Student Achievement Up

By Teresa Rochester

Student achievement in most Santa Monica schools has steadily increased over the last two years, but African Americans and Latinos make up the majority of a small number of students who may need early academic intervention, according to a study released by the school district.

The report -- presented to the Board of Education at its meeting Thursday night -- details student achievement throughout the district based on the 2-year-old Multiple Measures Accountability System.

The system goes beyond the traditional letter grade by measuring student performance using a number of factors, including teacher assessment, writing and math assessments and the Stanford 9 test.

"Virtually every student improved," said Sue Gee, assistant superintendent of academic services. "While the majority of our assessments show we are an above average district, we are still concerned about the children who are not at grade level."

Using a scale of 1 to 5, with three being at grade level, the report found that of the 141 students scoring a one in language arts in the 1999-2000 school year, 67 percent of the students were Latino and 22 percent were African American, while nine percent were white.

Lisle Staley, director of standards and assessment, pointed out that the population is relatively small and that students who are learning English are included in the breakdown.

The majority of African American students, 72 percent, and Latino students, 74 percent, scored at or above grade level last year in language arts and math.

Throughout the district scores in both subjects increased between the spring of 1999 and 2000. In the spring of 1999, 88 percent of the district's students scored at or above grade level in language arts. The number increased to 90 percent in 2000. Math scores went up only slightly with 85 percent of students scoring at or above grade level in 1999 and 86 percent in 2000.

Several schools saw dramatic increases in the number of higher-achieving students. At McKinely Elementary School the percentage of students performing at or above grade level jumped 12 percent to 92 percent. McKinely students also improved in math, going from 83 percent performing at or above grade level in Spring of 1999 to 92 percent in Spring 2000.

Franklin Elementary School saw the number of students performing below average in language arts cut in half. In 1999 14 percent of Franklin students performed below average. In 2000 the number dropped to 7 percent.

At Rogers Elementary School the number of students performing at or above grade level in language arts dropped three percentage points, from 80 percent in 1999 to 77 percent in 2000. In math 85 percent of the students were at or above grade level, while in 2000 the percentage dropped to 81 percent.

John Adams Middle School lagged behind Lincoln Middle School in both subjects. In language arts, 87 percent of JAMS students were at or above grade level last year, while 98 percent of Lincoln students were in the same bracket. In math, 76 percent of JAMS students were at or above grade level, compared with 96 percent of the students at Lincoln.

At Santa Monica High School scores in both language arts and math decreased in 2000. In language arts scores dropped from 90 percent at or above grade level in 1999 to 87 percent in 2000. In math scores fell from 82 percent at or above grade level to 76 percent.

District officials said the two-year-old system is not perfect and will continue to be refined over time. One of the problems with the system is that grading is not consistent across the district.

The system was designed after the state mandated that districts create a multiple measures system following the launch of Stanford 9 testing during the 1997-1998 school year. The following year the state backed off the multiple measures system, but the Santa Monica/Malibu Unified School district decided to stick with it.

District officials reasoned it would provide a more in-depth look and profile of each student's achievement and would allow teachers to use the information to focus attention on struggling students before it was too late.

"We have focused on those students we have not done well by," said Superintendent Neil Schmidt. "We need to lift up the faces of those children who have not been successful and make policy decisions."