English Proficiency Emerges as Key to CAP Scores

The performance of Orange County schools on the recently released California Assessment Program scores varied greatly, and generally depended on how many of their students had limited English-speaking ability.

Schools with high ratios of immigrant students invariably show up among those with the lowest scores, while those with few limited-English speakers usually get the highest scores, according to the test results.

For example, Santiago High in Garden Grove lists 25.6% of its 12th-grade students as having limited English, according to the newest round of CAP scores. The Santiago High students ranked very low--in the 13th percentile--in CAP reading tests. That percentile means that 87% of other high schools in the state did better in the test.

Santiago High students were in the 20th percentile in the latest CAP math scores.

“The (CAP) tests are very dependent on knowledge of English, even in the math portion of the tests,” said Bob O’Higgins, principal of Santiago High. “We have many students who come to us not only not knowing English but also not literate in their native language. These students are motivated to learn, but still, it is going to take a while.”

By contrast with Santiago High, University High in Irvine is listed by the state as having no limited-English-speaking 12th graders who took this year’s CAP tests. University High seniors finished tops in Orange County in the CAP scores, ranking in the 96th percentile in reading and the 97th percentile in math.

University High Principal Robert Bruce said in an interview that his school does have some limited-English seniors.

“We have some Asian students who have only been in this country a short time,” Bruce said. “But many of these students don’t self-report (on the CAP tests) that they’re limited-English proficient. Some Asians are sensitive about this.”

Nonetheless, Bruce agreed that, overall, his high school has very little problem with the students’ ability to read and understand English. “This whole (Irvine) community is above the county average both in (the low number of) limited-English speakers and in parental education background,” Bruce said.

Bruce noted, however, that favorable socioeconomic factors do not always translate into good CAP scores for a high school. University High’s scores, he said, show “we have a good school district. Students come to this high school who have been well-prepared in the (elementary grade) feeder schools.”

Tustin Unified School District provides a puzzling example of high schools in affluent areas but with surprisingly low 12th-grade CAP scores this year.

Foothill High in Tustin Unified is in a wealthy suburban area. Foothill High invariably has students who are among the top in annual National Merit Scholarship competition and in Scholastic Aptitude Tests for college-bound seniors. According to the state’s CAP score data, only 1% of this year’s Foothill High seniors are limited-English speakers. The state’s data also said that parents of Foothill High seniors are among the highest educated in Orange County--a factor that usually translates into very high CAP scores.

But on the current round of CAP tests, Foothill High seniors only scored in the 59th percentile in reading. The Foothill seniors did better in math, scoring in the 80th percentile.

Tustin High, a sister school of Foothill, also had low CAP scores. Tustin High seniors scored only in the 53rd percentile in reading and the 54th percentile in math. Many high schools in poorer areas of Orange County and with higher numbers of limited-English-proficient students did substantially better on the tests.

“I’m very disappointed with the scores, and I really don’t understand it,” said Tustin Unified Supt. Maurice Ross. “We seem to lose ground between the 10th and the 12th grade. Our scores in the lower grades are always high.”

The current 12th-grade test scores reflect new CAP math and reading tests. Because the tests are new, no previous CAP scores should be used in comparison, according to state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig.

Honig in the past has said that parents should look at CAP scores and compare year by year, always looking to see improvement at their children’s school.

The new CAP scores for high school seniors become base lines. The 1987-88 scores will be the comparison point for future scores by senior classes.

The state Department of Education this year is giving a percentile rank, ranging from 1 to 99, for the various CAP scores. Those rankings give an indication of how well or bad a school is doing. But state officials, however, said parents should also bear in mind each school’s socioeconomic factors and its percentage of limited-English speaking students.

The state has listed the percentage of school families on welfare--Aid to Families with Dependent Children--as being one socioeconomic indicator. The current test scores list each school’s percentage of AFDC families.

The current test scores also list the percentage of limited-English-proficient students.

