School earns state honor

Coastline Community College’s Early College High School was one of 261 high schools and middle schools statewide to be named a 2009 California Distinguished School, an honor bestowed on three other Newport-Mesa middle and high schools in the past 20 years.

The 3-year-old Costa Mesa alternative high school, in which students take both high school and community college classes, was the only school in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District to win the award this year. Thirty other schools around Orange County were also named.

Standardized test scores are the primary basis for the award. Early College High School boosted its API score — a No Child Left Behind indicator — from 786 last year to 861 this year, according to school records.

“Our test scores jumped tremendously from last year and our underserved population also jumped tremendously,” said Coastline Dean of Instruction Betty Disney.

Schools not only have to meet targets for test-score improvement in general, but must also show evidence of “closing the achievement gap” by having faster improvement in the test scores of African Americans, Latinos, socioeconomically disadvantaged and students learning English, than their white and Asian peers, as outlined in the award’s rules.

“These extraordinary middle and high schools have shown they are able to increase the achievement of all their students and have provided evidence that they are closing the achievement gaps that, unfortunately, exist at many schools,” said State Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell in a congratulatory statement.

Schools also have to show evidence of special programs that help them achieve their educational goals. Early College High School practices what it calls “project-based learning,” where students use techniques that they learn in regular classes like geometry and economics to accomplish real-world objectives.

For instance, teams of students competed last year to redesign the campus’ back field with a new layout, newly purchased soccer goals and freshly painted lines, a project involving measurements, calculations and budgeting. The winning team’s design was presented to the college and used by the administration to redo the field.

“They’re teaching the same old abstract stuff that everyone learns in high school, but they’re teaching it so that it makes sense and has a holistic quality to it,” Disney said.

In the past two decades Newport Harbor High School has been named a distinguished school twice, while Corona del Mar Middle School and Horace Ensign Intermediate School have each been named once.

About 11% of California middle and high schools are picked for the award.

“We are extremely proud of Early College High School for their accomplishment this year. They are a relatively young school with a targeted program and to see the kind of growth and academic achievement they have obtained is truly exciting,” said district spokeswoman Laura Boss.

Reporter ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.