San Diego Stacks Up Well in Ratings : Contradictory Marks Cast Doubts on System

It is the best of schools, it is the worst of schools.

It is a high school that was honored last year for all-around excellence by the U.S. Department of Education. It is a school whose students scored exceptionally well on the 1984 college-preparatory Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)--better, in fact, than every other San Diego County school considered to be its peer.

And yet, this same school is woefully lacking in another crucial area. Its 1983-84 academic course enrollments were substantially below the state average in every subject area--math, English, science, history and social studies, foreign languages, and fine arts. Tremendous improvement is needed for this school to achieve the goals established by state education officials for the years to come.

This school is Santana High School in Santee, pride of the Grossmont Union High School District.

So how can a school do an apparently bad job of enrolling students in academic subjects and still win national honors and score highly on the SAT?

The answer is somewhat complicated. In any case, Santana, as portrayed in the school “report cards” released last week by the office of state schools Supt. Bill Honig, serves to illustrate two important points:

Sometimes, the numbers just don’t seem to add up. And the numbers never tell the whole story.

“You can go over it and over it and to try to draw any scientific conclusions from it is really a risky thing,” said Robert L. Pyle, superintendent of the Grossmont district.

Avalanche of Data

Still, the avalanche of data released by Honig’s office is being closely examined by local school officials. Honig sees the reports as a key tool in the campaign for tougher academic standards and greater accountability to the public.

But the reports have generated criticism from local officials who consider the methods of comparison simplistic and unfair--notably, an effort to divide schools into five “comparison groups” based on the education level of the students’ parents. It has also served to fuel debate over whether Honig’s office is going overboard in its push for tougher academics.

For now, the six-page reports describe a school’s performance on a variety of academic measures, including course enrollments, SAT and California Achievement Program (CAP) tests. Columns for statewide “targets” and individual school goals for upcoming years are also incorporated in the listings.

The reports allow school officials, teachers and parents to see how their school compares with others and to chart its progress. As a general rule, the 1985 report portrayed San Diego County schools in a favorable light. Twenty-eight schools scored above the state average SAT score of 897, and 16 were below.

The reports in future years will include other “quality indicators,” as Honig describes the measures, for school attendance and dropout rates, the amount of homework, and student participation in extracurricular activities. In some cases, accounting procedures are inconsistent; for example, different school districts define dropouts in different ways.

“I think it’s a very good start,” Thomas W. Payzant, superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District, said of the “report cards.” “I don’t believe in the first year we’ve reached a state of perfection in the design of the program, but I don’t think it’s so flawed that people ought to back away from it and dismiss it as being useless . . . .

“You have to look at each of the indicators with care.”

Payzant and the San Diego Unified school board have embraced many of the same standards sought by Honig, adopting tougher graduation requirements that will require more students to take academic courses. But other school officials in the county are less enthusiastic about the campaign.

As superintendent of Sweetwater Union High School District, William B. Padelford oversees schools that serve some of the poorest neighborhoods in the county. One-third of the district’s students have limited English skills, he said. Academic standards should be higher, Padelford said--but there is also a danger that they can be pushed too high and ultimately be a disservice.

Padelford said he and the Sweetwater board do not endorse the model graduation requirements proposed by the state board. “We disagree that for every student to graduate from high school he must pass algebra and geometry and take two years of foreign language,” he said.

“Those are requirements for entrance to the University of California. For our district, that’s not reasonable. . . . If we’re going to require kids to pass algebra and geometry, our dropout rate is going to go up.

“I think the performance report has gone overboard in the academic focus. By requiring what they are . . . there’ll be no room left for electives. Business education, homemaking and industrial arts classes are closing down.

Honig, in a statement that accompanied the performance reports, responded to the criticism that the goals are “elitist” because they are geared primarily to the college-bound students.

“In fact, the opposite is true,” he asserted. “We are advocating changing existing educational programs to allow many more students to qualify for jobs, become engaged in our culture, and develop character and citizenship.

