District schools get top grades

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District posted overall gains on its standardized tests this year. English scores rose at nearly every grade level, although math scores dipped from a year ago.

The state released the results Tuesday for this year’s Standardized Testing and Reporting program, which compiles scores from a number of tests.

Newport-Mesa surpassed the state average in most categories and saw a number of its schools improve across the board.

Every class in Newport-Mesa boosted its English scores during 2005-06 except for the seventh grade, which fell by one percentage point, and the 11th, which stayed the same. Nearly all of the district’s secondary math scores declined. Assessment director Peggy Anatol credited the drop to an increase in students taking higher math classes.

On the whole, Anatol said she was happy with Newport-Mesa’s performance.

“I’m pleased that even in light of the big gains from last year, we still had double-digit growths,” she said. “The problem with climbing is that you have to keep up that momentum.”

California’s standardized tests, held in the spring, rate students in five categories — advanced, proficient, basic, below basic and far below basic — for English, math, science and history. The federal No Child Left Behind Act mandates that all children test proficient or above by 2014. While few districts around the state have approached that mark in any subject, most of Newport-Mesa’s scores have risen in the last few years.

Last year, 48% of the district’s fourth-graders tested proficient or above in math; in 2005-06, the percentage was up to 57%. Third-grade English and fifth-grade science both rose from 39% to 47%. Newport-Mesa also showed several improvements in high school science, which fell substantially the year before; 10th-grade chemistry led the pack by rising from 38% to 53%.

Newport-Mesa lost the most ground in middle and high school math, with some percentages falling by a dozen or more points. Anatol, however, pointed to the growth in students taking upper-level math courses. The number of eighth-graders taking algebra nearly doubled in 2005-06, the result of the district advancing students earlier to meet state and federal guidelines.

Younger students made the largest gains in Newport-Mesa this year, with Killybrooke Elementary School posting the single biggest increase: 43% in fourth-grade math. The Costa Mesa site also saw gains of 20 or more points in sixth-grade math and second- and sixth-grade English.

Some schools improved all around, posting gains in every subject and at every grade level. Among those sites were College Park Elementary School, which improved for the second straight year, and Rea Elementary School, which had seen a number of its scores drop a year ago. In 2005-06, Rea’s fifth-graders nearly tripled their science marks, in part due to the school’s foundation hiring a temporary science teacher.

“We have a mandate from the state to meet those benchmarks, so that’s what we do,” said principal Gloria Hardy. “That’s what we hope for.”

ON THE RISE

The biggest gains in Newport-Mesa schools scoring proficient or above on standardized tests during the 2005-06 school year

School Grade

Subject Increase

Killybrooke Elementary ...

4

Math

43%

California Elementary ...

5

Math

31%

Eastbluff Elementary ...

3

Math

30%

Adams Elementary ...

5

Math

25%

Killybrooke Elementary ...

6

Math

23%

College Park Elementary ...

3

English 22%

Killybrooke Elementary ...

6

English 21%

Killybrooke Elementary ...

2

English 20%

College Park Elementary ...

3

English 20%

Adams Elementary ...

5

English 20%