Local schools post gains in test scores - Newport Mesa Unified ...

Local schools post gains in test scoresDistrict sees strong increases in math and English, but high school science lagsbehind.By Michael Miller, Daily PilotThe Newport-Mesa Unified School District showed gains in most of its standardized testscores this year, with English and mathematics scores rising even as high school sciencescores took a distinct drop.District administrators hailed the scores as a sign of progress, noting that schools showedgrowth in English and math at every grade level and that some schools more than doubledtheir 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 everygrade level," said Supt. Robert Barbot. "As we've all learned, it's just a lot of hard work andconcentration."The state Dept. of Education released the 2005 results Monday morning for both theStandardized Testing and Reporting program and the California High School Exit Exam.Newport-Mesa outperformed the state on both, with 76% of students passing both theEnglish and math sections on the high school exit exam. The state averages were 65% forEnglish and 63% for math.In addition, Newport-Mesa surpassed the state standardized testing results at every gradelevel 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 largestbounds in 2004-05 were Paularino Elementary and Killybrooke Elementary, two schools inless affluent areas of Costa Mesa.Paularino's percentage of second-graders scoring as proficient or advanced on the Englishtest jumped from 30% in 2004 to 62% this year. Killybrooke had the district's highestincrease 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. In2003-04, the district saw decreases in both math and English scores for second-graders, andstaggering drops among Corona del Mar High School algebra students. This year, thesecond-grade scores rose close to levels from two years ago, while Corona del Mar postedslightly higher algebra marks.Barbot said that two possible reasons for Newport-Mesa's improved scores this year werethe implementation of a Houghton-Mifflin language arts assessment program in elementaryschools, and an effort by administrators to get more classified staff involved in the tests. Busdrivers, cafeteria workers and other employees served as proctors this year, with some evenmaking 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 ninthgradersscoring proficient or above on chemistry fell sharply from 84% to 65%; eleventhgradebiology had a similar drop, from 72% to 53%.

Peggy Anatol, Newport-Mesa's director of assessment, attributed the decreases to a muchlarger number of students taking high school science classes this year. Ninth-gradechemistry, 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 leaptfrom 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 alook 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 yearwith regard to standardized test scores. On Aug. 31, the No Child Left Behind report card willannounce 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 makeadequate 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 11on English, math, science and history. The standardized testing program compiles data fromthe California Standards Tests, California Achievement Tests and other tests, rankingstudents in five categories: advanced, proficient, basic, below basic and far below basic. Thefederal 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 thisyear, 38% in math. Both numbers were slight increases from the year before.Newport-Mesa, a relatively affluent district, has routinely scored higher than the stateaverage on the standardized tests. However, while every site in Newport-Mesa made a gainon at least one test this year, the numbers still showed a disparity between schools inNewport Beach and east Costa Mesa and their less affluent neighbors on the west side. Thelowest-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'vegotten from A to B, but now we have to get to C. Until every child everywhere has equalopportunity and is able to achieve at the level they're capable, we're not going to besatisfied."