Students shine on STARs

Newport-Mesa Unified School District schools showed improvements from a year ago districtwide on 2008 California Standardized Testing and Reporting, better known as STAR, and also showed higher rates of students testing at or above state standards for math and science compared with county and state totals, testing results released today show.

Elementary and middle schools from second to seventh grades, on a whole, saw improvement with the amount of students meeting or exceeding state standards in English-language arts at every level except second grade. The percentage of students improved in math for all grades except second and sixth.

“We are very proud of all of our students for making such excellent progress and appreciate the hard work of the principals and teachers,” said Jeffrey Hubbard, the Newport-Mesa superintendent.

STAR testing assessments are given every year to students in second through 11th grades. They determine how students perform on the California Standards Tests in English-language arts, mathematics, history and social science, and science.

Schools and districts are often judged by these scores, and state funding is partly dependent on them.

Newport-Mesa high schools improved, or matched, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards in English-language arts at every level but ninth grade.

The district did equally well in science scores, with improvements in biology for all applicable grades — ninth through 11th — and improved in chemistry in ninth and 10th grades.

“I am very encouraged by the ongoing progress seen in secondary schools,” said Charles Hinman, the assistant superintendent in charge of secondary education.

“The data shows strength of program and allows us to adjust instruction to meet all student needs.”

But math scores were a mixed bag for the district.

Districtwide, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards improved in Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 for the majority of grade levels.

Students struggled, though, in geometry. No grade level tested on the subject improved in the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards.

In 2007, 97% of eighth-grade students achieved standards, while this year, the number dropped slightly to 93%.

But ninth- and 10th-grade levels dropped considerably from 62% in 2007 for ninth-graders to 49% in 2008. Tenth-graders also dropped from 23% to 12%.

Students who need extra assistance in areas of need will be given special interventions by the district. Those interventions identify needs and address problems through after-school programs, district officials said.

The district was pleased with the science scores from fifth-grade students, as nearly every elementary school matched or improved their percent of students meeting or exceeding standards.

School officials credited part of that success to Measure F, which built state-of-the-art science classrooms for elementary schools.

Corona del Mar High School had the highest percentages in English-language arts for grades ninth through 11th, with the exception of alternative schools Orange Coast Middle College High School and Early College.

Estancia and Costa Mesa high schools were 20% to 30% lower than Newport Harbor High School or Corona del Mar, which is in line with previous test scores.

The same score differences could be seen in elementary schools, where for the most part Newport Beach schools fared much better than Costa Mesa in English and math.

Costa Mesa and Newport Beach schools did fare much better in the amount of students meeting standards in math than those who met standards in English-language arts.

To look up statistics on districts and schools, click here.

DANIEL TEDFORD may be reached at (714) 966-4632 or at daniel.tedford@latimes.com.