HESPERIA - As school districts in the state search for new strategies to raise their Academic Performance Index scores, one High Desert district is blazing a new academic trail.

Schools throughout California and across the nation are following the lead of the Hesperia Unified School District, which has developed a progressive plan for raising academic scores districtwide known as the ExCEL Model short for Excellence, a Commitment to Every Learner.

The district has seen steadily increasing academic success since ExCEL was put in place during the 1998-99 school year. All schools in Hesperia Unified have API scores of 611 or higher, with the exception of the two alternative schools.

Now the rural 17,000-student district is teaching others how to use it, through the Hesperia Institute for ExCEL, which has trained staff from 37 schools nationwide since it opened last July.

"ExCEL has pole-vaulted us,' said Cara Bergen, executive director of the Hesperia Institute for ExCEL. "Our test scores have gone way up and we noticed a change within the first year. Now we're showing several years of steady improvement.'

Through the institute, district teachers provide training for other educators, which runs about $5,000 per school trained. All profits made through the training go back into the classrooms in the form of mini-grants that any Hesperia teacher can apply for.

"All of our elementary schools except for one are Title One schools, so they can really use the money,' Bergen said.

The ExCEL program originally was developed to serve the needs of special education students, but now it applies to the entire school population.

By using the plan, Hesperia Unified has become a model school district and receives visits from outside educators almost daily, Bergen said. More than 50 school districts have come to Hesperia, coming from all areas, including Rancho Cucamonga, Pasadena, Nashville and Florida. Barstow Unified is one of the districts using the Hesperia district's plan at several schools to improve its API scores, said Mickey Hirsch, director of instructional support services for the Barstow district.

The ExCEL plan is meant to help teachers better target their instruction where needed. For instance, the plan includes an extra review of state standards in English/language arts and math. It also shows teachers how to use test results to help with instruction, Hirsch said.

"Teachers can break that down to know which of the questions were missed most, and who needs extra instruction with what standards,' she said. "It's also about teachers supporting each other if they need help with strategies or ideas.'

Another part of the plan encourages "scaffolding,' or grouping students who have similar needs for at least part of the day, Hirsch said. The program, which was initially in reading, can be used for all subjects in third grade and above.

"ExCEL has made my life so much easier both the teaching as well as meeting the needs of the students just seeing their success and growth,' said Terri Gregory, a first-grade teacher at Juniper Elementary School in Hesperia.

"Everybody gets personalized attention, there's no beating that. I'd never go back to the old way.'