Local schools post gains in test scores

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District showed gains in most of its

standardized test scores this year, with English and mathematics

scores rising even as high school science scores took a distinct

drop.

District administrators hailed the scores as a sign of progress,

noting that schools showed growth in English and math at every grade

level and that some schools more than doubled their percentages of

proficient and advanced scores from a year ago.

“The magic of it all, the secret, is hard work -- making sure

standards are taught at every grade level,” said Supt. Robert Barbot.

“As we’ve all learned, it’s just a lot of hard work and

concentration.”

The state Dept. of Education released the 2005 results Monday

morning for both the Standardized Testing and Reporting program and

the California High School Exit Exam. Newport-Mesa outperformed the

state on both, with 76% of students passing both the English and math

sections on the high school exit exam. The state averages were 65%

for English and 63% for math.

In addition, Newport-Mesa surpassed the state standardized testing

results at every grade level in English, history and science, and at

nearly all grade levels in math.

Some of the individual schools’ scores also marked breakthroughs.

Those making the largest bounds in 2004-05 were Paularino Elementary

and Killybrooke Elementary, two schools in less affluent areas of

Costa Mesa.

Paularino’s percentage of second-graders scoring as proficient or

advanced on the English test jumped from 30% in 2004 to 62% this

year. Killybrooke had the district’s highest increase in math for its

fifth-graders, with the number rising from 14% to 46%.

In another positive sign, Newport-Mesa made up some of its losses

from the year before. In 2003-04, the district saw decreases in both

math and English scores for second-graders, and staggering drops

among Corona del Mar High School algebra students. This year, the

second-grade scores rose close to levels from two years ago, while

Corona del Mar posted slightly higher algebra marks.

Barbot said that two possible reasons for Newport-Mesa’s improved

scores this year were the implementation of a Houghton-Mifflin

language arts assessment program in elementary schools, and an effort

by administrators to get more classified staff involved in the tests.

Bus drivers, cafeteria workers and other employees served as proctors

this year, with some even making breakfast for the test takers.

“It’s hard to measure the impact, but it certainly had one,”

Barbot said. “A lot of the kids said, ‘Even the custodian and the

office lady were telling me how important it is to learn this

stuff.’”

The only blemishes on Newport-Mesa’s record this year were its

high school science scores, nearly all of which stayed the same or

dropped from the previous year. The number of ninth-graders scoring

proficient or above on chemistry fell sharply from 84% to 65%;

eleventh-grade biology had a similar drop, from 72% to 53%.

Peggy Anatol, Newport-Mesa’s director of assessment, attributed

the decreases to a much larger number of students taking high school

science classes this year. Ninth-grade chemistry, offered only at

Costa Mesa High School, had only 13 students last year; this year,

the class doubled to 26. Similarly, enrollment in 11th-grade biology

across the district leapt from 186 students in 2003-04 to 274 this

year.

Still, Anatol admitted, the declining percentages were a concern

to the district.

“More kids took it, so you have more students moving into biology,

but we still need to take a look at why a great majority didn’t

become proficient or advanced,” she said.

In addition to the results just released, Newport-Mesa has two

milestones remaining this year with regard to standardized test

scores. On Aug. 31, the No Child Left Behind report card will

announce which schools in the district made “adequate yearly

progress.” And on Sept. 13, the government will identify Title I

schools, a label designated for sites that do not make adequate

progress in the same subject for two years in a row.

California’s standardized tests, held in April and May, rate

students in grades two through 11 on English, math, science and

history. The standardized testing program compiles data from the

California Standards Tests, California Achievement Tests and other

tests, ranking students in five categories: advanced, proficient,

basic, below basic and far below basic. The federal No Child Left

Behind Act mandates that all children test proficient or above by

2014.

According to figures released Monday by State Supt. of Public

Instruction Jack O’Connell, 40% of California’s second- through

11th-graders scored proficient or above in English this year, 38% in

math. Both numbers were slight increases from the year before.

Newport-Mesa, a relatively affluent district, has routinely scored

higher than the state average on the standardized tests. However,

while every site in Newport-Mesa made a gain on at least one test

this year, the numbers still showed a disparity between schools in

Newport Beach and east Costa Mesa and their less affluent neighbors

on the west side. The lowest-scoring site in the district, Rea

Elementary, managed no higher than 24% on any test, while many of the

elementary schools across town peaked in the 80s and 90s.

“Every school is across-the-board improved, but ‘improve’ is a

journey,” Barbot said. “We’ve gotten from A to B, but now we have to

get to C. Until every child everywhere has equal opportunity and is

able to achieve at the level they’re capable, we’re not going to be

satisfied.”