LVUSD fails yearly progress criteria because of low student participation

By Stephanie Bertholdo Acorn Staff Writer

Las Virgenes Unified School District (LVUSD) failed to meet the 95 percent participation benchmark for the 2003 Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program, resulting in a "no pass" grade in this year’s Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) Phase I Report.

Although all of the schools within LVUSD far surpassed the minimum academic standards, the participation rate at all three high schools and in the special education sub-category didn’t meet the state Department of Education’s minimum standards.

The lengthy AYP report states that "in order to make AYP for 2003, a school must meet or exceed all Phase I and Phase II requirements."

At Calabasas High School, 93.1 percent of students showed up for the English/ language arts section of the STAR testing, but met the mark in the mathematics section with 95.2 percent participation.

Agoura High School was shy of meeting the criteria by just one tenth of one percent in the sub-group that counts the number of white students who took the English/language arts test. In math, this group totaled 97.3 percent.

With a total of 14 students enrolled at Indian Hills High School on the first day of testing, the continuation school fell into a different category of participation failure. Ordinarily, if the total number of students is less than 100 in any subgroup (racial, socio-economically disadvantaged, students with disabilities, English learners), the results are not applicable. Indian Hills is categorized under the Alternative Schools Accountability Model), but the conditions of this model are unclear. Nevertheless, Indian Hills failed the participatory rate in each subject category.

In the sub-category that counts how many students with disabilities took the test, the district as a whole fell short in both the math and English/language arts sections with 90.6 percent and 90.3 percent participation rates respectively.

Superintendent John Fitzpatrick is fighting mad about some aspects of the standardized testing and last week wrote a letter to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, questioning her vote of support for school vouchers in Washington, D.C.

"We’re confused," Fitzpatrick said, explaining that students in LVUSD have "terrific test scores" and a 99 percent graduation rate.

Fitzpatrick said he believed that "part of the bill (No Child Left Behind Act of 2001], has a voucher component to it." The rationale is that if affluent schools can’t meet certain standards, then public schools in general must need to be fixed, and parents should be able to spend education tax dollars in schools of their choice, whether it’s private, parochial or public.

A letter to county and district superintendents and charter school principals from William Padia, director, CDE policy and evaluation division, underscores Fitzpatrick’s concerns.

"Title I schools that do not meet the 2003 criteria and did not demonstrate AYP for 2001-2002 are subject to identification for program improvement. These schools would be subject to the provisions of the (No Child Left Behind Act) on school choice…."

Participation rates, Fitzpatrick said, are a "problem nationwide in more affluent areas" because many high school students "are too busy working on their SATs." He added that by high school, students are aware that STAR test scores are meaningless for college admission.

The STAR results showed that the most significant drop in participation was by 11th graders. The standardized tests are administered in the spring, at the same time high school students are either studying for or taking SATs, Advanced Placement (AP) exams, subject tests and other college entrance exams.

Assistant Superintendent of Education Joe Nardo found some of the STAR results "questionable" and explained that some of the numbers in the subgroups are wrong. He said that there "are far more than 23 English learners in the district" than the results show, and that there may be "erroneous data throughout the state, maybe the nation." Nardo has notified state officials about the conflict of data.

The low participation rate for special education students is also a dilemma for LVUSD. Although teachers aren’t allowed to tell parents that they can choose whether or not their child participates in the STAR testing, many well educated parents in affluent communities know their legal rights.

Many parents of children with disabilities opt out of the standardized testing for a host of reasons. This was the first year that students with disabilities weren’t allowed any special accommodations while taking the tests. Parents could have their children exempted from any or all parts of the test by submitting a written request.

Although there’s a new assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities called the California Alternate Performance Assessment (CAPA), it wasn’t available for students this year.

According to Don Zimring, Las Virgenes deputy superintendent, sanctions could be imposed upon LVUSD if the participation percentage doesn’t go up in subsequent years. Sanctions could include the transfer of students to other schools (with the district bearing the transportation costs), to eventually yielding control of the district to the state if certain benchmarks weren’t reached for three consecutive years.

Nardo added that while it’s a "worthy goal" for a state to have such high expectations for students, he asked, "Is it reasonable and feasible for all students to reach these goals?"

See related story on page 11.