‘Relative Rankings’ Give High Marks to Schools in S.D. County

Four out of five schools in San Diego County score higher than schools elsewhere in California whose students have similar socioeconomic backgrounds, according to standardized achievement test rankings released Monday by the state.

State educators consider the so-called relative rankings a key indicator in judging the performance of both school districts and individual schools in teaching basic skills to students in grades 3, 6 and 8, who are tested annually in reading and math under the California Assessment Program (CAP).

The rankings compare schools that have similar composite indexes consisting of the educational levels of parents, the English fluency of students, the rate of student turnover during a school year, and the number of families receiving government assistance.

Better Than Others

For example, Willow Elementary School along the international border in the San Ysidro School District has a 12 out of 99 ranking among all schools statewide in third-grade reading achievement. But when compared to schools around the state with similar socioeconomic factors, Willow--with 80% of its students speaking limited or no English--checks in with a 53 out of 99, meaning its students performed better than half of those at similar schools.

“This is probably the single most impressive statistic concerning test scores that exists,” Thomas Boysen, superintendent of schools at the county Office of Education, said Monday. The state average score is set at 50 for both the absolute and relative rankings.

“This is because relative ranks are an apples-to-apples comparison,” Boysen said. “They compare schools in San Diego County to schools with the same student background factors elsewhere in the state. The results are staggering: they show the average San Diego County school performing well above the level of similar schools statewide.”

Behind Richer Areas

The absolute rankings still show schools like Willow far behind schools in wealthier areas such as Rancho Santa Fe, which comes as no surprise to educators. For third-grade reading, Rancho Santa Fe Elementary scored a 96 out of 99 among all California third-graders tested. But its relative score was 80, meaning that schools in other, similarly upscale areas may be doing a somewhat better job of preparing students.

But educators believe overall that districts and schools with relative scores above 75 deserve gold stars.

“What we have discovered is that schools in low-income areas of San Diego County are doing better than low-income schools in other parts of California,” Boysen said. “The same is true for our high-income schools--they are scoring much better than schools in similar communities.”

Improvement Continued

When the raw scores were issued last month, Boysen noted that county schools continue to show larger improvements from year to year than other districts in the state, and said he thought schools in the county are better focused on teaching what state educators consider the important basic skills to be measured by CAP.

School officials admit that the relative rankings cannot mask real differences that exist between districts with differing socioeconomic characteristics.

“If you have the best of all possible worlds, you want your children to attend schools in those districts with the highest absolute state ranks,” said Jack Tierney, manager of planning and assessment for the county office of education.

Can’t Live in Del Mar

“But a lot of people can’t afford to live in places like Del Mar. So the relative rankings enable them to at least see how their school, with its economic and social background, is doing with others in similar areas.”

Tierney said most officials believe that “intelligence is equally distributed; achievement is not.”

Some of the reasons are home-based, such as the educational level of parents, their ability to assist a child with tutoring or computers, the availability of a quiet study environment, or access to books and travel, Tierney said.

“In the case of Willow, it serves the children of families who have moved into San Ysidro from Mexico, and the best families economically, with strong upward mobility, are always leaving San Ysidro for someplace better,” he said. “That is why it is difficult for places like San Ysidro to make improvements on test scores and a place like Willow may not be able to do better than a 53 because it is always losing its best students.”

But Tierney said that the better schools anywhere are able to provide some of the intellectual stimulation not present in the home environment. Officials have often cited the work of teachers in the South Bay Unified School District, where both absolute and relative scores have risen steadily during the past several years despite unfavorable socioeconomic factors.

CAP tests are the state Department of Education’s effort to measure the state’s educational pulse each year. CAP results are reported statewide, countywide, for individual districts, and for individual schools, but not for individual students. They are intended to measure basic skills of students as large groups to determine whether the math, English and social studies goals set by the department are being met.

During the spring testing, each student takes only a small portion of a total CAP test and may answer more questions in one skill area than another. But across an entire school or district, enough students will take a sufficient number of all parts of a test to allow an accurate assessment of the school or area. In this way, the CAP test can be given in a single day, causing a minimum loss of teaching time.

State officials say the content of the CAP tests comes from the curriculum, in contrast with many standardized exams that might test items not taught in schools.

