Danette Goulet
NEWPORT-MESA -- Motivation is the key factor in the fluctuation of
high school student test scores, principals said Thursday.
While the majority of elementary schools, with 20-to-1
teacher-to-student ratios, showed marked improvement on the statewide
Academic Performance Index (API) scores this year, Newport-Mesa high
schools were divided, with two improving and two plummeting.
Corona del Mar and Estancia high schools improved their scores by 28
and 23 points, respectively, but Costa Mesa and Newport Harbor high
schools scores dropped by 21 and 14 points.
Principals at the high schools attribute motivation, or a lack
thereof, to the schools' success or failure to improve on the tests,
results of which were released Wednesday.
"I visited every room. Every student who was taking the test, I met
with them personally. I let them know I didn't think the scores they had
already had were representative of their skills and talents," said Tom
Antal, principal of Estancia High School in Costa Mesa.
"I implored them to really put their best foot forward on every day of
testing," he continued. "I told them I wanted people to respect them and
I think they heard the message."
The API is the system mandated by Gov. Gray Davis' Public Schools
Accountability Act of 1999 that ranks each public school based on student
performance on the Stanford 9 achievement tests.
Besides personal visits to every class in the school, Antal turned the
school upside down at testing time to let students know it was a big
deal.
"We changed the school," he said. "We had students in blocks of 25 or
30 in a room they don't normally go to, with a teacher they don't
normally have. We set up new classrooms. They got the sense internally
that it was an all-school effort."
Antal said he also tried to create an optimal testing environment by
spreading the test over the course of five days,for only an hour and a
half on each, instead of cramming it into three days as many schools do.
He also sent newsletters home about proper breakfasts and the
importance of rest, as many elementary schools do.
But when it comes right down to it, Antal said, it was the teachers'
vigorous teaching and students' focus that brought the scores up.
While students at Estancia were being convinced to dazzle the
community with their combined brilliance, some students across town at
Newport Harbor High School gave the Stanford 9 little to no credence.
This may a contributing factor to why the school's score dropped 14
points.
