• School Audit to Generate Change
• Better Coordination of Data Could Help Students
• Audit Finds Several Upsides
• Parents Missing Link to Classroom Success
• Mentors Can Help Low-achieving Schools

• Rialto's Differences Outweigh its Similarities to Other Schools
• District Committed to Making Better Readers
• Schools Focus on Elementary Reading
• High School Classes make a Shift Back to Reading
• Teaching English Takes Valuable Class Time

Students Not Accelerating in Advanced Placement Classes

Rialto Unified high schools allow a larger percentage of students into Advance Placement classes than similar districts nationwide, but at the end of the year a smaller percentage pass the exam to get college credit.

Despite the district's enrollment of nearly 17 percent of its juniors and seniors in the accelerated classes, less than half of those students earn a passing grade on the exam. In contrast, peer districts enroll 7 percent of their juniors and seniors, but 50 percent of those pass the exam.

"The more students that take a test, you would expect fewer to pass," said Mick Brown, assistant superintendent of instruction. "But the value of the experience, of being in those classes is very high."

The district's philosophy has been to create an equal opportunity for students to receive advanced instruction, so the entrance requirements for AP classes are not as stringent as other districts, Brown said. The only prerequisite for enrolling in AP classes is for entering sophomores honors students to complete a rigorous summer project.

Despite the reasons behind low scores on the AP exam, the district is working on strategies to get more kids to pass.

"We're looking at the curriculum to see if it's aligned enough with what's tested for them to do well," Brown said. We'll look to see if some kids need to be in the mainstream."

But some AP teachers say they don't believe the results of the study accurately capture what really happens in their classes.

"I personally don't think it's a reflection on the quality of our program," said junior AP English teacher Carole Scambray of Rialto High School. "There's some good sides and bad sides to allowing more kids access. Our attempt to open up the program to kids who feel they can do it might hamper fast learners because the dynamics of class depend upon the quality of input of students and in-depth analysis of students. But I am not slowing my program down, I'm still moving at a pace that will get those kids to pass the test."

Another result of the study revealed nearly twice as many girls as boys are taking AP classes. During the 1996-97 school year, 88 females and 46 males were enrolled in at least one AP course.

"One of our goals was to improve distribution of Hispanics and Blacks in those classes and to increase participation of females in the math and science classes," Brown said. "That there are more girls than boys in AP classes, I don't feel that badly about that."

Scambray said she was not surprised the study showed more girls than boys enroll in the AP classes, adding that in her 25 years of teaching, she has always had more girls than boys in the AP English class.

"I think often - at least in English - girls somehow perceive themselves as better writers," she said. "I wish it were more balanced, yes. But I'm not sure there's anything we can do as a program. I think any solution has to be a result of something longtime coming."

Grades and Performance Don't Match, Audit Finds

Rialto's high school students get better grades but have lower test scores than students in comparable districts, suggesting some students are being awarded higher grades than they should get, according to the authors of the educational effectiveness audit.

A recent Rialto High School graduate agreed some classes award good grades for relatively easy work.

"In Spanish, I got an A and I don't think I deserved an A," said Bibiana Olmedo, 21, now a junior at California State University, San Bernardino and a 1996 graduate of Rialto High School. "It wasn't a (class) where you'd study or there were research papers. It was sit down, do your work and you earn a grade."

She emphasized, however, that her advanced placement and honors classes were rigorous, where earning a B or a C was an accomplishment to be proud of. Her grade-point average was 3.7, and she scored about 840 on her SAT.

Awarding higher grades than is justified is known as grade inflation.

Rialto's 1997 senior class had a GPA average of 2.57, compared to 2.2 in the comparison group. Yet Rialto's competency tests from 1996-97 show that just 69 percent of 11th-graders and 66 percent of seniors passed the reading portion. In math, 73 percent of 11th-graders and 72 percent of 12th-graders passed.

That compares to an 87 percent pass rate in both subjects for the comparison group. SAT scores for Rialto students who took the test in 1996-97 averaged 874, compared to 900 for the other districts.

"An analysis of grade point averages indicates the highest grade inflation occurs in the lowest-achieving schools," the auditors wrote. "This is suggestive of low expectations for those students who most need to have higher expectations. Schools with grade inflation tend to reward low qualitv work, and grades may not reflect actual leaming levels."

But the GPA for ninth-graders in the 1993-94 school year was about average - 2.12 for Eisenhower High School and 2.15 for Rialto High School. It goes up a few tenths of a point the following two years before getting to the 2.57 average for the two comprehensive schools.

That could indicate that as academic requirements are met, juniors and seniors aren't taking more electives, in which students might be more motivated to do well, said Michael Brown, Rialto Unified's assistant superintendent for instructional services.

"We do require more electives than some districts around us," he said.

The district routinely looks at classes where there are unusually high failure rates or in which an unusual number of students seem to have high grades, he said.

To improve test scores, the district is looking at individual course descriptions to see if what is taught relates to the standardized tests, he said. The math department also is developing an end-of-course examination, separate from the regular final exam, to ensure students are leaming the skills required to meet state standards.

A similar test will be developed for English and language arts, Brown said.

The district also plans to develop "safety net" programs for students who are not doing as well.