TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

BY JORGE BARRIENTOS

Californian staff writer

jbarrientos@bakersfield.com

More Kern County students are grade-level proficient in English and math, new state test scores show, but they continue to lag behind their peers throughout the state.

Only a few school districts here are keeping up with the state's averages in Standardized Testing and Reporting, or STAR, exams, according to the results released Friday by the California Department of Education.

Other local findings are a mixed bag. Some districts are making big gains in English-language arts and math; several others have taken a step back, particularly in math.

But this year's results marked the ninth straight year that California students as a whole improved their performance on math and English exams. About 4.7 million students took STAR tests last school year, with about 57 percent scoring proficient or advanced in English-language arts, and nearly 52 percent in mathematics.

Those are the highest percentages since 2003 when students began being tested on new California standards that describe what students should know for each grade and subject tested.

"Even more remarkable is the fact that our students continue to make gains even as our schools -- and the teachers, administrators and school employees working in them -- are getting by with so much less," State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said in a statement, referring to continuos budget cuts hitting public schools.

Kern County has seen "slow and steady" growth the last few years, said Desiree Von Flue, an administrator in the Division of Instructional Services for the Kern County Superintendent of Schools office.

More than 120,000 students in Kern took the STAR -- 47 percent scored proficient or advanced in English while nearly 44 percent did in math.

"We're gaining some good momentum," she said.

The STAR results come from testing second- through 11th-grade students last school year not only in English-language arts and math -- core subjects -- but also such subjects as algebra, history and life science.

A student's score is categorized as advanced, proficient, basic, below basic or far below basic. California's benchmark for all students is to be proficient or advanced.

A higher percentage of students scored proficient or above in the Rosedale-area Fruitvale School District than any other Kern district. Nearly 74 percent scored such in English, and nearly 69 percent in math, improvements from last year when math scores dipped for the first time in years.

The district last school year focused more on math, buying new textbooks and providing students help during lunch and after school, said Fruitvale Superintendent Mary Westendorf. Staff focused more on helping individual students, getting parents involved and making sure students are constantly learning, she said.

"We're happy," Westendorf said, cautioning that more work is needed because statistics show more than 25 percent of students are not proficient. "We have a great staff who really make sure we give every child an opportunity to master the material."

Bakersfield City School District -- the largest K-8 district in the state, which tested 20,000 students -- improved its English and math scores the last several years. Kern High School District, which tested another 25,000, improved its English scores, but fell back slightly in math.

In fact, many school districts lost ground in the math exam including Panama-Buena Vista Union, Rosedale Union, Taft City, Tehachapi Unified and Standard school districts.

Standard's students made a 5 percentage-point jump in English, but dropped nearly 5 percentage points in math. Superintendent Kevin Silberberg and staff still have to evaluate and analyze the data to find out why, he said.

"It's definitely one of our district goals to increase every year," Silberberg said. "If we're going the other way, it's not consistant with our district goals and not consistant with our practices."

State Superintendent Torlakson said it's less likely gains will continue due to budget cuts.

"Preventing further cuts and beginning to restore what's been lost are essential to helping every student learn and prepare for the future," he said in a statement.

For now, school officials are happy with improvements, especially among subgroups, like Kern County's Hispanic and Latino students, who exceeded the previous year's growth, Von Flue said. And she said Kern County's proficiency percentages are up to par with the state's -- it's the advanced percentages here that lag.

Across the state, a persistent achievement gap exists for African-American, Latino, English-learner and low-income students, compared to their peers.

The Star results precede the annual Adequate Yearly Progress results, which include the Academic Performance Index scores for each campus. Those results show whether students, schools and districts are meeting federal benchmarks; they're expected to be released in October.

To see how your student's grade level, school or district performed -- and to compare them to others -- go to star.cde.ca.gov.