Teachers throughout California have established state frameworks in math, history and other specific content areas, representing the best consensus as to what general themes should be taught at each grade level.

CAP SCORES FOR GRADE SIX

READING

Number Scaled State Relative County District Tested Score Rank Rank Rank Alpine 128 289 76 85 17 Bonsall Union 87 315 93 98 7 Borrego Springs 17 274 62 92 26 Unified Cajon Valley Union 1,322 284 73 79 20 Cardiff 88 320 96 94 5 Carlsbad Unified 387 308 91 91 10 Chula Vista City 1,838 267 52 75 29 Coronado Unified 151 309 91 70 9 Dehesa 11 296 83 94 15 Del Mar Union 100 326 96 86 3 Encinitas Union 527 313 92 86 8 Escondido Union 1,064 275 63 63 24 Fallbrook Union 385 298 84 89 12 Jamul-Dulzura Union 66 298 84 88 12 Julian Union 44 354 99 99 1 Lakeside Union 387 275 63 69 24 La Mesa-Spring Valley 1,176 261 47 40 31 Lemon Grove 300 280 69 82 23 Mountain Empire 130 261 47 76 31 Unified National 613 252 36 88 33 Oceanside Unified 909 268 53 77 28 Pauma 35 218 2 28 36 Poway Unified 1,436 318 95 79 6 Ramona Unified 356 284 73 69 20 Rancho Santa Fe 52 352 99 96 2 San Diego Unified 7,405 272 59 81 27 San Marcos Unified 436 293 80 81 16 San Pasqual Union 26 252 36 29 33 Santee 693 304 88 93 11 San Ysidro 263 193 1 27 37 Solana Beach 175 322 96 83 4 South Bay Union 952 282 71 93 22 Spencer Valley 1 286 75 39 18 Vallecitos 10 246 33 68 35 Valley Center Union 164 297 83 94 14 Vista Unified 956 266 50 54 30 Warner Union 23 286 75 91 18

MATH

Number Scaled State Relative County District Tested Score Rank Rank Rank Alpine 128 294 81 81 19 Bonsall Union 87 293 79 90 20 Borrego Springs 17 313 91 98 9 Unified Cajon Valley Union 1,322 286 74 72 22 Cardiff 88 309 91 85 11 Carlsbad Unified 387 308 90 87 14 Chula Vista City 1,838 278 59 75 30 Coronado Unified 151 308 90 64 14 Dehesa 11 279 61 78 28 Del Mar Union 100 361 99 96 3 Encinitas Union 527 310 91 78 10 Escondido Union 1,064 279 61 59 28 Fallbrook Union 385 309 91 89 11 Jamul-Dulzura Union 66 285 73 63 24 Julian Union 44 318 93 91 7 Lakeside Union 387 270 50 50 31 La Mesa-Spring Valley 1,176 266 44 37 32 Lemon Grove 300 287 75 80 21 Mountain Empire 130 254 33 55 34 Unified National 613 251 30 77 35 Oceanside Unified 909 281 66 79 26 Pauma 35 240 21 44 36 Poway Unified 1,436 319 95 76 6 Ramona Unified 356 286 74 61 22 Rancho Santa Fe 52 341 98 91 4 San Diego Unified 7,405 281 66 80 26 San Marcos Unified 436 309 91 88 11 San Pasqual Union 26 366 99 99 2 Santee 693 301 87 89 17 San Ysidro 263 202 1 15 37 Solana Beach 175 338 97 89 5 South Bay Union 952 314 92 97 8 Spencer Valley 1 377 99 98 1 Vallecitos 10 256 35 67 33 Valley Center Union 164 297 83 90 18 Vista Unified 956 285 73 69 24 Warner Union 23 306 90 95 16

Sixth-grade reading and mathematics scores for San Diego County school districts on CAP tests taken by students in May, 1988. For each test, results include:

-- The number of students tested in each district;

-- The scaled, or raw, scores;

-- The state rank, showing how the district compared to all other districts in the state on a 1-to-99 scale, with 99 the highest;

-- The relative rank, showing how the district compared to other districts in the state with similar socioeconomic backgrounds of students;

--The county score, showing the district’s ranking among the 37 San Diego County districts tested.

Source: San Diego County Office of Education