“Who is really the elitist--the one who thinks more students can reach these levels, or the one who is willing to consign the majority to weaker educational programs because of a deep-seated feeling that most students cannot meet higher expectations?”

Pyle, the Grossmont superintendent, offered a middle view between Payzant and Padelford.

“I’m urging our principals not to see these reports as a mandate or a threat somebody is imposing on the schools,” Pyle said. “I’m not asking principals to establish any hard and fast goals, nor are we denigrating (the state goals) or denying them.”

“I really don’t think we can have a double standard if we’re saying we want the high school diploma to mean something,” Payzant said.

Pyle said he does not endorse the state’s targets for course enrollments. “The number of students enrolled in English or math is not an indicator of how students are doing in and of itself,” he said. “It’s the quality in learning, and not necessarily the number.”

Consider a comparison of Grossmont’s Santana High and Clairemont High in the San Diego district.

At Santana, academic course enrollments are low, but its SAT figure was 952, above the state average by 55 points.

Conversely, Clairemont is the rare school that has academic enrollments above the state average in every subject. In fact, Clairemont’s figures are above the state targets established for the 1985-86 school year. Its CAP scores were also above average.

And yet, Clairemont’s average SAT last year was a mediocre 881--or 16 points below the state average.

“I can’t definitely tell you why that’s so,” said Wendell R. McFadden, Clairemont’s principal. He said he was “pleased overall” with the report.

At Santana, Principal Robert C. Brady pointed out that only about 15% of the Class of 1984 took the SAT, perhaps resulting in an inflated school average.

Santana, Brady explained, remains a strong vocational school that is making a transition to becoming a comprehensive high school. Many of the students are not bound for college; those who are college-bound tend to be from families who live in new, affluent developments and place a premium on education, he said.

Of the low enrollments in academic courses, Brady said, “We’re going to be bringing them up.

“But it’s not anything terrific that we’ll be doing. Our freshman class is more college-oriented than our senior class. The point is, we’re in a changing neighborhood.”

Brady stressed that the national honor won by Santana in 1984 was based on all-around excellence--such areas as academics, vocational classes, athletics, extracurricular programs and counseling. (Only four other high schools in California were so honored. Two of those, Fallbrook and Chula Vista, also are in San Diego County.)

“I have no quarrel with trying to improve basic skills, but I’m afraid we’re focusing attention on one aspect of a total school. A lot of it is tied in with college,” Brady said. “I hope that people realize we take all comers . . . and college is not for everyone.”

Santana and Clairemont were in the same “comparison group,” meaning they serve roughly similar student populations.

Several educators criticized the fact that the five school “comparison groups” were formulated on a single criteria: a question on the CAP test in which students were asked to describe the education levels of their parents--some high school, high school graduate, some college, college graduate or advanced degree.

Socioeconomic factors such as the number of families on welfare and the number of students with limited English skills should also be weighed, educators said.

The comparison groups allow schools to gauge themselves against schools with similar backgrounds. Honig’s office intends to use the groups for a school recognition program for schools that demonstrate the most improvement on the “quality indicators.”

Even so, some officials believe the state may have made mistakes. Pyle said he was surprised that Monte Vista High was grouped among schools with the highest parent education factor. He said he believed two other Grossmont schools placed in the second-highest group--Grossmont and Granite Hills--would rank higher than Monte Vista in parent education.

Similarly, Padelford said it was unfair that both Mar Vista and Sweetwater would be in the group with the lowest parent education. “If you were to look at both those schools, there’s no way you can say it is a fair comparison,” he said. Mar Vista, he said, serves a relatively middle-class area, while Sweetwater serves a much poorer area.

Four of the six San Diego County schools in the group with the lowest parent education are in the Sweetwater district.

