Testing divide remains at district schools

Deirdre Newman

The divide between student performance in Newport Beach and Costa

Mesa schools continues, though Costa Mesa students are improving,

according to statewide test figures released Thursday.

Information released by the California Department of Education on

Thursday shows Newport-Mesa Unified School District students in

second through seventh grades demonstrated outstanding performance in

all four areas of the Stanford Achievement Test, Ninth Edition --

reading, language, math and spelling. Districtwide, the largest

growth occurred in the sixth grade.

The district’s rankings were slightly lower than the county

average in all four areas of the Stanford 9.

The scores for the Stanford 9 and a separate state standards test

will be included in the 2002-03 Academic Performance Index, a ranking

of school achievement, which will be released in October.

As in the past on standardized tests, Newport Beach schools

outperformed Costa Mesa schools, although some Costa Mesa schools

showed tremendous growth, notably Killybrooke Elementary, which

increased its ranking compared with nationwide schools -- measured on

a 100-point scale -- from 45 to 54 in reading, 48 to 71 in math and

39 to 55 in spelling. Kaiser and Rea elementary schools also

displayed double-digit growth in all four areas, which include

English and language arts, math, and social science and science.

“More [students] are moving ahead, and less are moving behind,”

trustee Wendy Leece said. “We’re hanging in there overall.”

Leece said she was most impressed with the district’s improvement

in spelling.

“We have been talking for years as a board that we finally have to

get back to spelling tests,” Leece said. “Enough of this not grading

their spelling because it would hurt their self-esteem. But we really

have been focusing on spelling for as long as I’ve been on the

board.”

On the Stanford 9, the elementary school with the highest national

ranking was Harbor View, which scored 85 on reading, 90 on math, 89

on language and 84 on spelling. The highest middle and high school

was Corona del Mar High School. At the middle school level, it scored

a 77 for reading in the seventh grade and a 71 in the eighth, a 79 in

math at the seventh-grade level and a 73 for the eighth, an 81 in

language in the earlier grade and a 76 in the later; and a 78 in

spelling by seventh-graders and a 60 by their counterparts.

On the standards tests at the elementary school level, Andersen

and Harbor View stood out as two of the schools having the highest

percentage of students scoring in the advanced categories in language

arts and math. Advanced is the highest of the five categories.

For middle schools, TeWinkle and Costa Mesa High School had the

highest percentages of students scoring in the lowest category -- far

below basic -- in English and language arts, and math, at the

seventh-grade level.

All four high schools made a strong showing in biological and life

sciences at the freshman level, with 40% scoring proficient, the

second-highest category. Costa Mesa High School had the highest

percentage for proficiency in geometry at 57%.

While district officials continue to explore means of improving

reading, language and math, reading remains the biggest challenge,

said Peggy Anatol, the district’s director of kindergarten through

12th grade assessment.

“I think we continue to search for materials that ... [enable]

curriculum to be delivered at a level the students can understand and

comprehend,” Anatol said.

Recent staff development presentations have focused on tailoring

instruction to meet the needs of all students, Anatol noted.

Many teachers also have received training in a specialized form of

instruction that use visual and hands-on techniques so

English-language learners can more easily absorb the topics.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.