CULVER When preparing her students for the state’s writing benchmark test, Jennifer Stankamp sounds more like a drill sergeant than a Culver High English teacher.

”If even one paragraph has less than five sentences you get a zero,” she barked.

The approach works.

Last year, 94 percent of Culver High students who took the state writing test met performance standards.

In fact, Culver High students exceeded the state average in three of the five benchmark tests: reading and literature, writing and math problem solving.

Only 40 students took the math problem-solving test, and 32 tackled the writing test, but it is precisely those small numbers teachers credit for some of the higher test scores. Culver High has 160 students and a student-to-teacher ratio of about 15 to 1.

”We enjoy smaller classes,” said Stankamp. ”We’re not like Redmond or Bend, where they can have classes of 35 to 40 students. Teachers simply can’t get to each student. They’re physically limited.”

Steve Slater, the Oregon Department of Education’s assessment coordinator, agreed.

”Small-sized schools can really do a lot in terms of making sure kids aren’t falling through the cracks,” he said.

But it’s not small class sizes alone, Slater said. Communication and coordination among teachers on exactly how to teach content according to state standards contributes to higher test scores.

Mike Funderburg, superintendent of Culver School District and Steve Swisher, superintendent of the Sisters School District, agreed. Test takers in the 415-student Sisters district also scored well on state tests.

Both superintendents say smaller class sizes and fewer teachers enable the districts to coordinate test preparation.

Last year, Culver High instituted the block schedule where the day consists of five 90-minute periods instead of seven 45-minute periods. Funderburg said the schedule gives students more time to submit work samples, one of the requirements to earn a Certificate of Initial Mastery (CIM).

Every Friday, teachers meet for more than two hours. Part of that time is spent ensuring they teach each subject consistent with state requirements to earn a CIM, Funderburg said.

The school started another program this year that should also help.

Each of the 10 teachers is responsible for a group of about 15 students during their four-year tenure. The teacher meets with the group 30 minutes a day Monday through Thursday.

Although these groups are not unique Sisters and La Pine high schools use them officials at all three schools credit them with helping students better prepare for state benchmark tests.

”It’s been an effective tool for the students,” Stankamp said.

The exams taken by 10th-graders to earn a Certificate of Initial Mastery are the state’s standard of academic competence. The tests are the centerpiece of Oregon’s school reform effort handed down by the Oregon Legislature in 1991 when it first adopted the Oregon Education Act for the 21st Century.

And Culver kids are buying into the idea of earning a CIM, even though it’s not required to graduate.

”Colleges and jobs are starting to look at it,” said Cory Boyd, a 16-year-old junior.

That was partly backed up by Slater, although the time when employers actually begin using CIMs to evaluate prospective employees is still a little ways off.

”The (state) colleges are using it in their admissions process,” he said. ”And the CIMs’ value to employers will go up when they see a correlation between the ability to do a job and holding a CIM.”

But Stankamp believes earning a CIM should be considered a more meaningful accomplishment.

”Having higher standards is good,” Stankamp said. ”The problem is, once you’ve earned it, what do you do with it? A lot of schools don’t tie them to graduation. And you still have lots of students who wouldn’t graduate even if they did have the CIM.”

This is because many schools require a certain amount of credits in English, math and science, and simply earning a CIM which measures students at a tenth-grade level still doesn’t fulfill those requirements, Funderburg said.

Stankamp said the state should develop more enticements for students to earn CIMs, such as offering college scholarships.

”Right now, it’s just a piece of paper,” she said. ”If the student isn’t already motivated, it doesn’t have a lot of meaning.”

Sarah Cox, who teaches Spanish, French, reading and speech said CIMs should not be tied to graduation, but the certificate has worth.

”It’s still a good idea to have it,” she said. ”Sometimes kids can slide through the system without having mastered the skills they need for society.”

Funderburg believes separating CIMs from graduation requirements is good in the short term, but, he said, it would be a good idea to connect them at some point.

For those students who do not plan to go to college, earning a CIM still represents a level of achievement employers may find valuable, he said.

Slater said there are no plans to require CIMs for high school graduation. Doing so could result in politically unacceptable failure rates if only a handful of students earn CIMs, many would not graduate or go to college.