Districts do well on standardized testing

Angelique Flores

Fifth-grader Shima Nooryzadeh had above-average standardized test scores

last year. But this year, she topped them.

The Harbour View Elementary School student’s Stanford 9 scores jumped in

reading from 63 to 87, in math from 82 to 96 and in language from 65 to

92. Her scores reflected the most dramatic rise in the Ocean View School

District, which saw higher scores along with other area districts.

“This is unbelievable to us,” said Principal Roni Ellis, who ties Shima’s

rise in scores to her increased reading.

The 10-year-old went through Harbour View’s at-home reading program,

spending almost all of her spare time reading. She would read the

newspaper with her aunt, recipes for her mom and books to her little

sister, said her mother, Azar Nooryzadeh, who set her own rules of

encouraging Shima to read at least an hour a day.

Though not as drastic as Shima, other students in the Ocean View district

also showed a leap in the Stanford 9 scores. The tests, administered in

April, evaluated the students’ reading, language, mathematics and

spelling skills.

“We’ve had great gains this year,” Supt. Jim Tarwater said.

Ocean View had increases in 27 of the 28 categories. District officials

attribute the leap in scores to several things.

Besides a push for literacy, Tarwater points to the district’s retention

and promotion policy, which promotes high academic standards for all

students, early involvement of parents on intervention programs, enhanced

student motivation from teachers and increased instructional time for

reading and math.

Fountain Valley School District also saw some leaps in its scores.

“We’re very pleased and very proud,” Supt. Marc Ecker said.

His district jumped in 24 of the 28 areas, and two areas stayed the same.

Ecker commends the staff for its increased in-class effort to raise

standards and improve instruction.

Huntington Beach City School District saw another steady rise in scores.

The district had increases in 25 of the 28 categories. The numbers in the

other three areas remained the same.

“They’re great moves, and they’re getting even better,” said Lynn Bogart,

the district’s director of curriculum and instruction.

The second and third grades in the district saw a great jump in scores,

which Bogart attributes to the reduction in class sizes.

“We’re all going in the right direction,” Bogart said.

And that includes the high schools.

Huntington Beach Union School District tested its students in reading,

math, language, science and social science. The district saw increases in

14 of the 15 areas. Like all of the other local elementary districts, the

high school district came out above the national average.

“We are very pleased to see the slow improvement,” Supt. Susan Roper, who

attributes the growth to good teaching and hard-working students and

parents.

The Stanford 9 test scores usually indicate how schools will perform in

the Academic Performance Index exams. Districts depend on this

high-stakes test to measure students’ progress and performance. High

scores and increases in the index scores also lead to more state funding.