Santa Ana Unified School District, the largest in Orange County, has the county’s largest number of families on welfare and also the highest overall percentage of limited-English students, according to the current CAP information.

Santa Ana Unified high schools are the lowest-scoring on the current CAP scores. School district officials said the socioeconomic and limited-English factors cause the scores to be low. But the officials noted that Santa Ana Unified usually ranks very well when compared to school districts of similar makeup.

The high school CAP scores this year show some districts with one or more high schools having unusually low scores compared to sister schools in the district. An example is Huntington Beach High, the flagship school of the Huntington Beach Union High School District.

Huntington Beach High, although with low percentages of limited-English students and families on AFDC, had unusually low CAP scores. The school ranked in the 43rd percentile in reading and in the 47th percentile in math. By contrast, nearby Edison High, in the same city and same school district, ranked in the 86th percentile in reading and 84th percentile in math.

“The staff is quite concerned about Huntington Beach High and is looking into it,” said Lawrence Kemper, superintendent of the district. “The principal and the staff of the high school are drafting a plan on how to deal with it (low CAP scores). Huntington Beach is a fine high school. We just don’t know what happened.”

Westminster High, which has the district’s largest percentage of students with limited-English skills, scored considerably better than Huntington Beach High. Westminster seniors ranked in the 59th percentile in reading and in the 74th percentile in math.

HOW TO READ THE SCORES

Districtwide scores are in boldface.

This year seniors took a revised, more difficult version of the CAP reading and mathematics test. The test also was scored differently this year. Instead of the percentage of correct answers, scores were reported on a scale from 100 to about 400 for each test. The average score statewide was 250, on both the math and the reading portions. For example, ABC Unified School District had a districtwide score of 258 in reading, slightly above the state average, and a score of 273 in math, which is well above the statewide average.

A school’s reading and math scores are ranked with all other schools, from a low of 1 to a high of 99 and a median rank of 50. Thus, ABC Unified has a rank of 54 in reading and 73 in math, which means it scored slightly higher than the median in reading and significantly higher than the median in math.

“% AFDC” is the percentage of area parents who receive benefits from the federal Aid to Families with Dependent Children program and gives an indication of the school’s socioeconomic standing. The statewide average for the proportion AFDC families in a school is 9.9%.

“% LEP” is the percentage of the school’s students who are limited-English-proficient, which means they are not fluent in English. The average California school has 5.1% LEP students.

According to Department of Education officials, this year’s scores cannot be compared with past scores because of changes in both the test itself and the method of scoring.

This year, spelling was included in the reading score; the writing section is being changed and in the future will include evaluation of a writing sample.

SAMPLE MATH QUESTIONS

At the beginning of the day, a soft drink machine is supplied with 50 cans and 85. Sodas cost 45 each. At the end of the day, $15.25 is in the machine. Which of the following processes should be used to determine the number of sodas sold that day?

A. Divide

B. Multiply

C. Subtract, then multiply

D. Subtract, then divide

Two organizations have memberships of 150 and 300. Together they are to send 48 delegates to a convention in proportion to their memberships. Which should the number of delegates the two organizations should send?

A. 12 and 36

B. 15 and 30

C. 16 and 32

D. 24 and 24

A map carries the following directions. Start at point G (0,0), proceed due east to point W, (5,0). Looking toward the northwest, you will see a lone, tall tree at point T (0,12). The treasure is at point X, equidistant from W and T. What are the coordinates of X?

