County Tops State Average on Test Scores : Santa Ana’s Seniors Record Biggest Gains in All Four Subjects

Santa Ana Unified School District seniors showed the biggest gain as Orange County public high school 12th graders collectively exceeded state score averages in the latest round of California Assessment Program (CAP) testing.

The CAP results show that the county was 2 to 4 percentage points higher than the statewide averages in reading, written expression, spelling and math. The four subjects are tested annually by the state to determine progress in the schools. Elementary school CAP tests are made public in the fall and high school tests in the spring. Only 12th-grade students are tested in the high schools.

Of 15 districts having high schools in the county, three--Santa Ana Unified, Fullerton Joint Union High School District and Newport-Mesa Unified School District--improved in all four test areas.

Three districts--Capistrano Unified, Orange Unified and Tustin Unified--were down in every test category.

Mixed Results for Others

The other nine districts in the county had mixed results: up in some areas and down in others.

The biggest gain in a single district in Orange County came in Santa Ana Unified, which, with 37,415 students, has the largest enrollment in the county. Half of the students in Santa Ana Unified have a limited ability to speak English, which is one of the largest concentrations of limited-English-speaking students in California. Despite the language handicap, Santa Ana Unified had big percentage gains in all four areas of CAP testing.

In mathematics, Santa Ana Unified jumped 5.2% over a year ago. The district rose 4.6% in reading scores; 4.2% in written expression and 1.7% in spelling.

Santa Ana Unified Supt. Edward S. Krass on Monday praised teachers and students. “I also think the effort of our curriculum people helped,” he said. “They’ve been very aggressive in proposing and carrying through changes to keep us current with modifications in state framework. We also worked harder last year to prepare our teachers to teach problem-solving and critical thinking, and I believe that efforts by our principals helped create a more serious approach to the tests by our students.”

Noting that Orange County seniors overall did well this year on the CAP tests, Jeff Wells, a county Department of Education coordinator for the tests, said he thinks many districts are teaching students “how to take tests and how to be less anxious in taking tests.”

Wells said several other factors account for Orange County’s good standing in CAP scores. “The state has lit many fires to inspire excellence in the schools,” he said. “Our teachers also are very good in Orange County, and, let’s face it, we have a relatively high socioeconomic level in this county.”

Here is how the county’s seniors compared in test scores with the statewide average this year:

Orange County State Reading 66.4% 63.6% Writing 67.6% 64.1% Spelling 72.8% 70.6% Mathematics 74.0% 70.0%

Bill Honig, state superintendent of public instruction, noted that CAP scores statewide are the highest in 12 years this year. He said that while CAP testing is only one aspect of finding out how well schools perform, the scores are valuable indicators of progress. “CAP scores are one way of letting school districts be accountable for their teaching,” he said.

Some educators, however, have contended that CAP scores can be misleading. These critics say the scores do not reflect the “personality differences” of individual classes or some of the special problems faced by the districts.

Other educators have noted that this is the first year that the state dropped its “Cash for CAPs” incentive program. That program gave senior classes cash rewards if they made gains in the test scores of the previous year.

“Now we’re back to the situation of where the students just have the incentive to win one for the ‘Gipper,’ ” said Bill Eller, assistant superintendent of Capistrano Unified. Eller said that “Cash for CAPs was a good motivational tool” and that “motivation is a key issue” in getting many students to try harder on the tests.

In commenting on Capistrano Unified’s drop in all four test categories this year, Eller noted that the district already had high scores. “As we test more students--we keep getting more students every year--a small slip in test scores can be expected,” he said.

John Ikerd, acting superintendent of Orange Unified, said “test scores have to be judged over the long run” and not in a year’s variation. He said that he was not upset that Orange Unified’s overall scores showed drops in all test categories this year. “Our scores remain well within the comparison bands, and at the higher end of the test bands,” said Ikerd.

“Comparison bands” are score ranges the state gives to show how similar schools and school districts perform. For instance, Orange Unified had 70.7% this year in its overall score for 12th-grade tests in written expression. The state comparison band for written-expression tests in similar school districts ranges from a low of 68.4% to a high of 70.5%. Orange Unified thus compared well with school districts having similar populations and income.

‘It Really Baffles Me’

Nonetheless, Honig and other state educators have said school districts generally should be expected to do better each year than they did the preceding year.

Maurice Ross, superintendent of Tustin Unified, said Monday that he was at a loss to explain why the high schools in his district dropped in test scores in every area.

“It really baffles me because just last fall all our elementary grade tests showed increases,” Ross said. “Our high schools have been doing so well in other areas. Foothill High had 20 finalists for Merit Scholarships this year, more than any other single school or district in the county.”

John W. Nicoll, superintendent of Newport-Mesa Unified School District, said the district’s across-the-board higher scores show “a general attitude of the importance of achievement.” Nicoll said one reason test scores may have improved is that Newport-Mesa pumped its lottery funds last year into hiring about 35 part-time teachers in order to reduce class sizes and help student achievement.

“Now, because of the governor’s proposed budget and the reduction in lottery funds, we’re faced with having to lose about 30 of those part-time teachers next year,” said Nicoll. “These cutbacks frighten me. We’re facing sharp reversals in state support of education, and the governor is claiming that lottery money is part of state support, when it clearly is not.”

‘Very, Very Pleased’

Robert Martin, superintendent of Fullerton Joint Union High School District, said Monday he is “very, very pleased” with the district’s increased scores in all test areas. “This has been our goal, and the credit belongs to the parents, the kids, the teachers and the school leadership.”

Martin said he thinks a reduction in class sizes is one reason the district performed well in the tests. “We took money from sale of some of our excess land and invested it and used its interest to pay for smaller class sizes in English,” he said. “I think it’s paying off.”

Martin said improvement in the CAP scores has been an overall goal of the district. “We’ve been working at this for a long time,” he said.

Education officials said the current CAP scores produced a range of emotions--according to the results--at the high schools in the county.

But Saddleback High School in Santa Ana probably had the most unusual reaction. Its students were so enthusiastic over the CAP score improvements that they staged an outdoor pep rally to celebrate. “And that’s what I’d say is putting a pep rally in the proper educational perspective,” said Diane Thomas, public information officer for Santa Ana Unified.