Smaller Victory for Schools

Agood teacher will tell you that progress in learning often comes in a rocking motion, two steps forward, one step back, with starts and stops, through peaks, plateaus and valleys. The results of this year’s California Academic Performance Index reflect this rhythm of instruction. Fewer schools reached their goals, only 59% as compared with 70% a year ago, after year-to-year improvement goals were first instituted. Even so, the rankings, based on statewide Stanford 9 test scores, show that most California students, especially those in elementary school, continue to move forward.

Consider the impressive first-grade reading and spelling scores announced last week by the Los Angeles Unified School District. In these most important primary subjects, first-graders scored in the 56th percentile, surging 14 percentile points over the first-graders of last year and testing for the first time above the national average. Even children who are still learning to speak English rose from the 33rd percentile nationally to the 48th.

Now the bad news. Scores plummet for older students. In Los Angeles high schools, where no students are young enough to have benefited from smaller class sizes and reading reforms in early grades, the percentage of schools meeting their targets drops off sharply. Only five of 56 senior high schools met their goals, and in many, scores actually declined. Middle schools did better but not nearly as well as elementary schools.

Students who are now sophomores will have to pass California’s new high school exit exam, which will be a requirement for a diploma as of 2004. Their classes remain large, most are on year-round schedules and too many are bused to relieve overcrowding. If students who are years behind in math and reading because of flawed education fads--whole language reading instruction, creative spelling, fuzzy math and poorly executed bilingual education--do not get effective remedial instruction, it is hard to imagine how they will catch up.

For the sharp improvements in early grades, Supt. Roy Romer credits the district’s emphasis on reading instruction, wider use of the highly structured reading series Open Court, intensive training for teachers and guidance from expert reading teachers who serve as coaches.

The Academic Performance Index, based on a single standardized test, is not perfect. It should also measure performance on subject-based tests, graduation rates and attendance. But the rankings do make the state’s school districts accountable and have resulted in dramatic classroom reforms. The momentum has lessened this year but the motion is still forward.