O.C. 8th-Graders Score Well on Writing Tests

Orange County eighth-graders bucked a slight statewide decline in writing scores released Wednesday by posting a six-point increase at the same time that their counterparts across California dropped a point.

Overall, Orange County schools averaged 288 on the test, compared to a statewide average of 255.

“Six points is really quite significant,” said Tom Fong, a research analyst with the state’s California Assessment Program. “Orange County did very well.”

Most districts in the county showed significant gains, with some leaping by more than 20 points on the 400-point test. Brea-Olinda Unified School District, in northern Orange County, scored the greatest improvement, increasing by 22 points to an average of 352. That score put it in the 98th percentile of districts statewide.

At the district’s only junior high school, Principal Mike Condiff credited the improvement to his staff and to a classroom configuration that gives students two consecutive periods of language arts and lumps the school’s highest achieving students with others who are struggling.

“Ever since we’ve gone to that system, our scores have increased dramatically,” he said. “If you track kids into a remedial program, all they get is mediocre literature.”

Buena Park Elementary School District, also on the county’s northern border, dropped by 26 points, the most of any county district. However, its students still posted an average score of 258, three points higher than the state average. Educators there said they were still reviewing the scores.

Fred Lange, director of the county Education Department’s effective schools unit, attributed Orange County’s generally strong scores to the emphasis area schools have placed on writing in recent years. Some districts have also been especially effective at teaching students whose native language is not English, he added.

“We’re dealing with many students who come from foreign-language backgrounds, and teaching them writing is an important part of their education,” Lange said. “I think you’ll find that our students probably will always be a little bit above the state average.” Local educators were particularly gratified by the progress made in Santa Ana, which, with 43,000 students, is Orange County’s largest district and the ninth biggest in the state. More than half of the district’s students have limited English skills. Still, writing scores there increased 11 points to 259, for the first time overtaking the state average.

“Santa Ana is to be commended for the tremendous work that they are doing, especially with dealing with their large population of students who have limited English skills,” Lange said.

Santa Ana Supt. Rudy Castruita, an outspoken proponent of improved English-as-a-second language instruction, agreed that renewed emphasis on writing skills has helped boost the district’s scores.

More than 21,000 Orange County eighth-graders took the 45-minute essay test last spring, and they were among 308,000 students statewide to participate in the exam. Students were required to write an essay in one of eight categories: autobiographical incident, evaluation, problem solution, report of information, firsthand biography, story, observational writing or speculation about causes or effects.

The essays were graded on the thinking and writing processes they displayed, as well as on basic skills such as spelling and grammar.

Because the exam moves away from multiple-choice testing, it has won high praise from some testing experts. Cinthia Schuman, executive director of FairTest, a watchdog group campaigning for better ways of measuring student achievement, praised California’s writing test as “moving in the right direction.”

Statewide, girls continued to score markedly higher on the writing test than did boys, a pattern that has shown up every year since 1987, when the test was first administered. This year, girls scored an average of 280, while boys averaged 232.

The CAP tests, which are administered annually to almost all California students at various grade levels, are not meant as barometers of individual students’ performance. Rather, they are used to evaluate schools and the effectiveness of their curricula.

While Orange County educators said their continued success in the writing scores was evidence of the county’s strong commitment to teaching those skills, Bill Honig, state superintendent of public instruction, worried that the statewide trend is not as positive.

Honig said the one-point dip in scores might be attributable to the addition of two new writing categories in the eight-essay test but added that “it’s clear we still have a long way to go in developing our students’ writing abilities.”

Although some teachers and educators complain that CAP scores oversimplify a school’s educational performance, Honig said Wednesday that a recent survey indicates that the CAP writing test is “successfully influencing the English curriculum in middle and junior high schools.”

More than 90% of English teachers polled said they believe that the CAP writing test “will improve or strengthen” their schools’ English curricula, Honig said.

