Test Scores

The ongoing SAT cheating scandal, where 20 former high school students from a wealthy Long Island community allegedly accepted money to impersonate current high school students for the purposes of taking the test for them, has cast a bright spotlight on the enormous pressure high school students feel to gain admission to the top colleges and universities. As an educator who works closely with high school-age students on a daily basis, this is a matter to which I have paid close attention.

COSTA MESA — The school board on Tuesday plans to recognize the schools with the most-improved test scores. Back Bay High, Early College High, Sonora Elementary, Ensign Intermediate and Costa Mesa Middle/High schools will be honored for achieving the largest increase on the 2011 Academic Performance Index (API) statewide tests. API scores, which range from 200 to 1,000, measure academic performance levels and growth for individual schools and for districts. Scores are based on the results of the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR)

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District surpassed the state average this year on the Academic Performance Index, posting a higher overall mark even as some schools slipped. The district also bested the state on the federal Adequate Yearly Progress report, which was released Thursday along with the state marks. School district officials expressed concern, however, as three schools — Pomona Elementary, Wilson Elementary and TeWinkle Middle School — may be forced to adjust their programs after failing to meet federal standards for five years in a row. All three schools are identified as schools with low-income populations and flagging test scores.

Newport-Mesa Unified students learning English as a second language are improving, standardized test scores released Wednesday show. The school district had a 4% increase in students who tested at “advanced” or “early advanced” levels — a total of 38% of students who took the test, according to test results. The increase matches the state’s increase shown in the results released by the California Department of Education. Students statewide came in just behind Newport-Mesa with 36% of its students testing in the two highest categories.

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.

Jessica Garrison COSTA MESA -- Whittier Elementary School will get hundreds of thousands of additional state dollars to raise test scores over the next two years. But if scores do not go up, the school faces a state takeover. Whittier, which posted substantial gains on its Stanford-9 test scores this year but still lags far below national averages, is one of 430 schools in the state -- and five in Orange County -- to be accepted into a new state intervention program this week.

Newport-Mesa, a diverse district, saw each of its major subgroups advance at about same rate. Each ethnic group in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District achieved higher test scores in 2005 than it did the year before, according to data released Thursday by the state Department of Education. Partly as a result, 93% of Newport-Mesa's schools met all of their state growth targets in 2004-05, an all-time record for the district. Only 68% of public schools in California achieved the same feat.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District showed gains in most of its standardized test scores this year, with English and mathematics scores rising even as high school science scores took a distinct drop. District administrators hailed the scores as a sign of progress, noting that schools showed growth in English and math at every grade level and that some schools more than doubled their 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 every grade level," said Supt.

At the risk of sounding both flippant and simplistic, I say, "It's the size, stupid." Lower the class size of all English and math classes throughout the district to no more than 25 students to one teacher ("Testing divide remains at district schools," Aug. 30). Last year, I taught a class of 41 teenagers. Some of my colleagues teach up to 45. That's criminal. Also, school board member Wendy Leece needs a bit of an English grammar review. It's not "less [students]

About 10 Corona del Mar High School sophomores had test answers before an exam earlier this school year by buying test banks on Amazon.com, the school's principal said at Wednesday's PTA meeting. Test banks provide chapter-by-chapter questions for tests, which textbook publishers provide to ensure teachers craft exams that properly assess student learning, Principal Tim Bryan said. "If you have the test questions in advance, you're cheating," he said. "They altered the conditions of the test.

The ongoing SAT cheating scandal, where 20 former high school students from a wealthy Long Island community allegedly accepted money to impersonate current high school students for the purposes of taking the test for them, has cast a bright spotlight on the enormous pressure high school students feel to gain admission to the top colleges and universities. As an educator who works closely with high school-age students on a daily basis, this is a matter to which I have paid close attention.

COSTA MESA — The school board on Tuesday plans to recognize the schools with the most-improved test scores. Back Bay High, Early College High, Sonora Elementary, Ensign Intermediate and Costa Mesa Middle/High schools will be honored for achieving the largest increase on the 2011 Academic Performance Index (API) statewide tests. API scores, which range from 200 to 1,000, measure academic performance levels and growth for individual schools and for districts. Scores are based on the results of the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR)

Mesa Verde families have long been sending their children to schools outside of their upper-middle class enclave. They opt for private or public schools in Newport Beach, Eastside Costa Mesa or Huntington Beach. It's time they took another look at their home schools. Adams Elementary, TeWinkle Intermediate and Estancia High schools are making gains, thanks to reform-minded educators and open-minded families who believe that the only way to improve a school is for the community's children to attend it. Educators say they teach to the individual, challenging those who are further along in their development, and helping pull up those who need extra help.

First of three parts. COSTA MESA - As he tours Mesa Verde with prospective home buyers, Realtor Larry Weichman boasts of the neighborhood country club's heated swimming pool and acclaimed golf pro. But when clients ask about the public schools, Weichman becomes more circumspect. The chairman of the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce pulled his son out of the neighborhood elementary school and sent him instead to the nearby Huntington Beach City School District. "It's sad," said Weichman, who lives two doors from Adams Elementary School.

Newport-Mesa Unified School District schools received a combined score of 820 on the Academic Performance Index tests, well above the state average, according to the results released this week. The 32 schools, from elementary to high school, scored above the statewide target of 800 points on the test's scale of 200 to 1,000 points. Last year, the combined total was 811 points. There were disparities, particularly among schools in Newport Beach and certain sections of Costa Mesa.

Recent data from a national magazine that crunched numbers and compiled percentages from Advanced Placement test scores would seem to upend the age-old notion that students who attend high schools in wealthier neighborhoods automatically achieve better test scores. In Newsweek's June compilation of America's Top High Schools, which tallied up the Advanced Placement scores at 27,000 high schools across the country, Costa Mesa High School ranked 1,500th and Estancia High School came in at 1,148th.

  Paying attention in Marcus Franco's class pays off. Students in his Algebra I classes at Costa Mesa High School culminated a year-long accountability project last week by collectively pulling $4,200 out of a "money grab box." The box contained currency amounts ranging from 25 cents to $100, and students earned draws from it for their test scores, attendance records and paying attention in class. Each paper dollar was inscribed with a dollar amount that could be redeemed for real cash later that afternoon.

H ere's a conversation starter. Your child's four-year high school pattern of taking courses will be the single most important factor reviewed in college admission. More than grades. More than test scores. Colleges will carefully note the challenge in the succession and whether there is increasing difficulty. And the findings gleaned from their initial screening sets the stage for your child's college acceptance or denial. Parents of high school-age students must understand how colleges review a candidate's academic profile and learn to ask the right questions of academic advisors.

The advantage of having well-informed readers is that they are always there to support you, even when you are wrong. In my case, I offer two corrections, thanks to the sharp eye of Laura Boss, Newport-Mesa Unified School District spokeswoman. Boss pointed out that the dates of the two school bonds, Measures A and F, were passed in 2000 and 2005, not 2002 and 2004, as I reported. And that dollar amount I stated, $492 billion, is actually $492 million. No excuses other than rushing to beat a deadline, though that is no excuse at all, really.