think in English, how are they supposed to take a test in English?” asked Gary Wexler, the district’s director of curriculum and assessment. “I don’t think it’s educationally or statistically valid.”

The Hart district, which serves grades 7 through 12, posted impressive test results. More than half of its scores were above the 61st percentile. Wexler said test scores for all students will be made available next week.

In the Las Virgenes district--which serves West Valley areas from Westlake Village to Calabasas--language played a lesser role in the testing outcome. Just 3% of the 11,600 students have limited English skills. Even with all scores reported together, the district still outperformed its neighbors.