Test Marks Are Favorite Subject at Harbor High : Scores: Experts say part of the credit for the students’ stellar marks goes to the socioeconomic factors of the district.

Students at Newport Harbor High School walk around their palm-tree-speckled campus and talk about the normal concerns of teen-agers: the latest movies, music, clothing styles and the one topic that has set their school apart--the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

It is a subject they can be proud of, having achieved the county’s highest scores on the rigorous three-hour college entrance exam, according to a recently released performance report on Orange County’s public high schools.

“We all worry about the SAT; I’m glad we scored high,” said 11th-grader Pat Sweeney, 16. “Every senior who wants to go to college wants to score well on it. . . . You have to.”

The “report card” issued last week by the state Department of Education examined 40 “quality indicators” for area high schools, including dropout rates, enrollment in college preparatory classes and participation in extracurricular activities. They also show that Newport Harbor High was the only public high school in the area to break the 1,000-point mark on the 1,600-point aptitude test in 1988, with a 483 score on the verbal section and 541 on the math. Newport Harbor High students excel on the test because “people here want to learn, and the teachers are really great,” Pat said as he thumbed through vocabulary flash cards following a pop quiz in geometry last week.

Education experts also attribute the students’ stellar marks to the socioeconomic factors of the district. The average student on this sprawling Spanish-style campus near the beach is white and upper middle-class, with well-educated parents who plan on sending their children to college.

The 59-year-old school has a very stable student population and one of the lowest dropout rates in the county, losing less than 1% of its students a year.

“We’re expected to do well and we better do well,” Newport Harbor High Principal Dennis Evans said. “We don’t have to overcome some of the language or financial obstacles that other schools do. . . . Some consider this the ideal teaching situation.”

Mathematics teacher Gail Hurwitz wouldn’t dispute that claim. “This is the nicest place to work,” Hurwitz said. “I feel very fortunate being here.”

The feeling is mutual, students in Hurwitz’s first-period geometry class said earlier this week. “This is a great place to go to school; the teachers are really great,” said 10th-grader Tamie Thurston.

Inside the yellow classroom, where Tamie and most of her classmates were dressed in faded jeans and T-shirts emblazoned with surf decals, the learning process swirled with an engrossing discussion of the properties of parallelograms. The only sign of discontent was a soft collective moan when Hurwitz announced a pop quiz.

In Gerald Tagami’s honors English class, the pace was just as furious as students talked about the deeper meaning of Moonwalker’s actions in Arthur C. Clarke’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

“These kids really want to learn,” Tagami said. He said one of best things about teaching at Newport Harbor High is that he can set his own course curriculum. “There’s a feeling you’re not being watched, that you’re trusted as a professional. . . . Many teachers have different styles, and we’re allowed to do what works for us.”

Clay Napier, sitting in Tagami’s small, heavily postered classroom, said the teachers make the subjects fun. “They make you want to do well,” the 16-year-old 10th-grader said. “I guess that’s why we did so well on (the SAT).”

According to the report, nearly half of Newport Harbor High’s graduating seniors fulfilled courses required to attend the University of California. School officials said about 80% of their seniors go on to college.

Principal Evans, however, cautioned his staff, students and the community about getting too excited over the state’s report. “I’ve learned that you don’t get overly enthused or depressed over these reports, because they don’t totally define the quality of the school.”

Evans said a school such as Garden Grove’s Santiago High School, which scored the lowest on the verbal section of the 1988 SAT, may “be doing the best job in meeting the needs of its constituents,” even though it isn’t reflected in the state’s report. Because English is a second language for many students at Santiago, “they are at a disadvantage (taking) the test,” he said.

There are other factors that may also be deceiving when evaluating the report. Even though Harbor scored the highest on the SAT with 1,024, only 48% of the school’s seniors took the test, contrasted with 74.8% of the seniors at Irvine’s University High School, which posted an average score of 994. According to the College Board, which administers the SAT, schools that have higher test participation often have lower averages.

“It’s hard to compare which (set of scores) is better,” said Bruce Givner, deputy superintendent in charge of support services for Irvine Unified School District. “I prefer to look at the whole ball of wax rather than the individual scores.”

One reason the schools in Irvine and Newport-Mesa district score so well on the standardized tests is that many students’ parents can afford the nearly $600 to send them to special preparatory test courses, some educators said.

Paul Kanarek, the Orange County director for Princeton Review, a private firm that offers the largest private SAT preparation course in the county, said that in the last three years he has prepared more than 400 students from University High and more than 100 students from Newport Harbor for the test.

“Where the money is, is where you will find the highest results,” Kanarek said. “It’s not fair to the lower socioeconomic students. . . . I don’t see how a standardized test is a good way to measure quality education.”

He said that “too much worth” is put on the test.

Many educators agree. But they add that as long as colleges use the SAT as a key part of the admissions process, students and teachers will continue to be guided by it.

Hurwitz said she uses SAT-type questions to help prepare her math students for tests.

For 16-year-old Tamie, the SAT looms large in the back of her mind even though she won’t take the test for two years. She said she plans to take a primer course for the test.

“I can’t slack off, because my parents want me to go to college. . . . I want that too,” she said.

Still, the news of the school’s top SAT ranking took most students by surprise.

“I didn’t know we were that good,” said 10th-grader Jon Speights. As he collected his books to leave Tagami’s English class, he said, “It shows we’re not just wasting time here.”