Campus Finds Its Formula for Success

If there is a formula for academic success, Atwater Avenue Elementary may have found it. The Los Angeles school has improved its Stanford 9 test scores more than any other Los Angeles County campus during the last two years.

Atwater’s teachers say their success is no fluke.

The teachers pore over test scores to identify weaknesses. They meet weekly in grade-level teams to share ideas. They test their students regularly to chart progress. And they intervene with struggling children early and often.

“We’re talking about continuity,” said Sabina Baloyan, a fifth-grade teacher and one of the school’s instructional leaders. “What are the children learning? And what are they supposed to be ready for in the next grade?”

Atwater’s performance is no guarantee of success. Leading educators say that two years of gains are not enough to demonstrate sustained improvement.

Still, experts say, Atwater offers lessons. The strategies found at the school in Atwater Village appear at other campuses that also earned large gains on the state’s Academic Performance Index, which measures schools’ improvement on the basis of their Stanford 9 test results.

Administrators at campuses across the county noted the importance of collaboration, frequent testing, reaching out to struggling students and evaluating test data.

“It’s a lot of hard work, and a lot of personalizing--knowing the students by name who are not meeting their grade level,” said Linda Reksten, principal of Disney Elementary in Burbank. The school improved by 94 points last year, and 88 this year, bringing its score to 785, just below the state’s target of 800. Disney far exceeded goals set by the state for its campus.

“We had been an under-performing school,” Reksten said. “We obviously no longer are. We’re going to prove the critics wrong.”

But no other Los Angeles County school has improved as much as Atwater. The campus in northeast Los Angeles was expected to grow by 25 points in two years on the API scale, which runs from 200 to 1,000. Instead, the school jumped 204 points, from 497 in 1999 to 701 in 2001, placing it among the upper echelon campuses in the state.

Atwater’s efforts are paying off: The school’s teachers are awaiting $10,000 cash bonuses from the state for the school’s improvement last year. The school is one of about 300 campuses statewide where teachers are receiving large bonuses.

The school’s latest gains could put it in the running for more bonus money.

Teachers and administrators readily acknowledge surprise at their success. They serve mostly low-income students who are still learning to speak English. Other schools with similar demographics score far lower, and enjoy far more modest growth, on the API scale.

“To be honest, would I have expected such large gains? No,” said Principal Barbara Gibbs. “We’re not working for large numbers. We just do the best to educate our boys and girls.”

Atwater teachers say one intangible plays in their favor: the atmosphere on campus. Instructors described a collegial work environment where risk-taking is encouraged and all ideas are welcome. Teachers began meeting weekly by grade level five years ago, long before other L.A. Unified schools began doing so.

“Everyone talks to each other and shares. We’re not afraid to experiment,” Baloyan said. “We won’t be reprimanded for that. Just the opposite.”

Like other L.A. Unified schools, Atwater introduced the highly scripted Open Court reading program last year and has launched a new math program this year with a similarly structured style.

Supt. Roy Romer and other L.A. Unified officials believe that the new reading and math programs, with their detailed lessons and pacing schedules, will ensure improvement.

But Atwater’s scores began to rise before the reading and math programs arrived. And so some of the school’s teachers grouse about having to give up their old programs to follow the district’s new line.

“If some things are working, why are new programs being brought up?” asked Eileen Aguilar, a second-grade teacher. “Why are we being asked to change everything?”

Still, the school has continued to excel using both its old and new programs.

“We knew we did our absolute best,” said Carol Wawrychuk, a first-grade teacher who has spent 17 years at Atwater. “We hoped the children would do their best.”

Times staff writer Erika Hayasaki contributed to this report.