A High School Report Card The state’s review of 53 public high schools in San Diego County districts

TEST RESULTS COURSE SAT SAT Advanced High School Verbal Math Placement Math English Science State Average 421 476 9.5 67 73 33 SAN DIEGO UNIFIED Clairemont 401 480 5.5 87 86 44 Crawford 410 478 3.1 85 84 32 Gompers 460 551 56.2 92 139 175 Patrick Henry 442 506 18.8 83 95 24 Hoover 369 431 2.2 93 94 26 Kearny 371 464 1.1 84 88 26 La Jolla 463 521 33.4 94 97 52 Lincoln 333 380 0.5 92 61 35 Madison 408 486 2.3 91 85 36 Mira Mesa 411 481 7.1 78 66 33 Mission Bay 450 476 6.7 83 92 35 Morse 373 422 2.4 91 85 30 John Muir Alternative 460 540 0.0 10 80 10 O’Farrell 422 441 3.6 85 97 29 Point Loma 438 493 22.2 90 95 37 San Diego 383 457 6.6 87 85 36 Serra 400 455 3.8 89 91 32 University City 443 511 28.4 91 94 44 Wright Brothers NA NA NA 64 15 10 BORREGO SPRINGS UNIFIED Borrego Springs NA NA NA 76 95 19 CARLSBAD UNIFIED Carlsbad 428 457 2.2 77 94 30 CORONADO UNIFIED Coronado 446 495 50.9 99 32 82 ESCONDIDO UNION Escondido 446 483 2.8 48 96 21 Orange Glen 455 495 7.8 46 82 17 San Pasqual 436 484 4.8 65 96 26 FALLBROOK UNION Fallbrook 466 494 10.1 64 98 29 GROSSMONT UNION El Cajon Valley 413 465 0.0 54 58 16 El Capitan 421 477 2.2 61 55 17 Granite Hills 436 496 5.3 64 71 13 Grossmont 444 492 10.1 66 81 28 Helix 436 500 0.2 75 82 22 Monte Vista 429 472 8.5 82 82 23 Mt. Miguel 420 461 1.9 79 76 19 Santana 448 504 5.4 53 68 12 Valhalla 449 489 6.2 80 78 23 OCEANSIDE UNIFIED El Camino 434 461 0.0 56 23 40 Oceanside 393 429 2.3 50 60 35 POWAY UNIFIED Mt. Carmel 435 503 18.4 81 90 47 Poway 442 487 12.7 74 94 37 RAMONA UNIFIED Ramona 438 480 4.5 69 91 31 SAN MARCOS UNIFIED San Marcos 434 489 0.0 60 59 36 SAN DIEGUITO UNION San Dieguito 444 500 5.6 71 64 23 Torrey Pines 465 510 19.9 85 83 40 SWEETWATER UNION Bonita Vista 458 500 0.0 81 84 40 Castle Park 414 466 0.0 76 75 27 Chula Vista 415 448 0.0 69 84 29 Del Rey NA NA 0.0 61 87 13 Hilltop High 433 478 4.1 84 81 30 Mar Vista 383 444 0.0 76 95 33 Montgomery 353 424 0.0 62 90 23 Southwest 393 436 0.0 86 81 50 Sweetwater 343 396 0.0 84 86 29 VISTA UNIFIED Vista 450 486 13.4 65 94 32 ENROLLMENTS History/ Social Foreign Fine High School Science Language Arts State Average 52 22 65 SAN DIEGO UNIFIED Clairemont 40 26 82 Crawford 42 22 81 Gompers NA NA NA Patrick Henry 44 28 84 Hoover 32 18 69 Kearny 35 13 84 La Jolla 30 52 89 Lincoln 30 13 73 Madison 44 20 91 Mira Mesa 26 21 78 Mission Bay 35 29 84 Morse 39 25 83 John Muir Alternative 67 0 100 O’Farrell 43 24 100 Point Loma 38 31 83 San Diego 37 21 80 Serra 36 17 79 University City 37 34 85 Wright Brothers 26 0 90 BORREGO SPRINGS UNIFIED Borrego Springs 5 19 86 CARLSBAD UNIFIED Carlsbad 7 27 96 CORONADO UNIFIED Coronado 21 90 83 ESCONDIDO UNION Escondido 2 7 62 Orange Glen 13 16 68 San Pasqual 18 17 67 FALLBROOK UNION Fallbrook 93 23 60 GROSSMONT UNION El Cajon Valley 37 10 55 El Capitan 23 16 53 Granite Hills 17 19 47 Grossmont 27 20 67 Helix 15 25 48 Monte Vista 23 22 54 Mt. Miguel 17 13 49 Santana 12 11 50 Valhalla 46 25 51 OCEANSIDE UNIFIED El Camino 31 14 62 Oceanside 61 13 63 POWAY UNIFIED Mt. Carmel 21 47 94 Poway 13 24 95 RAMONA UNIFIED Ramona 13 16 65 SAN MARCOS UNIFIED San Marcos 10 3 74 SAN DIEGUITO UNION San Dieguito 14 20 69 Torrey Pines 15 43 70 SWEETWATER UNION Bonita Vista 32 23 79 Castle Park 22 14 69 Chula Vista 28 16 74 Del Rey 87 7 65 Hilltop High 33 26 70 Mar Vista 36 22 61 Montgomery 72 14 89 Southwest 40 27 81 Sweetwater 28 13 78 VISTA UNIFIED Vista 84 28 67

