District’s SAT scores dip over 5 years

Newport-Mesa’s marks have been in steady decline, but more students take the test every year.The Newport-Mesa Unified School District has seen its SAT scores decline for five consecutive years, according to results released by the state Department of Education.

However, the falling scores have been matched by an increasing number of students taking the standardized test, which is generally considered the most important precursor to college admissions.

During the 2004-05 school year, Newport-Mesa scored an average of 1070 on the SAT, or Scholastic Assessment Test. The score surpassed the national average of 1028 and the state average of 1020, but it fell below the Orange County mark of 1085.

In addition, Newport-Mesa’s score was eight points lower than its average from the previous year, and 27 points lower than five years ago. Every year since 1999-2000, the earliest year for which the district and state had available data, the district has seen its annual verbal and mathematics scores either drop or stay the same.

However, nearly 130 more Newport-Mesa students took the test last year than the year before. Peggy Anatol, Newport-Mesa’s director of assessment, said the increased enrollment explained the slight drop in results.

“More and more kids are taking the SAT, so when you add a lot more kids into the mix, you do tend to have your scores go down a little bit,” she said. “Also, with the standards-based curriculum we have, kids are more tuned into things the colleges test on, and more kids are seeing they can get some of their ... [general education] requirements done at junior college and go on to a four-year.

“In the past, if kids didn’t have the funds to go to a four-year college, they wouldn’t take the SAT. So now, I think, there are more avenues to higher education.”

Of the 831 students in Newport-Mesa who took the SAT last year, 621 of them were from Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor high schools, the high schools in the district with the most affluent populations. Corona del Mar was the only campus in Newport-Mesa whose average SAT score, 1140, exceeded the county average.

All but Estancia High School, however, surpassed the state and national figures. Orange Coast Middle College, Back Bay and Monte Vista high schools did not test enough students to post average scores.

Corona del Mar assistant principal Jack Cusick, who was in charge of SAT preparations last year, said he was not surprised by the students’ marks at his school, which has regularly had scores above 1100.

“I’m extraordinarily proud that the students continue to do as well as they’re doing,” Cusick said. “Of course, we’re always adjusting our curriculum and focusing to ensure that students do their best.”

Robert Cunard, the assistant principal of Newport Harbor High School, expressed mild disappointment at his school’s scores but said that SATs -- at least, in the old version -- did not entirely reflect students’ academic performance.

He said the annual Academic Performance Index, which compiles a number of standardized tests, was a more accurate indicator since it encompassed the entire student body.

“In its former form, it [the SAT] wasn’t as closely related to what we actually teach kids in our classes,” Cunard said. “A classic example is the analogies portion, which used to just kill kids. It just went off in the last year.”

Starting in March, seniors across the country began taking the new version of the SAT, which increases the top score from 1600 to 2400, eliminates verbal analogies and adds a lengthy writing portion.

The 2004-05 results represented the last class to take the original test.