County Students Post Gains in Test Scores : Education: The local passing rate for the Advanced Placement exam is 72.5%, compared to 66.1% statewide. Placentia and Irvine Unified are among top districts.

Orange County high school seniors made significant gains in the rigorous Advanced Placement tests last spring, passing the test for college credits at nearly twice the rate of their peers statewide.

Prolonging a recent trend, greater numbers of California high school seniors continued to take and pass the AP exams, the state Department of Education said Wednesday.

The state’s passing rate on the tests has almost tripled in eight years and remains well above the national average, state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig said in releasing the test results in San Francisco.

“We were afraid the budget cuts might have led some districts to discontinue these (college level) courses because they are expensive. So it is very good news to us that we are still making progress,” Honig said, referring to a state financial slump that has forced many local school districts to slash their budgets.

The figures released by the state analyzed the scores on the basis of the number of exams with passing scores per 100 seniors, regardless of the numbers that actually took the tests. Some students take the Advanced Placement tests in more than one subject, while others take none.

For every 100 public high school seniors statewide, there were 20.7 exams with a passing score of 3 or better. Nationwide, that rate was about 12, and in Orange County it was 40.5. Last year, that rate was 10.9 nationwide, 20.1 statewide and 36.7 in Orange County.

Students may take the AP tests in 16 subjects, ranging from English, calculus, history and foreign languages to studio art and music composition. Some subjects, such as the arts, require students to submit portfolios as part of their evaluation. The tests are scored on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 highest.

Analyzing the passing rate only among those who took the test--as opposed to all seniors--Placentia Unified came out on top, with 84.7% of the tests scoring 3 or better. Irvine Unified was second with 78.5%, followed by Los Alamitos Unified with 76%. Lowest was Tustin Unified, where 53.8% of the tests scored 3 or higher; next lowest was Garden Grove Unified (61.2%) and then Santa Ana Unified (61.7%).

The biggest one-year improvement was made by Fullerton Joint Union High School District, which was ranked last in the county in 1991 with 59.5% of its tests scoring 3 or higher. It is ranked 10th in 1992 with 66.6%. Placentia-Yorba Linda also saw a big gain, moving from third with 78.1% in 1991 to first with 84.7% in 1992.

Even the lowest scoring of the districts fell only a modest margin short of the statewide average. Of all tests taken in California, 66.1% scored 3 or higher. In Orange County, 72.5% of the tests received passing scores.

Officials in Santa Ana Unified, which often struggles with low test scores and has a heavy concentration of poor and non-English-speaking students, were pleased with the district’s scores.

“This just goes to underscore how hard the teachers work with students in our district,” Supt. Rudy M. Castruita said. He noted that the district’s passing rate per 100 seniors has improved 242% since 1984, compared to 188% improvement statewide.

Dean Waldfogel, who is in charge of testing in the Irvine Unified School District, said he is proud of the teachers and students. But he said he feels most of the credit for his district’s performance goes to the families, who are exceptionally committed to keeping in touch with their children’s education and encouraging them to learn.

Waldfogel also said that as happy as he is with the district’s performance, he knows there are many other student achievements that receive little notice because they are not measured with standardized tests.

“These tests are only one measure of the success of a school,” he said. “We have lots of kids who don’t take those tests and they achieve such great things. There are kids who come in here speaking little English, and in three or four years they are doing extremely well, given where they started. There are kids who achieve on the athletic field or in the performing arts.”

In Capistrano Unified, where 75.6% of the tests qualified for college credit, officials were elated. The district is one of the poorest in the state.

“It shows that money is not the sole answer to a quality educational program,” said district spokeswoman Jacqueline Price. “Additional money would help us create an even better program. But the scores are a tribute to the hard work of our teachers and the commitment of the students’ families.”

The focus of the state’s education reform efforts has been on encouraging more students to tackle challenging subject matter, and Honig believes that the AP gains are evidence that the efforts are paying off.

Honig said the gains were made by all ethnic minority groups, most of which had very low rates in the mid-1980s, when the education reform movement began in the state. Since 1985--the first-year data was compiled by ethnic group--the rate of tests taken by African-American students and earning qualifying marks has increased by 227%; for Latinos, the increase was 311%; for American Indians, 262%, and for Asians, 139%. The qualifying rate for tests taken by Anglo students increased 106%.

Times staff writer Jean Merl contributed to this report.

Passing Grade

Orange County seniors passed Advanced Placement tests taken last spring at a higher rate than the state average.

Seniors Seniors Tests Passing Rank School Enrolled Tested Taken Rate District (1991 Rank) 1 Placentia Unified (3) 1,128 32.4% 674 84.7% 2 Irvine Unified (1) 1,438 58.8% 1,366 78.5% 3 Los Alamitos Unified (5) 414 56.8% 405 76.0% 4 Capistrano Unified (4) 1,383 43.8% 1,120 75.6% 5 Saddleback 1,362 40.3% 790 75.2% Valley Unified (2) 6 Laguna Beach 169 46.7% 135 72.6% Unified (9) 7 Huntington 3,030 31.2% 1,688 72.1% Beach Union (6) 8 Newport-Mesa 1,038 42.8% 736 69.7% Unified (10) 9 Orange Unified (8) 1,335 39.0% 833 66.7% 10 Fullerton Joint 1,869 38.6% 1,098 66.6% Union High (15) 11 Brea-Olinda 293 37.9% 259 66.4% Unified (11) 12 Santa Ana 1,372 21.9% 415 61.7% Unified (7) 13 Garden Grove 2,186 18.6% 582 61.2% Unified (14) 14 Tustin Unified (12) 718 40.0% 366 53.8% Orange County 21,001 33.6% 11,615 72.5% California N/A N/A 81,705 66.1%

Note: Anaheim Union High School District has not allowed the state to release its results.

Source: California Department of Education Researched By DANNY SULLIVAN / Los Angeles Times