State releases school improvement report

The majority of schools in the Barstow Unified School District saw state testing improvements between the 2006-07 and 2007-08, according to numbers in the Academic Performance Index released by the California Department of Education on Thursday.

According to the report, eight out of 11 schools in BUSD saw an uptick in their API numbers, which are based on a scale from 200 to 1000 and calculated using testing results from the previous year.

Seven of those schools met or exceeded improvement goals set by the state, according to the report.

While the district has made progress, most school scores hover between 600 to 780, with only two schools above the state benchmark of 800.

Silver Valley Unified School District saw more modest gains, with the exception of Lewis Elementary School, which shot up 97 points from the 2007-08 results, after having dipped down 32 points the year prior.

District officials were unavailable on Thursday to comment on Lewis’ improvements.

Overall, SVUSD had three schools meet their state improvement goals — a contrast to last year, when no schools in the district met state targets.

Lenwood Elementary School Principal Laura May credits teaching methods that group students according to skill level as the reason her school saw the largest point jump in BUSD.

Lenwood, along with other schools, group students according to ability for subjects like language arts and math, said May, who noted that Lenwood had a consultant visit the school during May’s first year last year to advise teachers and refine teaching methods.

“It helps the teacher focus on the specific need of her group,” said May, who also acknowledged that Lenwood will be challenged to keep up the same level of improvements for next year.

“It’s very hard when you’ve made large gains to maintain those gains in the coming years,” she said. “...It’s hard to maintain the momentum.”

A full listing of the API reports is available at the California Department of Education Web site at www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ap/apireports.asp.

Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4122 or elee@desertdispatch.com

Scores at a glance
Barstow Unified School District (score change from last year’s report)
• Cameron Elementary School: 793 (+31)
• Crestline Elementary School: 716 (+46)
• Henderson Elementary School: 806 (+35)
• Hinkley School: 754 (+23)
• Lenwood Elementary School: 722 (+52)
• Montara Elementary School: 731 (+24)
• Skyline Elementary School: 849 (-6)
• Thomson Elementary School: 773 (-22)
• Barstow Intermediate School: 757 (+38)
• Barstow Junior High School: 616 (-12)
• Barstow High School: 618 (previous score report unavailable)

Silver Valley Unified School District
• Lewis Elementary School: 824 (+97)
• Newberry Springs Elementary School: 757 (+17)
• Tiefort View Intermediate School: 768 (-28)
• Yermo Elementary School: 732 (+3)
• Fort Irwin Middle School: 737 (-6)
• Silver Valley High School: 720 (+5)
• Silver Valley Academy: 496 (-103)