Seeing progress, room for change

As always with numbers, there are many ways to interpret the latest round of Academic Performance Index scores, which measure how students are doing on standardized tests. It is easy to see troubles, but the results released earlier this week for the year 2005 suggest some good things are happening on Newport-Mesa Unified School District campuses.

The easiest bit of positive news to digest is that 12 Newport-Mesa schools improved in comparison with other schools statewide. Those schools were California, Eastbluff, Killybrooke, Paularino, Pomona, Victoria, Wilson and Woodland elementary schools; Ensign Intermediate School; and three of the four high schools: Corona del Mar, Costa Mesa and Newport Harbor. The improvement at the high schools seems particularly encouraging, as it shows that our students are maintaining or even improving their performances well into their teens.

Overall, the Newport-Mesa district ranked at 760 on the index's scoring scale, which runs from 200 to 1,000, with 800 being the passing grade. That 760 was 31 points higher than 2004, putting a districtwide score of 800 within reach.

"The only way the district could do that would be if every school met their target and then some, and we have the capability to do that," Peggy Anatol, the district's director of assessment, told the Daily Pilot.

It is a worthwhile goal.

Fifteen schools also improved in rankings that judge schools compared with others of similar demographics. That measure is perhaps the most useful. It shows, for instance, that College Park, Pomona, Rea, Sonora, Victoria, Whittier and Wilson elementary schools; TeWinkle Middle School; and Estancia High School all do better in comparison with similar campuses.

Of course, the picture from the API scores is not entirely rosy. Rea Elementary School performed more poorly in 2005 than 2004. And a number of the district's best-performing schools, when compared with similar campuses, don't hold up as well.

In other words, there remains much work to do at Newport-Mesa's schools. But there certainly is reason to be optimistic that the work is making, and will make, our schools better.