Oak Park and Las Virgenes unified school districts continue to outperform most California schools in standardized testing, according to results released last month by the California Department of Education.

The 2011 Accountability Progress Report (API) is based on a scale from 200 to 1,000. The API score is derived by how well students perform on California standards testing, called STAR.

Officials at both school districts reported that all their schools met the minimum benchmark of 800 and most schools scored at 900 or above.

Oak Park Unified

Oak Park Unified School District again earned the top rank for Ventura County with an overall API score of 918, up two points from last year.

Superintendent Tony Knight said the district has been the highest achieving kindergartenthrough 12th-grade district in STAR testing for years.

Medea Creek Middle School also repeated its past success. The middle school has ranked No. 1 in Ventura County for four consecutive years, and Oak Hills Elementary has claimed the top spot for elementary schools for the first time this year. All Oak Park schools scored at 900 or above, exceeding the goal of 800.

Knight said the district analyzes data each year comparing how transfer students measure up to local students on the annual test. More than 1,400 students attend Oak Park schools through the state’s District of Choice designation.

“This analysis shows that the scores are nearly identical at all schools and all grade levels,” Knight said. “This shows that it is the instructional program that is the primary variable related to student achievement.”

Brad Benioff, principal at Medea Creek Middle School, said there are many factors that contribute to student success. “Starting with the students and their families themselves, Oak Park is a community that has a huge focus and investment in the education of their children,” he said.

Benioff also credited teachers with having high expectations for students.

“They care about the individual and their success,” he said. “We know the value of highly effective teachers, and having a school full of effective teachers translates to successful scores.”

Erik Warren, principal of Oak Hills Elementary School, credited teachers with engaging students in “meaningful learning activities.”

“When students are struggling, they receive assistance from our literacy or math support team,” Warren said. “And when they are excelling, they are challenged to go well beyond gradelevel standards.”

Warren said it is not enough to support students academically.

“We know that students learn best in environments that support their social-emotional growth as well,” he said. “We expect our students to work hard, but it is essential that they enjoy their time at school and maintain their innate love of learning.”

For Warren, the API scores are only relevant when information can be gleaned from the test results and used to improve instruction.

“When we look deeper into the data we can see specific areas where our students generally show relative strengths and weaknesses,” he said. “This process is far more important than attempting to prepare students with a last-minute review.”

Las Virgenes Unified

Las Virgenes Unified School District is also a top district in California, and the standardized tests have revealed high-scoring students at all grade levels.

“While STAR data represents only one element of the overall quality and success of our program, we are very gratified by this year’s results,” said Superintendent Donald Zimring.

He said the gains were the result of teachers providing individualized instruction to each student.

Willow Elementary School, in Agoura Hills, ranked highest in the school district with an API score of 946. The score was improved by 47 points over last year.

According to Willow Elementary Principal Jessica Kiernan, the big jump in this year’s scores was the result of the faculty and staff addressing the individual needs of each student.

“We met in teacher teams and talked about each student and what they need to do to be successful in school,” Kiernan said.

New teaching strategies were also implemented this year, she said. “Where (these strategies) were working, we kept with them. If they weren’t, we met each week, teacher to teacher, and asked what else can we do.”

“We focused a lot on developing ourselves as educators,” Kiernan said. “Our toolboxes were full, but we needed to add some new tools.”

Teachers have attended professional development training at Model Schools conferences for the past two years. The conferences showcase strategies used by teachers at schools that are performing well across the nation. Attending the conferences has inspired LVUSD teachers to try some new approaches in the classroom.

Research on brain development, critical thinking skills and how students are motivated and engaged in class contribute to the new teaching methods.

“We needed the new knowledge on kids,” Kiernan said. She said her staff spent the year “developing ourselves into better educators.”

“We were very happy to have the highest score in the district, but we know every school is working very hard.”

By the numbers

Las Virgenes Unified

2011 District API—892

Elementary schools

Bay Laurel— 911
Chaparral—912
Lupin Hill—899
Mariposa Elementary
School of Global
Education—811
Round Meadow—893
Sumac—900
White Oak—909
Willow—946
Yerba Buena—934

Middle schools

Alice C. Stelle—905
A.E. Wright—909
Lindero Canyon—915

High schools

Agoura High—866
Calabasas High—873

Oak Park Unified

2011 District API—918

Elementary schools

Brookside—944
Oak Hills—952
Red Oak—931

Middle school

Medea Creek—929

High school

Oak Park High—908