3 Schools Lift the Standards on Test Scores

An elementary school in rural Piru and two in eastern Ventura have posted the greatest gains in Ventura County on the Stanford 9 since testing began four years ago.

Portola, Juanamaria and Piru schools have raised scores on the standardized exam by between 22 and 25 percentage points since 1998, according to a statistical analysis by The Times.

Administrators credited a strong focus on California’s curriculum standards, stepped-up teacher training and collaboration between grade levels for the improvement.

“We have absolutely fantastic teachers who are very focused on meeting the standards,” said Teresa M. Johnson, principal at Portola, which has brought average scores from below the national average to above the 67th percentile, meaning kids there tested better than two-thirds of those tested across the nation.

In Piru, where 75% of students are considered low-income and nearly half are still learning English, scores have gone from showing 19% performing above the national average on the Stanford 9 to 47% this year.

The difference, Principal Carol Barringer said, resulted from the dedication by teachers and their determination to teach the standards. Many teachers, for instance, stayed with a handful of students after class every day for one-on-one help, instead of sending them to an after-school learning center.

“They were not paid, and they invested their own time with their kids in their classrooms,” Barringer said. “And the kids are getting stronger. We can see it.”

Officials at other schools that saw big gains also said they spent little time concentrating on the Stanford 9 itself, instead using every minute in the classroom to make progress on basic subjects.

“You’re not teaching the full curriculum if you limit yourself to teaching to the test,” Barringer said. “To make it work, you have to be very focused and very planned as a teacher, and may not do as many fun things.”

School environment also makes a difference in academic success, educators said. Portola, for example, has the most peer mediators--students who help other students resolve conflicts--in the Ventura Unified School District.

“It’s been kind of a bonding thing, and it ends up that we don’t spend a lot of time dealing with disciplinary issues,” Johnson said.

Looking at the past school year, some of the strongest gains were at Driffill Elementary School in Oxnard--which posted an increase of 11 percentage points--and Manzanita Elementary School in the Conejo Valley Unified School District. At Manzanita, the average score went up 12.2 percentage points this year--the largest gain for any school in the county.

“The whole school’s excited,” Principal Beverly Eidmann said.

Some of the campuses that showed the most improvement may be eligible for cash bonuses of up to $25,000, based on Gov. Gray Davis’ accountability program that ties state money to gains on the Stanford 9.

That cash, which came for the first time last year, has helped Portola and other improving schools purchase more computer software, library books and staff time for before- and after-school intervention programs.

By contrast, the county’s high schools have shown little improvement on the standardized test since 1998, mirroring a state and nationwide trend.

Even high-performing schools in Moorpark, Simi Valley and Westlake Village saw small dips in scores in some grade levels or no change at all compared with last year, according to The Times’ analysis.

Faring the worst in the county in terms of lost ground was Buena High School in Ventura, where scores this year dropped by as much as 15 percentage points in reading and math.

“It’s a little discouraging,” said Ventura Unified Supt. Trudy Arriaga. “But the good news is, these scores are a wonderful tool for us to plan for this year.”

Educators say one reason for the disparate gains between elementary and secondary schools is that it’s more difficult to get high school students enthused about the Stanford 9.