Scores give mixed feelings

Christine Carrillo

With district schools standing tall in statewide rankings, yet

falling short compared to similar schools, Laguna Beach school

officials have decided to use the 2002 Academic Performance Index

figures as a blueprint on how to step it up.

While the API base scores for the four schools in the Laguna Beach

Unified School District provided no new information, since officials

had received those figures in August, their statewide and similar

school rankings, released Feb. 20, did give them new insight into

what’s working and what’s not.

Three of the four schools -- El Morro Elementary, Thurston Middle

School and Laguna Beach High School -- were ranked 9 out of 10, while

the fourth school -- Top of the World Elementary -- was ranked 10

among schools statewide.

“I’m very positive ... but it’s an ongoing process,” said Ron

LaMotte, principal at Top of the World. In the next year, “we’re

expecting to see some significant gains.”

And many of those gains they hope to see within the similar school

category, which offered a very different picture.

The rankings of similar schools are derived by comparing schools

with similar characteristics such as student ethnicity and

socioeconomic status, the percentage of teachers who are fully

credentialed and of those who have emergency credentials, and average

class size per grade level.

In that category, Top of the World beat the district’s other four

schools, with a ranking of 6. Thurston and Laguna Beach High each

earned a ranking of 2, and El Morro received a 1, the lowest rank.

“I believe that the similar school ranking is very telling,” said

Steven Keller, assistant superintendent. “It provides another

barometer, another scale to look at yourself as compared to other

schools. We need to do better because similar schools are doing

better. ... I believe we will do better.”

The schools are already thinking of ways to do just that.

“We’re pleased with our performance, but we are looking at [the

similar school] area,” said Chris Duddy, principal at Thurston. “What

we’re going to do is visit schools in Saddleback and Tustin that are

9s and 10s in the similar school ranking and see what they’re doing

... to see if there are similar things we can implement.”

While the schools are looking beyond themselves and their district

for ways to improve, they have also begun to make changes from

within.

Partially motivated by the similar school rankings, school

officials have seen the need for improvement because of the decline

in their API base scores.

Laguna Beach High experienced the biggest drop in its base score,

which is from 200 to 1,000 points, 800 being the statewide

performance target. Laguna Beach High fell below that target with a

score of 740, a 64-point drop from its 2001 score. El Morro

experienced a 41-point drop, to 803, with Thurston right behind it at

a score of 802, a 23-point drop. Top of the World had the highest

score of 854 -- still a 31-point drop.

One of the reasons for the decline, officials said, could be the

changes in the criteria on which the scores are now based. In

addition to the Stanford 9 exams, the scores now include results from

the California Standards Tests in English language arts, mathematics

and, for grades 10 and 11, social science. For the high schools, the

scores also include the California High School Exit Examinations.

In response to these changes, the district implemented a new state

standard-based curriculum in math this fall and will start its

English/language arts curriculum next year, Keller said.

By implementing these new standard alignment programs, school

officials hope to see significant progress in the future.

“The first piece of this is to be honest with yourself. ... [We’re

doing] great, but we could do better,” Keller said. “Overall, I would

say that I’m confident that our API scores and rankings will improve

because I think within the bigger picture -- emphasizing improvement

but not compromising the whole child.”

* CHRISTINE CARRILLO is a reporter for Times Community News and

may be reached at (949) 574-4268 or by e-mail at

christine.carrillo@latimes.com.