SAN MARCOS - San Marcos Unified officials last week attributed the district's recent gains on standardized tests to increased teacher collaboration time, clearly defined learning targets and extra support for those students struggling to meet statewide academic standards.

The district raised its Academic Performance Index score to 785, up nine points from last year, with some individual schools making gains of 20 points or more, according to an annual report released at the end of August by the California Department of Education. The report includes scores from the state and federal governments based on a barrage of tests that students in grades two through 11 took in the spring.

That score exceeds the county average, which stayed the same at 751, as well as the state average, which was up six points to 727 from 2006.

"We're proud we're performing well," said Gina Bishop, the district's assistant superintendent of instructional services.

The state considers a school or district to be on target if it has a score of 800 or above. Eight of the district's 17 schools met or exceeded the 800 target, with two schools within two and four points of that goal, according to the report.

The index was created in 1999 to rate the performance of the state's 6.3 million students on standardized math, English, science and history tests, and to provide parents and educators with a quick way to gauge the effectiveness of individual schools. Schools are required to show annual improvements on a scoring system of 200 to 1,000 points.

Factors to success

The improvement stems from the district's continued focus on best practice instruction, Bishop said, adding that teachers continually engage in professional development.

For example, the district's summer academies, designed to refresh teachers on effective methods to teach English/language arts and math, are always filled to capacity, she said.

Increased time for collaboration also played a role in the gains, Bishop said. A structured teacher planning time was implemented last year to allow teachers an hour each week to compare and discuss what they can do to help students progress within their grade level or discipline, she said.

"(The teachers) are all talented in different ways, and they use the time to learn from one another's strengths," Bishop said.

Teachers have also become more focused on teaching specific skills as defined by statewide standards, Bishop said. Extra collaboration time has allowed teachers to develop common assessments, she said. Teams of teachers grouped by grade level or discipline give the same benchmark exams every six weeks to get a clear view on whether students are progressing, said Bishop.

The data is also used to identify students who are not mastering the standards and need extra support, she said.

"All school sites are involved in analyzing testing data and identifying how to increase progress in areas that are less of a strength," Bishop said, adding that frequent assessment allows educators to respond to students' needs quickly.

Last year, more part-time teachers were hired to reduce class sizes and provide more one-on-one time for English language learners at the high school level, Bishop said. Specialists work with slower progressing students at each of the district's elementary sites, she said.

Turning a school around

Some schools that did not make the state target of 800 did see significant gains in scores, including San Marcos Elementary, which raised its score 28 points to 694.

"The 28-point increase is evidence that what we're doing is working," said Principal Candy Singh.

The school was facing its first year of federal sanctions because it receives extra federal money for low-income students and failed for the second year in a row last year to meet federal standards required under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which is also measured by the standardized tests.

No Child Left Behind requires a set percentage of students in subgroups, such as racial groups, students with disabilities and children from low-income families, to all perform at increasing levels of proficiency in English and math each year. The goal is to have 100 percent of students proficient in English and math by 2014, under the law.

San Marcos Elementary, which has large populations of Latino students, English learners and socioeconomically disadvantaged students, surpassed its targets of 24.4 percent of all students scoring at or above proficient in English/language arts and 26.5 percent proficient in math with scores of 30.1 and 43.7 percent, respectively.

"Every significant subgroup met the federal target for No Child Left Behind for the first time," said Singh, who attributed the improvement to schoolwide reform, including changes in teaching staff, instructional programming and intervention time built into the school day.

If San Marcos Elementary continues to meet all federal requirements next year, sanctions will be lifted and the school will no longer be required to allow students to transfer to higher performing schools, a consequence of a first-year sanction, Bishop said.

"They know where students are in terms of the standards, and they are constantly monitoring to make sure students get to the next level," she said.

Making strides

On Friday, San Marcos High School students were released early from school as a reward for the significant gain in their score, which rose 30 points to 734, according to the report.

"It puts us in the ballpark of schools in our area," said Principal Julie Mottershaw. "It was a huge jump, and hopefully we've shown people what we're capable of.

"All the work teachers have done to align the curriculum to essential standards that are tested is part of it," she said. "And the kids really buy into what we're trying to do. It's becoming fun for them to get good grades and work hard in the classroom."

The high schools also changed the way the tests were administered, which played a role in the improvement, said Mottershaw. Instead of cramming testing into three days, as the school has done in the past, testing was spread over 20 days, she said. Students also remained in their own teacher's class while testing in each discipline.

"For them, it was less intimidating and less exhausting because it became a part of the normal school day," Mottershaw said, adding that students wanted to do well for their teachers.

While the school improved on its state scores, its English learners fell short of the federal target of having 22.3 percent of that population proficient or advanced in English/language arts, though the school met the target as a whole, the report said.

"The bar is set really high (for English learners)," said Mottershaw. "They're not just asking them to pass it ó they have to score proficient or higher. We're doing a lot of things to try to get there, but it's tough."

Lengthened instruction time for English development learners from two to three hours and the implementation of Read 180, a successful reading intervention program, are among the school's efforts to address the issue, she said.

Contact staff writer Noelle Ibrahim at (760) 740-3517 or nibrahim@nctimes.com.