O.C. SAT Scores Top National, State Averages

Orange County’s high school class of 1992 scored better on the Scholastic Aptitude Test than did the class of 1991, making especially notable gains in math and scoring far higher than their peers statewide and across the nation.

In most districts, their scores on the verbal portion of the college entrance exam exceeded the national average of 423 by 8 to 43 points, and they bested by 19 to 87 points the national average of 476 on the math portion. The multiple-choice test is scored from 200-800.

But Orange County students also improved their scores much more over a one-year period than did their peers elsewhere in California and the United States. While the national average rose only one point on the verbal section and two points on the math, the test scores of students from the vast majority of Orange County’s school districts were climbing much faster.

Newport-Mesa students, for example, scored 18 points higher than the previous year’s class on the verbal portion of the test, and 14 points higher on math, while Tustin Unified’s students scored 13-point gains on each. In contrast, three districts had scores below the national averages, and students in a handful of districts did not score as well as the previous year.

The local scores were particularly impressive after several years of recession-driven budget cuts, and amid complaints from administrators that they lacked sufficient resources to educate a burgeoning number of students, many with limited English skills.

Dale Woolley, director of research and student services in Newport-Mesa, said he was “extremely excited” about his district’s record-high scores and relieved that several consecutive years of budget-trimming has not appeared to damage the quality of his students’ education.

“The scores show that the programs we have in place, even during difficult budget times, have not slipped,” he said.

SAT critics have long charged that the test is biased against ethnic minorities and children from poorer socioeconomic backgrounds, who tend to score lower on the exam. Although detailed breakdowns were not yet compiled for Orange County schools, those patterns were apparent. Districts such as Santa Ana Unified, with many poor and immigrant students, scored far lower than districts such as Irvine Unified or Newport-Mesa, whose students tend to come from more economically privileged families.

Only three school districts had average scores below the national and California averages, and all three have large numbers of students with limited English skills. Anaheim Union and Garden Grove Unified scored below the national average on the verbal portion only, and Santa Ana Unified’s students on average scored lower on both verbal and math. While still below the national average, however, the class of 1992 in Anaheim Union and Garden Grove scored better than the class of 1991.

Superintendent Cynthia F. Grennan of Anaheim Union said the district’s scores are “not as high as we’d like,” but said she considers the year-to-year improvement a victory in a district where 45% of the students are enrolled in English-as-a-second-language courses.

“We have struggled very hard, with 64 cultures represented in our district, to integrate everyone into our curriculum,” she said. “It’s like a little United Nations.”

Grennan and other administrators said they believe that improved scores show the effect of a renewed statewide emphasis on basic reading, writing and math skills. Many teachers have been using a “literature-based curriculum,” which emphasizes reading in all subjects and encourages students to write about what they have learned.

Several districts with good math scores cited the increased use of “math manipulatives,” a teaching method that has students handling objects to gain a better understanding of spatial concepts.

Santa Ana Unified, the biggest district in Orange County and the ninth largest in California, was the only one in the county to lose ground in both the verbal and math categories, scoring 14 points lower in verbal and 16 points lower in math than did the class of 1991. Two-thirds of the district’s students speak limited English.

District spokeswoman Diane Thomas said that while the drop isn’t good news, it is explained in part by the fact that more students are taking the SAT each year, which lowers the overall score. The district saw a 16% increase in the number of test-takers between the classes of 1991 and 1992, Thomas said.

“Our goal is to encourage more and more kids to look beyond high school to higher education,” she said. “Achieving that goal, you take the chance that the scores might dip, but you have to keep in mind the goal, and that is that more young people are planning for college.”

Scoring highest on the math section of the SAT were Irvine Unified with 563, Brea-Olinda with 554 and Newport-Mesa with 543. Highest scores in the verbal section were earned by Irvine Unified (466), Laguna Beach Unified (465) and Newport-Mesa (464).

Santa Ana Unified had the county’s lowest scores in both categories, with 344 in verbal and 436 in math. Garden Grove Unified was second-lowest in verbal (396) and third-lowest in math (500).

Huntington Beach Union High School District’s director of guidance and assessment, Dorothy Crutcher, attributed improved scores to a decade-long reform effort that encourages students to aim for college and to enroll in honors classes, and provides extra recognition when they do so.

In Brea-Olinda, where math scores have soared, Brea-Olinda High School principal John Johnson cited an exceptionally strong emphasis on mathematics in all four grades, and an outstanding honors math curriculum. His students won high scores despite budget cuts that produced class sizes of more than 40 in some cases.

Carol Hart, principal of Los Alamitos High, where scores were up in both categories, said students know that it is increasingly difficult to get into college.

“I’ve never seen students compete as hard as they have been competing the last five years,” she said.

Class of ‘92: Improving SAT Scores

Orange County’s 1992 high school graduates generally scored better on both the verbal and math portions of the Scholastic Aptitude Test than their counterparts nationally and

1991-92 1991 1992 Change District (V) (M) (V) (M) (V) (M) Anaheim Union High School 399 502 404 502 +5 Even Brea-Olinda Unified 438 516 441 554 +3 +38 Capistrano Unified 449 510 447 519 -2 +9 Fullerton Joint Union H.S. 429 511 434 519 +5 +8 Garden Grove Unified 388 493 396 500 +8 +7 Huntington Beach Union H.S. 441 529 444 537 +3 +8 Irvine Unified 458 552 466 563 +8 +11 Laguna Beach Unified 459 501 465 495 +6 -6 Los Alamitos Unified 449 519 452 531 +3 +12 Newport-Mesa Unified 446 529 464 543 +18 +14 Orange Unified 426 513 431 517 +5 +4 Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified 441 524 435 532 -6 +8 Saddleback Valley Unified 446 510 447 522 +1 +12 Santa Ana Unified 358 452 344 436 -14 -16 Tustin Unified 434 521 447 534 +13 +13 National Average 422 474 423 476 +1 +2 California Average 415 482 416 484 +1 +2

Sources: Educational Testing Service, individual districts