O.C. Students Lead State in Advanced Placement Tests : Education: Nearly every district in county shows gains in key indicator of college success by seniors.

Orange County students posted the best scores in the state this year in the strenuous Advanced Placement examinations, with impressive gains in almost all of the county’s school districts.

State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig praised students in Orange County, where the average of 36.7 passing scores per 100 seniors in the 1990-91 school year compared to the statewide average of 20.1 of every 100. The tests, rated on a scale of 1 to 5, enable those who earn passing scores of 3 or higher to earn college credits.

“Even though Orange County’s student population is becoming more diverse, the scores continue to show great improvements,” Honig said in an interview. He was referring to the sharp rise in immigrant and minority students, who now make up 48% of the student population in the county

According to state figures, test scores in every district in the county have climbed since 1983. The gains are “substantial,” said Patrick McCabe, an administrator for the state department’s program evaluation and research division.

In the Los Alamitos Unified and Irvine Unified districts, more than 70% of the students who took the advanced placement tests in the spring passed. Only the Anaheim Union High, Santa Ana Unified and Garden Grove Unified school districts scored lower than the state average, but school officials noted that those districts have more high school students and are much larger than other districts in the county. They also have a higher number of students who do not speak English and whose parents are not as affluent.

Vergil L. Hettick, director of research and evaluation at Santa Ana Unified, said that while the district’s test scores were lower than the state average, students there have shown considerable progress since the tests were first administered in the 1983-84 school year.

“We’re very proud of our progress,” Hettick said. “Back in 1983-84, the passing rate was only six per 100 students. The rate now is 18.7. That’s good.”

Hettick added that the district has been trying to encourage more students to take advanced placement courses. “These students not only want to go on to college, they want to start it early,” he said. “They are working extra hard.”

The exams enable students to earn college credits and skip those courses in college. They are also considered indicators of how well students will do in higher education.

Orange County districts were not the only ones celebrating. California as a whole ranked at or near the top nationwide in several of the subject categories, officials of the College Board said at a news conference in San Francisco.

The state, the nation’s most populous, accounted for the largest numbers of exams taken--75,087 in public schools alone, with 48,958 of the tests, or 65%, producing qualifying, or passing, scores. That represents an increase over the previous year, 1989-90, when only about 46,000 exams produced qualifying scores.

In addition, seven of the 13 National Advanced Placement Scholars for 1991 came from California. Recipients were Edwin C. Chan of Torrance, Steven W. Huang of Irvine, Richard K. Kent of San Diego, Eugenia N. Kim of Arcadia, Larry K. Lee of San Diego, Robin C. Peters of Burbank and Jason M. Waanders of Encinitas.

Honig noted that increasing numbers of students have limited English language skills or suffer from the effects of poverty and other problems. He called the gains “a real tribute to our students, their families and their schools.”

All minority groups in the state made gains, although Honig expressed concern that those made by black students were not as strong as by other groups. Between 1985--the first year data was available by ethnic group--and 1991, the qualifying rate for American Indians rose from 3.4% to 9.3%, while that for Asians shot from 19.2% to 44.4%. The rate for blacks went from 1.1% to 3.2%, while that of Latinos climbed from 2.7% to 11.1%. Among whites, the rate rose from 8.6% to 17.2%.

California ranked sixth in the proportion of its juniors and seniors taking the exams and in the proportion of students earning qualifying scores. Some students take more than one of the exams, which are offered in 29 subject areas.

Honig attributed the gains to schools’ encouraging more students to take the Advanced Placement classes, which typically are smaller and enable teachers to give more individual attention. He said he was concerned that the public schools, facing reduced state funding in the wake of a stubborn recession, may not be able to continue funding the programs.

For the past few years, Los Alamitos Unified’s high school students have passed at a rate of more than 70 of every 100 students. District Supt. Michael S. Miller said teachers there have encouraged students to take the courses.

In Irvine Unified, which posted similarly high scores, Assistant Supt. Bruce Givner said the test results show how eager students are for advanced placement classes to continue.

“This is outstanding and very positive,” Givner said. “The district has been emphasizing all the high standards. We hope to continue these kinds of performances from our students. We are proud of it.”

Tops in the State

Orange County high school seniors earned the highest rate in the state for passing the 1990-91 Advanced Placement tests for college credit--36.7 seniors passed for every 100 enrolled. The scores represent a substantial increase from the 1983-84 school year, when only 12.3 tests were passed for every 100 seniors.

Seniors in * Tests Passed Increase School District District per 100 Students from 1983-84 Los Alamitos Unified 414 74.4 +39.0 Irvine Unified 1,510 71.0 +41.3 Laguna Beach Unified 150 64.7 +54.7 Brea-Olinda Unified 267 64.0 +50.2 Capistrano Unified 1,373 54.0 +38.5 Placentia Unified 1,156 45.7 +33.6 Newport-Mesa Unified 1,042 44.2 +24.0 Saddleback Valley Unified 1,362 43.6 +29.2 Orange Unified 1,216 36.4 +26.6 Fullerton Joint Union High 1,748 35.2 +27.9 Huntington Beach Union High 3,051 34.1 +20.3 Tustin Unified 718 27.4 +10.1 Anaheim Union High 2,671 19.4 +11.1 Santa Ana Unified 1,372 18.7 +12.7 Garden Grove Unified 1,965 14.9 +10.9 Orange County Average 20,015 36.7 +24.4 State Average 244,142 20.1 +12.9

*The AP test is scored on a scale of 1 to 5, with 3 or higher usually qualifying for college credit. The reported value is the number of AP exams passed per 100 seniors enrolled.

Source: State Department of Education