English, Math Test Scores Climb

English and math test scores rose at most California public schools this year, but 925 campuses serving low-income students still received a federal scolding because their gains weren’t big enough, according to data released Friday.

Those 925 schools -- about 12% percent of all public schools in the state -- theoretically must offer their students transfers to other campuses in the fall, but crowding at many other campuses will probably limit the numbers of transfers, officials said. Some may have to spend their federal funding on extra tutoring.

Orange County students continue to outperform their peers, according to results from the 2003 California Standards Tests, taken by second- through 11th-graders last spring. But the results show that 46 campuses -- including 18 in Santa Ana Unified -- could face federal sanctions for not improving enough. That total is up from 38 schools last year; 12 were removed and 20 were added to the list.

As in the past, elementary students statewide showed the largest increases on tests linked to California’s tough academic standards in English/language arts and math material that is supposed to be taught in all classrooms.

For example, 36% of fifth-graders were proficient or better in English, a 5-percentage-point gain from last year. Meanwhile, 53% of second-graders were proficient in math, up 10 percentage points from last year. Proficiency, the goal, is defined as strong mastery of that grade level’s material.

In Orange County, 43% of students tested as proficient or better in language arts, while 46% reached that level in math. Statewide, 35% of students were proficient or better in language arts and 36% reached that level in math.

State leaders described the improvements as evidence that California’s education reforms -- including intensive teacher training, tougher academic standards and new textbooks tied to those standards -- are paying off.

“The test scores are clearly going in the right direction,” said Jack O’Connell, state superintendent of public instruction. “Every child can learn and every child can excel.”

Statewide, 81% of the 7,296 schools with test scores increased the numbers of students proficient in English and math this year compared with last year. The schools moved an additional 4% of their students, or about 138,000 youngsters, into the proficient category.

In Los Angeles County, 90% of schools increased the numbers of proficient students; 86% of Orange County schools did the same, as did 78% of Ventura County schools, 77% of Riverside County schools and 84% of San Bernardino County schools.

However, some schools with higher scores on the state standards tests appeared troubled in terms of the federal No Child Left Behind law.

The law requires schools to test at least 95% of their students and to have about 13% of every “subgroup” proficient in English and math this year. Subgroups include whites, Asians, African Americans, Latinos, special education students and those still learning English.

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Transfers or Tutoring

Schools that don’t test enough students, or where subgroups fail to meet proficiency goals, do not make their “adequate yearly progress.” Those that repeatedly fail to meet their yearly targets must offer their students transfers to other campuses or outside tutoring.

State and local education officials said they were not surprised that more than 900 schools were placed on the federal watch list. They also complained that the No Child Left Behind law penalizes many schools on technicalities or on the scores of small categories of students.

Bruce Fuller, a UC Berkeley education professor, said the No Child Left Behind law places unreasonable demands on schools with diverse populations. He said the law unwittingly may provide an incentive for principals not to identify disabled students or others with special needs who might prevent a school from reaching its testing targets. “I think it creates a sort of unsolvable dilemma for principals ... who now have to spread diminishing funds over more groups,” Fuller said.

Santa Ana Unified is home to the largest number of Orange County schools facing sanctions. Nine Santa Ana campuses were added this year, and Century High, which is being audited by the state, is in its fourth year on the list. The district, with two-thirds of its 63,600 students classified as English learners, hopes to improve performance by increasing the focus on English fluency.

A committee was recently formed to evaluate how each campus teaches its Spanish speakers, and Supt. Al Mijares said there is a push to better inform parents about their children’s capabilities in English.

Two schools were added to the list from the Anaheim Elementary district: Franklin and Palm Lane. Pam Ellis, the district’s director of program evaluation, said the district’s makeup -- large numbers of students who are still learning English or who change schools frequently -- presents a big hurdle, especially in language arts. Hence, the district’s laser-like focus on reading.

Literacy coaches helped children at all 23 district schools this year through a federally funded “Reading First” program, in which students are regrouped by ability every six to eight weeks after being tested on skills, including reading comprehension.

Henry Elementary, which was removed from the improvement list this year, has had a literacy coach since 2001. Ellis cited the coach model as one that will continue to propel students toward passing scores.

“We don’t want to see roller-coaster schools -- up one year and down the next,” she said. “We’re making progress. We just want to accelerate that.”

Like other districts, teachers are more strictly teaching to the standards and eliminating so-called “noninstructional” time and subjects outside the testing goals, such as the study of dinosaurs, some field trips and assemblies, Ellis said.

Officials in Garden Grove Unified, where two schools were dropped from the list and two remain, credit a “no excuses” philosophy for their success. Garden Grove, in which more than half of its 50,000 students are English learners and 60% qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, saw a 6% increase last year in students “at or above proficient.”

“We’ve made a big effort to gear our programs to low performers and whatever needs they have,” said school board President Bob Harden.

“We’re not willing to accept that because of ethnicity or family income. Students should perform at different levels.”

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Big Gainer

Magnolia Elementary School District, with nine campuses in Anaheim and Stanton, posted the largest gains among Orange County schools on the tests.

Huntington Beach Union High School District was the only county school system to lose ground in this year’s round of testing. About 39% of the district’s 14,700 students showed proficiency in math and language arts, sliding nearly 5% compared with the previous year. Officials said they have not yet had time to study the results and declined to speculate on the reasons behind them.

The numbers area schools posted are even more impressive because one-third of the county’s students are not fluent in English, said county schools Supt. William M. Habermehl. The rise in test scores proves accountability works to guide students’ learning, he said.

“We won’t be happy until every child and every school meets and exceeds those standards, but these test scores show we’re heading in the right direction,” Habermehl said.

The state on Friday also released results for the California Achievement Tests/Sixth Edition, known as the CAT/6. The standardized test, which replaced the Stanford 9 exam, measures California students against a national sample and is not based on California’s academic standards.

The CAT/6 results showed that nearly half of the state’s second-graders scored at or above the national average, the 50th percentile, in reading. More than half reached the national average in math.

However, state education officials downplayed the importance of the CAT/6, saying the results cannot be compared with previous Stanford 9 scores because the two exams have significant differences.

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Times staff writers Ashley Powers and Cara Mia DiMassa contributed to this report.