A. (0,6)

B. (2.5,0)

C. (2.5,6)

D. (6,2.5)

Answers: 1. D, 2. C, 3. C

ORANGE COUNTY CALIFORNIA ASSESSMENT PROGRAM TEST SCORES

READING MATH BACKGROUND School Score Rank Score Rank % AFDC % LEP Anaheim Union Dist. 251 50 258 57 4.6 7.1 Anaheim 200 15 218 22 6.4 27.1 Cypress 272 68 288 82 2.1 3.4 Katella 265 61 270 69 3.8 5.4 Kennedy 271 68 281 77 2.3 4.5 Loara 277 71 273 71 5.2 6.3 Magnolia 231 34 243 44 7.9 3.7 Savanna 257 55 243 44 4.6 5.3 Western 232 34 242 43 6.3 2.1 Brea-Olinda Unified 300 87 292 88 1.4 0.7 Brea-Olinda 305 88 300 88 1.5 0.7 Capistrano Unified 300 87 288 86 1.2 0.5 Capistrano Valley 303 87 300 88 1.2 0.0 Dana Hills 298 85 278 74 0.9 0.0 San Clemente 297 84 283 79 1.7 1.7 Fullerton Joint 274 69 276 75 3.7 2.4 Buena Park 266 62 242 43 7.3 4.9 Fullerton 268 64 267 65 5.9 2.6 La Habra 237 38 257 55 4.1 3.9 Sonora 258 55 267 65 2.0 2.7 Sunny Hills 321 93 332 96 1.5 0.3 Troy 290 80 286 81 2.3 1.0 Garden Grove 238 41 247 48 7.5 11.7 Bolsa Grande 202 16 236 37 12.0 21.4 Garden Grove 267 64 270 69 4.5 11.3 La Quinta 239 40 239 40 6.3 12.5 Los Amigos 234 36 254 53 10.8 2.0 Pacifica 284 76 275 72 1.3 1.9 Rancho Alamitos 234 36 239 40 8.8 9.4 Santiago 196 13 216 20 12.0 25.6 Hunt. Beach Union 275 72 278 77 4.6 3.5 Edison 300 86 290 84 0.8 0.9 Fountain Valley 282 75 294 85 1.1 2.2 Huntington Beach 243 43 247 47 4.7 3.7 Marina 297 84 297 87 2.8 1.1 Ocean View 275 71 277 73 6.3 2.8 Westminster 262 59 279 74 14.9 11.8 Irvine Unified 305 92 309 94 0.9 3.5 Irvine 290 80 293 85 0.9 7.1 University 330 96 335 97 1.1 0.0 Woodbridge 286 78 295 86 0.6 3.9 Laguna Beach 301 87 282 80 0.5 0.4 Laguna Beach 301 86 282 78 0.5 0.4 Los Alamitos 289 83 297 91 0.4 0.0 Los Alamitos 291 81 302 90 0.5 0.0 Newport-Mesa 303 91 290 87 3.0 1.6 Corona del Mar 329 95 296 86 0.3 0.0 Costa Mesa 285 77 290 84 8.5 0.0 Estancia 285 77 280 76 4.9 6.8 Newport Harbor 305 88 293 85 0.9 0.0 Orange Unified 292 84 287 85 3.5 4.8 Canyon 312 91 311 92 1.0 0.2 El Modena 298 85 274 72 3.6 0.8 Orange 256 54 253 52 7.5 17.7 Villa Park 303 87 309 91 1.7 0.6 Placentia Unified 286 79 290 87 1.9 0.2 El Dorado 307 89 301 89 0.5 0.0 Esperanza 291 81 288 82 0.4 0.2 Valencia 276 71 298 87 4.8 0.6 Saddleback Valley 289 83 299 92 0.6 0.9 El Toro 259 56 282 78 0.4 0.0 Laguna Hills 286 78 289 83 1.4 3.6 Mission Viejo 321 93 320 94 0.2 0.8 Trabuco Hills 297 84 313 92 0.9 0.0 Santa Ana Unified 207 17 219 20 10.2 17.8 Saddleback 216 24 228 31 8.1 16.0 Santa Ana 213 22 219 23 10.4 19.9 Valley 181 8 211 17 13.1 19.6 Tustin Unified 259 55 267 68 1.8 2.7 Foothill 263 59 285 80 0.2 1.0 Tustin 255 53 256 54 3.6 4.9