Valley-Area Schools Shine on SAT Scores

With Van Nuys High School leading the way, San Fernando Valley schools posted some of the top scores in Los Angeles on the 1999-2000 SAT, according to statistics released last week.

Van Nuys boasted the highest SAT scores in the 723,000-student Los Angeles Unified School District, averaging 536 on the verbal portion and 559 in math.

“We are very, very proud of our students,” said Herman Clay, principal of Van Nuys High. “They are highly motivated, and take a lot of pride in their [SAT] achievement.”

With verbal and math scores of 511 and 556, respectively, El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills also scored above the state and national average.

The 1999-2000 national averages are 505 in verbal and 514 in math, and state averages are 497 in verbal and 518 in math. A perfect SAT score is a combined score of 1,600.

Other high schools in the San Fernando Valley and surrounding areas beat the national and state averages, including Crescenta Valley in the Glendale Unified School District and Agoura and Calabasas high schools in the Las Virgenes Unified School District.

Crescenta Valley students earned 516 on the verbal and 571 on math scores on the SAT. Agoura students achieved 562 on verbal and 582 on math, while those at Calabasas received 554 on verbal and 595 on math.

Las Virgenes Supt. John Fitzpatrick attributed the high scores, in part, to offering more advanced placement classes and requiring students to take algebra and geometry to graduate.

“The scores are a reflection of some of the things that have been going on over the past few years,” he said.

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Within Los Angeles Unified, the nation’s second-largest school district, average verbal and math scores increased from last year. Districtwide, average verbal scores rose 6 points, from 433 to 439, and math scores went up 10 points, from 447 to 457.

“I am very encouraged by our gains,” said Gordon Wohlers, the LAUSD’s associate superintendent in charge of planning, assessment and research. “Let me caution that overall, we are still below the state and national averages.”

Wohlers said the district should be proud of overall gains, despite obstacles such as severe overcrowding on high school campuses and the district’s struggle to recruit and retain teachers.

He attributed overall gains to the district’s emphasis in the past year on improving academic achievement, as well as an increase in the number of students taking advanced placement courses.

“We’re starting to see positive results,” Wohlers said.

Traditionally, Valley schools have earned top scores on the SAT, administered to college-bound juniors and seniors. The test is a key variable in university admission and is often considered a good indicator of how a student will perform in college.

Besides Van Nuys and El Camino high schools, students at four other area campuses scored at or above the national average in math. Those schools are Granada Hills High, 527; Taft High, 516; Chatsworth High, 516, and Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, 514.

Wohlers also praised students at Reseda High School for increasing verbal scores by 24 points, from 441 last year to 465 this year.

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Times staff writer Stephanie Stassel contributed to this story.

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Valley SAT Scores

Here is how San Fernando Valley-area schools fared on the verbal and math portions of the 1999-2000 SAT test for college-bound students compared with the mean scores for California and the nation.

LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

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Verbal Math Birmingham 464 466 Canoga Park 444 487 Chatsworth 472 516 Cleveland 498 509 El Camino Real 511 556 Granada Hills 492 527 Grant 463 482 Kennedy 439 463 Monroe 444 468 North Hollywood 473 479 Polytechnic 410 422 Reseda 465 482 San Fernando 411 444 Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies 501 514 Sylmar 422 438 Taft 481 516 Van Nuys 536 559 Verdugo Hills 431 439

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GLENDALE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

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Verbal Math Crescenta Valley 516 571 Glendale 467 534 Hoover 450 524

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LAS VIRGENES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

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Verbal Math Agoura 562 582 Calabasas 554 595

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BURBANK UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

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Verbal Math Burbank 485 521 Burroughs 487 504

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WILLIAM S. HART UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT

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Verbal Math Canyon 535 552 Hart 522 551 Saugus 537 569 Valencia 519 536

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ANTELOPE VALLEY UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT

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Verbal Math Antelope Valley 485 465 Highland 484 485 Lancaster 510 506 Littlerock 465 451 Palmdale 474 484 Quartz Hill 508 513

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ACTON-AGUA DULCE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

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Verbal Math Vasquez 490 460 California 497 518 Nation 505 514

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Source: Individual school districts