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Hermosa Beach students score among the top 10 percent in new state 'index'
by Robb Fulcher
Hermosa Beach public school students scored among the top 10 percent statewide in a new form of standardized evaluation, the California Department of Education announced on Tuesday.
However, the fledgling evaluation, called the Academic Performance Index, measured only last year's standardized student testing, so the figures represented little new information.
In following years state education officials plan to expand the index, possibly including graduation rates, a high school exit examination, and fuller testing for students not yet fluent in English.
"The numbers mean that our students are learning and the teachers are doing an excellent job in the classroom," said Bev Rohrer, interim Superintendent of the Hermosa Beach City School District. "And they are using a curriculum supported by the school board, which is on target with what the state is looking for in academic performance."
Rohrer added that the Hermosa district will strive to improve on the already high numbers.
"We can't ever be completely satisfied. This involves kids and their futures," she said.
Hermosa's overall score on the index was 838 out of a possible 1,000. Schools scoring 800 or higher are expected by the state to maintain those levels, while schools scoring less than 800 are urged to improve, and are given specific numerical "growth targets."
Hermosa Valley School was the only city school evaluated by the index. At Hermosa View School fewer than 100 students took the standardized tests last year, and state officials did not apply the index to school populations that small.
However, View students outscored Valley students in the standardized tests, so adding View to the state index would only have improved Hermosa's scores.
Although Hermosa ranked in the top 10 percent statewide, the Valley students scored only in the top 40 percent when compared with 100 other schools held to be subject to similar factors including students' ethnicity and socioeconomic status, average class size, and percentage of teachers with full credentials.
Rohrer pointed out that any demographically similar schools ranking higher than Hermosa Valley also ranked among the top 10 percent statewide.
"It's very competitive at that level. Only a small number of schools have accomplished this," she said.
Last year Hermosa students scored well across all grade levels on the state-mandated Stanford Achievement Test, which is designed to measure proficiency in reading, grammar, math and spelling.
Hermosa students scored almost exclusively in the top 20 percent to 30 percent compared to other students statewide. The only steep variations were in spelling. In that subject, eighth graders scored only in the top 52 percent statewide, falling just under the statewide middle, and third graders scored only among the top 40 percent statewide.
In the tests, taken in April by students in grades 2 through 8, the highest scores were achieved by second-graders in the area of grammar, which scored in the top 14 percent statewide.
In reading, grammar and math, all scores ranged from the top 30 percent statewide to the top 14 percent. ER