Staff writer Jane Merl in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

ORANGE COUNTY GRADE 8 WRITING ASSESSMENT TEST SCORES

California Assessment Program scores for eighth grade writing were released Wednesday, and Orange County students overall raised their scores by six points. Meanwhile, students across the state dropped one point, at least in part because of changes in the test format, according to state officials. The Orange County improvement was “significant,” state officials said, and local educators credited the results to area districts’ emphasis on writing skills and new programs for educating students who speak English as a second language.

To read the scores: Averages on the 400-point test are listed by county, district and individual schools. Testing experts advise against making too much of a single year’s results and instead recommend that parents look at a school’s progress over a period of at least two years. Scores for 1987-88 are listed in the left-hand column, while last year’s are displayed in the right-hand column.

School 1987-88 1988-89 County Average 282 288 Anaheim Union 243 247 Ball Junior High 215 247 Brookhurst Junior High 236 237 Dale Junior High 244 237 Lexington Junior High 258 283 Orangeview Junior High 248 241 South Junior High 249 249 Sycamore Junior High 232 210 Walker Junior High 263 270 Brea-Olinda Unified 330 352 Brea Junior High 330 352 Buena Park Elementary 284 258 Buena Park Junior High 284 258 Capristrano Unified 308 305 Forster Junior High 295 294 Newhart Junior High 315 319 Niguel Hills Junior High 318 315 Shorecliffs Junior High 303 290 Fountain Valley Elementary 319 328 Fulton 366 351 Masuda Middle 307 324 Fred Moiola 310 358 Talbert 301 306 Tamura 302 305 Fullerton Elementary 278 270 Ladera Vista Junior High 276 258 Nicolas Junior High 256 229 Parks Junior High 306 309 Garden Grove Unified 259 265 Alamitos Intermediate 236 251 Bell Intermediate 282 272 Doig Intermediate 234 229 Fitz Intermediate 246 256 Irvine Intermediate 254 277 Jordan Intermediate 283 281 McGarvin Intermediate 265 298 Ralston Intermediate 282 268 Huntington Beach City 321 313 Ethel Dwyer Middle 319 301 Isaac L. Sowers Middle 323 321 Irvine Unified 321 339 Lakeside Middle 313 364 Rancho San Joaquin 316 332 Sierra Vista Middle 327 330 Venado Middle 326 330 Vista Verde 323 355 La Habra City Elementary 255 267 Imperial Middle 247 268 Washington Middle 266 265 Laguna Beach Unified 344 322 Thurston Middle 344 322 Los Alamitos Unified 281 293 McAuliffe Middle 281 293 Newport-Mesa Unified 289 258 Corona del Mar High 344 311 Costa Mesa High 261 244 Ensign Intermediate 284 258 Charles TeWinkle 266 225 Ocean View Elementary 294 312 Crest View 266 257 Harbour View 291 297 Marine View 359 366 Mesa View 302 307 Spring View 319 303 Vista View 275 332 Orange Unified 278 297 Cerro Villa Junior High 300 297 El Rancho Junior High 275 303 McPherson Junior High 248 310 Portola Junior High 257 278 Santiago Junior High 292 346 Yorba Junior High 280 258 Placentia Unified 305 324 Kraemer Junior High 298 315 Tuffree Junior High 299 328 Yorba Junior High 313 328 Saddleback Valley Unified 314 333 La Paz Intermediate 285 358 Los Alisos Intermediate 309 329 Serrano Intermediate 336 319 Santa Ana Unified 248 259 Carr Intermediate 229 255 Lathrop Intermediate 226 253 MacArthur Fundamental 298 282 McFadden Intermediate 273 282 Sierra Intermediate 251 259 Spurgeon Intermediate 226 243 Willard Intermediate 238 235 Tustin Unified 290 294 Columbus Tustin Middle 253 255 Currie Middle 264 272 Hewes Middle 344 342 Westminster Elementary 237 244 Johnson Intermediate 213 229 Stacey Intermediate 249 269 Warner Intermediate 249 227 Yorba Linda Elementary 321 302 Yorba Linda Middle 321 302

Source: State Department of Education.