Report Card

Improvements on a statewide math test show students are heading in the

right direction, Huntington Beach City School District officials say.

Ninety-four students from Sowers Middle School and 80 from Dwyer

Middle School completed the rigorous 2001 Algebra Golden State

Examination exam last May, an increase of 50 students districtwide from

2000, said Lynn Bogart, the district’s director or curriculum and

instruction.

The Golden State Examination was established in 1983 for

eighth-graders in first-year algebra classes. Students who demonstrate

outstanding levels of achievement on six Golden State Exams are eligible

to receive a Golden State Seal Merit Diploma.

There are 13 passable merit exams a student can take, and to qualify

for a merit diploma a student must pass six of those exams, Bogart said.

“We are exceptionally pleased with how our students performed on the

algebra 1 test, both in terms of the number of students who took the

test, and in their actual test scores,” Bogart said.

Below is a chart listing the performance of district students as

compared to statewide achievement results:

DISTRICT (174 participants) STATEWIDE (204,887 participants)

NUMBER PERCENT PERCENT

2001 2002 2001 2002 2001 2002

Level 6 High Honors 50 81 40.3 46.6 7.1 6.6

Level 5 Honors 34 43 27.4 24.7 9.9 10.5

Level 4 Recognition 19 32 15.3 18.4 11.0 12.3

Level 3 19 17 15.3 9.8 23.4 27.9

Level 2 2 1 1.6 0.5 34.4 33.1

Level 1 0 0 0.0 0.0 14.2 9.7

Middle schools looking for performing arts grant

Vista View and Spring View middle schools are applying for a $25,000

visual and performing arts education grant for the 2002-03 school year.

The grant will be used to start more theater classes.

The Ocean View School District Board of trustees approved at its

recent board meeting the schools’ intent to apply for the grant. The

application will be written by officials from both schools before it is

presented to the California Department of Education in early 2002, said

Karen Colby, the district’s director of curriculum and instruction.

“The plan is that the two schools will be working together -- teacher

and principal leaders -- in writing this grant. This money received from

this grant would give our schools state standard space instruction in

visual and performing arts,” Colby said.

The two primary writers for the grant are Charlene Gould and Rob

Hemingway.

Gould teaches digital art at Vista View and Hemingway is a music

instructor and band director at both schools.

“We’re just getting started and want to be open as to what the grant

actually will be,” Gould said. “There are a variety of directions that we

can go but we want it to be a natural progression in relationship to our

curriculum.”

Edison applying for visual design grant

Edison High has been given the green light by the Huntington Beach

Union High School board of trustees to apply for a grant to help students

prepare for careers in visual design and communication.

The $35,000 grant would come from the California Department of

Education for a Specialized Secondary Program. The board approved the

application for the 2002-03 school year unanimously.

Bob Stolte, assistant principal of curriculum at Edison, is the chief

author of the grant. He said the grant application was submitted earlier

this week and that if awarded, funds will be used to develop a three-year

interdisciplinary program that will help prepare students for careers in

those fields.

The grants will not be reviewed until after the first of the year,

Stolte said, adding that he expects a decision sometime in February.

The total amount asked for in the grant, which would be awarded over a

several years, is close to $400,000, he said.

“This planning grant would give us the opportunity to provide advanced

work for our students,” he said.

Stolte said that a core of 12 teachers have given input on the grant,

whose original concept was inspired by social studies teacher Gary

Rhoades.