Above State Average : Students’ Scores Indicate Educators Deserve Apple

San Diego County high schools received a collective report card from the state Tuesday, and, with one exception, the grades would make any educator proud.

County seniors exceeded state averages on all but one of the major indicators that reflect the quality of education they are receiving.

“It’s a B-plus to an A-minus overall,” said Jack Tierney, research evaluation manager for the San Diego County Office of Education, which released the information.

In California Assessment Program scores, county seniors averaged 64.4 in reading and 71 in math, compared to state averages of 62.7 in reading and 68.7 in math.

On Scholastic Aptitude Tests taken by college-bound seniors, the county had verbal scores of 431 and math scores of 484. State seniors averaged 424 on the verbal test and 480 in math.

County seniors also exceeded the state average for the number of students enrolled in math, English, chemistry, physics, history, foreign language and fine-arts courses.

Tierney and other county educators attributed the successes to more-rigorous course requirements set in recent years by public school systems.

“Because of the fact that schools and parents are demanding that the curricula be more rigorous, this is having an influence,” Tierney said.

But Tierney also noted that because the county has a higher proportion of affluent families than other parts of the state, its high school seniors should be expected to be more successful in school. Research has shown that a student’s socioeconomic status is one of the strongest predictors of how well the student will do in school.

“I think what we have to remember is that San Diego has more than its share of affluent schools,” Tierney said. “I think the expectations should be higher than they are in other places in the state.”

The only below-average showing turned in by county seniors was their hesitancy to enroll in biology and physical sciences courses. Forty percent of state seniors took three or more years of those courses, compared to 36.2% of the county’s seniors.

Lean King, director of the Education Office’s northern coastal region team, said the low enrollment probably is due to a shortage of qualified science teachers in county schools. Educators promised renewed effort next year to encourage county students to enroll.