SAT Scores in Oxnard Below State, U.S. Averages : Education: The high school district’s superintendent calls the dip disappointing. He says he doesn’t think it reflects a trend.

Unlike their counterparts in most other districts in Ventura County, students in the Oxnard Union High School District averaged below state and national scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test this year.

Students averaged 410 points on the verbal portion of the college entrance exam, compared to the statewide average of 416 and the national average of 423, according to a report released Tuesday by the 11,000-student district.

On the mathematics section of the test, students averaged 460, 24 points below the state average and 16 points below the national average. Each section of the multiple-choice exam is graded on a scale of 200 to 800 points.

“It’s disappointing, but we’re not frightened by it,” Supt. Bill Studt said of the test results. “We don’t believe it’s a downward trend. The scores go up and down. Last year, they went up and we were smiling.”

Last year, students scored above the state and national averages on the verbal portion of the SAT. Math scores also were above the national average, but fell one point below the state average.

School board member Janet Lindgren said she was surprised by the students’ performance this year.

“If the scores fluctuate two or three or four points, that doesn’t worry us much,” Lindgren said. “But this year there was a considerable drop and we need to take a look at that and see what happened.”

District officials said they would reserve further comment on the test scores until tonight’s school board meeting, which begins at 7 at the district’s headquarters at 309 South K St.

The district received its test scores nearly two weeks ago, but officials have refused to release them until now. The scores and an accompanying report were included in agenda packets made available to the media Tuesday.

“We just didn’t want the test scores published in the newspaper until we had a chance to discuss them at the board meeting,” Lindgren said.

The district includes six campuses in Oxnard and Camarillo. The schools include Oxnard, Camarillo, Hueneme, Channel Islands, Rio Mesa and Frontier Continuation high schools. SAT scores were not available for Frontier.

Among the others, only Camarillo High reported marks above the national and state averages in both of the subject areas covered on the SAT.

Hueneme High reported the single biggest drop on the math portion of the test, falling from 443 points last year to 392 this year. Verbal scores at the school also plummeted from 386 to 356 points.

Test results were not much better at Camarillo and Oxnard high schools. Camarillo High math scores fell 30 points and verbal scores 20, while Oxnard High experienced a 28-point drop in math scores and a 20-point decline in verbal scores.

District officials have said in the past that it is impossible to draw any conclusions from a one-year drop in test scores. They said changes in class sizes must be taken into account when considering scores, as well as the average level of student ability, which differs from year to year.

This year, a total of 625 students in the district took the SAT. The number represented the highest percentage of graduating seniors to take the SAT since 1983.

The school district’s report went on to say that “generally, the more students who take the test, the lower the average scores.”

It was also noted that 17% of the district’s test-takers reported that their parents had no high school diploma.

These 107 students averaged 386 on the math portion of the test and 322 on the verbal section, compared to the national averages for such students--409 and 338, respectively.

“These comparisons are made only to note that in many homes of college-bound students, parents may not be able to assist their children with demanding academic homework,” the report said.

The report suggests that English and math teachers form task groups to review their curricula and to find ways to improve them.

The Santa Paula Union High School District was the only other district in the county this year to score below state and national averages. Santa Paula officials said that because such a small number of students routinely take the test--only 57 this year--it takes only a few poor scores to bring the average down.

Students at five other county districts averaged higher scores than both state averages.

Still, four of the districts reported drops in the verbal portion of the test. Only Moorpark and the Conejo Valley unified school districts improved their scores on both portions of the test.

Ventura County SAT Scores

1990-91 1991-92 Math Verbal Math Verbal Conejo Valley Unified Conejo Valley High School* na na na na Newbury Park High School 513 435 521 445 Thousand Oaks 541 467 542 477 High School Westlake High School 531 452 528 456 District 531 455 532 461 Oak Park Unified Oak Park High School 503 437 520 441 Oak View High School* na na na na District 503 441 520 437 Ventura Unified Ventura High School 515 451 494 437 Buena High School 506 462 524 457 District 510 457 510 447 Simi Valley Unified Simi Valley na na 501 525 High School Royal High School na na 509 446 District 494 425 505 421 Moorpark Unified Moorpark High School 488 424 498 432 District 488 424 498 432 Santa Paula Union Santa Paula Union High School 444 412 455 397 District 444 412 455 397 Ojai Unified Nordhoff High School 502 455 478 427 District 502 455 478 427 Oxnard Union Camarillo High School 529 461 513 454 Channel Islands 452 402 445 369 High School Hueneme High School 443 386 392 356 Oxnard High School 478 442 445 422 Rio Mesa High School 484 421 459 417 District 481 424 460 410 Fillmore Unified Fillmore High School* na na na na California 482 415 484 416 Nation 474 422 476 423

* The number of students at these schools were so few that students must make individual requests for scores.

Source: School Districts and College Board