School scores looking good

There is good news coming from our public school campuses, and it’s

not that a new school year is about to begin.

Once again, our high school students outperformed their peers on

statewide testing. The percentage of high school sophomores in

Huntington Beach that passed the California High School Exit Exam in

2005 was 88% on the English test and 89% on the math, equal with the

previous year, higher than in the rest of the county and a full 12%

to 15% above state averages.

The results also were good on the Standardized Testing and

Reporting Program, given to elementary and middle school students.

Every grade level in the Huntington Beach City School District

from second to seventh improved scores in math and English language

arts and were above both state and county averages. All totaled, 66%

of city district students were proficient in math, and 65% were

proficient in English. The best performances were in second-grade

math, where nearly half the class scored at the top level, and in

fourth-grade English, where scores rose 8%.

Students in the Oceanview School District also improved at all

grade levels on both math and English. Of them, 63% were proficient

in math, and 56% were proficient in English. Officials at Oceanview

credit teachers’ working on a strict curriculum that focuses on the

statewide standards, a back-to-basics approach that clearly seems to

be working.

The testing comes as a result of the federal No Child Left Behind

Act, which requires all students to be proficient or better in these

subjects by 2014.

Reaching that goal at this point seems a foregone conclusion,

though teachers, administrators, students and parents won’t be able

to kick back and relax any time soon. Numbers still need to rise, but

there is every indication that students in Huntington Beach are

headed in the right direction.