District schools shine on state API

Christine Carrillo

Most schools in the district met or exceeded their goals of 800 on

the 2002 Academic Performance Index (API) Base Report, which for the

first time included scores from additional tests.

While 18 schools maintained their previous ranks, four schools --

College Park, Paularino and Woodland elementary and Orange Coast

Middle College High schools -- improved their statewide ranking.

“We feel that they really did well and we’re really proud of the

schools,” said Peggy Anatol, head of testing for the Newport-Mesa

Unified School District. “We just continue to work at every school in

every area.”

The report showed that seven schools -- Andersen, Eastbluff,

Harbor View, Lincoln, Mariners, Newport Coast elementary and Corona

del Mar High schools -- held the highest statewide rank of 10, which

they’ve each maintained over the past two years. Andersen and Harbor

View scored the highest marks, at 900 and 899 -- out of 1,000 --

respectively.

As some schools maintained or improved their ranking, seven

schools declined. Adams, California, Whittier and Wilson elementary

and Costa Mesa, Estancia and Newport Harbor high schools dropped in

their statewide rank.

Anatol attributes much of the decline to the inclusion of

additional tests, school demographics, student mobility and a number

of other factors.

Unlike scores released in October, the 2002 API Base included much

more than results from the Stanford 9 exams.

The new base included results from the California Standards Test

in English language arts, mathematics and, for grades 10 and 11,

social science. The scores for the high schools also included the

California High School Exit Examinations.

Despite not seeing the report, Tom Antal, principal at Estancia

High School, expressed a determination to improve scores at his

school.

“We’re teaching the content standards really hard,” Antal said,

adding that teachers are even changing their testing styles to help

students improve.

“Our teachers give tests that are more open-ended,” he said “We’re

re-doing the whole structure of the tests this year. ... We’re doing

a lot of preparation.”

Overall, the goal is to keep improving.

“There’s always room for improvement. ... We’ll continue to work

this year,” Anatol said. “The schools are really working hard ...

People are beginning to really emphasize and teach the standards, and

the scores continue to rise.”

Because the district schools are on vacation this week, many of

the principals were unavailable for comment on Thursday.