SAT VERBAL: Average score among students taking the Scholastic Achievement Test college entranceexamination. Results range from 200 to 800. SAT MATH: Average score among students taking the Scholastic Achievement Test college entranceexamination. Results range from 200 to 800. ADVANCED PLACEMENT: Percentage of students who passed Advanced Placement examinations this year with a score of 3 or above. COURSE ENROLLMENTS: Percentage of students enrolled in classes in particular subject areas: mathfor three years, English for four years, science for three years, social science for four years,foreign language for three years, fine arts for one year.

Comparison Group I SCHOOL DISTRICT SAT SCORE Gompers San Diego 1,011 Muir Alternative San Diego 1,000 La Jolla San Diego 984 Torrey Pines San Dieguito 975 Bonita Vista Sweetwater 958 University City San Diego 954 Patrick Henry San Diego 948 San Dieguito San Dieguito 944 Coronado Coronado 941 Mt. Carmel Poway 938 Valhalla Grossmont 938 Point Loma San Diego 931 Poway Poway 929 San Pasqual Escondido 920 Monte Vista Grossmont 901 Comparison Group II Fallbrook Fallbrook 960 Grossmont Grossmont 936 Helix Grossmont 936 Granite Hills Grossmont 932 Mission Bay San Diego 926 Madison San Diego 894 Mira Mesa San Diego 892 Crawford San Diego 888 Carlsbad Carlsbad 885 O’Farrell San Diego 863 Serra San Diego 855 Comparison Group III Santana Grossmont 952 Orange Glen Escondido 950 Vista Vista 936 Escondido Escondido 929 San Marcos San Marcos 923 Ramona Ramona 918 Hilltop Sweetwater 911 El Capitan Grossmont 898 El Camino Oceanside 895 Clairemont San Diego 881 Mt. Miguel Grossmont 881 Kearny San Diego 835 Morse San Diego 795 Comparison Group IV Castle Park Sweetwater 880 El Cajon Valley Sweetwater 878 Chula Vista Sweetwater 863 Oceanside Oceanside 822 Lincoln San Diego 713 Comparison Group V San Diego San Diego 840 Southwest Sweetwater 829 Mar Vista Sweetwater 827 Hoover San Diego 800 Montgomery Sweetwater 777 Sweetwater Sweetwater 739

The state Education Department’s new performance report program places schools in five groups to allow for fairer comparisons. For now, the comparison groups are based on an index of parent education. In this listing, Comparison Group I represents schools with a parent education index ranked in the top 20%; the other groups are listed in descending order.