Westminster, Los Alamitos School Districts Get Scores

Nearly half of Orange County’s 27 school districts have received their state test scores, the most recent numbers arriving in the Los Alamitos Unified School District and Westminster School District.

The two school systems, though close in size, showed starkly different results, according to data released Wednesday.

Los Alamitos Unified, a 8,400-student district nestled in a middle-class suburb, ranked well above the 60th percentile in virtually all subjects.

Lower scores were noted at Laurel High School, the district’s continuation program for students with discipline problems and other specific needs. Districtwide, only 2% of its students speak limited English.

Overall in Westminster, a K-8 district with 9,300 students, the scores averaged near the 40th percentile. About 45% of its students are not fluent in English.

However, administrators warned that it would be unfair to compare the districts because the results reflect vastly different student populations.

“It’s not appropriate to compare Los Alamitos with Westminster,” said Elaine Hamada, director of instruction and special projects for Los Alamitos. “They have very different demographics.”

Test scores for the rest of the county’s school districts will continue to trickle in through the end of the month. The state Department of Education will post scores on the Internet for all California schools June 30.

The data are part of the state’s assessment program. The standardized test selected for the program is the Stanford 9, published by Texas-based Harcourt Brace Educational Measurements.

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Grading the Schools

Two more Orange County school districts released scores in the state’s new standardized test of basic skills, the Stanford 9. Statewide results and scores from the remaining Orange County districts are expected to be made public June 30. The test was given to students in grades two to 11 from mid-March to mid-May.

Editor’s note: The percentile figures show how student scores ranked, on average, against a nationally selected group in spelling and reading, language and math. High school students were also tested in reading, language, math, science and social studies. Those at the 50th percentile, for example, scored higher than one half of the pool and lower than the other half.

“LEP” designates students who are limited English proficient. “R-FEP” refers to students who were formerly LEP but have been reclassified as fluent English proficient, and “FEP” refers in general to students who have a native language other than English but are also fluent in English.

Below are 1998 scores expressed as national percentile rankings.

Los Alamitos Unified

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math Districtwide 2 69 80 76 66 3 69 73 74 57 4 68 69 62 59 5 65 67 60 56 6 70 68 72 60 7 70 73 68 64 8 72 71 67 55 McAuliffe 6 71 70 63 74 7 67 74 63 71 8 72 72 57 71 Oak 6 69 66 58 71 7 73 74 65 66 8 72 69 53 62 Hopkinson 2 72 84 69 87 3 67 71 58 66 4 74 71 65 68 5 70 66 58 61 Lee 2 65 80 66 79 3 70 75 58 71 4 74 74 67 71 5 69 71 58 65 Los Alamitos 2 64 75 63 73 3 65 69 55 72 4 59 64 49 57 5 61 68 55 60 McGaugh 2 68 72 66 62 3 68 71 57 79 4 63 65 52 54 5 63 63 55 57 Ross 2 75 87 68 80 3 77 81 61 79 4 69 70 62 62 5 63 71 56 57 Weaver 2 64 80 59 69 3 75 74 48 75 4 N/A N/A N/A N/A 5 N/A N/A N/A N/A

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Districtwide Read Lang. Math Spell Grade 2 LEP N/A N/A N/A N/A ENG ONLY N/A N/A N/A N/A FEP 72 79 76 75 R-FEP N/A N/A N/A N/A Grade 3 LEP N/A N/A N/A N/A ENG ONLY N/A N/A N/A N/A FEP 78 84 80 69 R-FEP N/A N/A N/A N/A Grade 4 LEP N/A N/A N/A N/A ENG ONLY N/A N/A N/A N/A FEP 71 74 72 71 R-FEP N/A N/A N/A N/A Grade 5 LEP 30 31 24 30 ENG ONLY 25 35 21 21 FEP 73 76 72 75 R-FEP N/A N/A N/A N/A Grade 6 LEP N/A N/A N/A N/A ENG ONLY 53 53 54 43 FEP 70 70 76 77 R-FEP N/A N/A N/A N/A Grade 7 LEP N/A N/A N/A N/A ENG ONLY 38 47 47 30 FEP 74 85 83 77 R-FEP N/A N/A N/A N/A Grade 8 LEP N/A N/A N/A N/A ENG ONLY N/A N/A N/A N/A FEP 72 82 80 71 R-FEP 69 65 72 57

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High School Grade Read Lang. Math Science Social Districtwide 9 57 71 75 65 60 10 55 61 65 66 60 11 58 64 65 60 72 Los 9 57 72 76 65 60 Alamitos 10 57 63 67 67 61 11 62 67 69 63 75 Laurel 9 44 41 34 35 47 10 22 21 26 32 32 11 25 28 24 28 35

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Districtwide Read Lang. Math Science Social Grade 9 LEP 11 35 50 34 26 ENG ONLY N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A FEP 61 81 87 68 67 R-FEP 55 67 85 69 64 Grade 10 LEP 10 20 70 44 22 ENG ONLY N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A FEP 68 80 84 78 68 R-FEP 46 63 66 59 54 Grade 11 LEP N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A ENG ONLY N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A FEP 75 81 88 71 82 R-FEP 29 53 75 63 59

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Westminster Elementary

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math Districtwide 2 35 37 41 40 3 31 35 38 41 4 35 41 38 41 5 35 43 40 41 6 39 46 42 52 7 34 46 43 46 8 40 45 36 53

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Districtwide Read Lang. Math Spell Grade 2 LEP 25 25 32 34 ENG ONLY 44 49 47 44 FEP 47 48 46 53 R-FEP 67 64 74 73 Grade 3 LEP 17 23 32 31 ENG ONLY 46 47 46 42 FEP 35 43 50 44 R-FEP 50 63 77 77 Grade 4 LEP 18 28 29 24 ENG ONLY 47 46 43 41 FEP 42 53 50 49 R-FEP 61 72 76 77 Grade 5 LEP 14 24 24 24 ENG ONLY 48 50 49 44 FEP 46 51 50 51 R-FEP 54 69 66 69 Grade 6 LEP 19 27 35 25 ENG ONLY 50 52 55 47 FEP 46 56 62 52 R-FEP 50 65 72 67 Grade 7 LEP 13 26 32 23 ENG ONLY 48 55 48 50 FEP 50 62 59 63 R-FEP 54 68 72 69 Grade 8 LEP 18 26 38 20 ENG ONLY 54 54 57 43 FEP 47 53 56 41 R-FEP 54 63 76 61

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Source: Individual school districts and Orange County Department of Education; Compiled by GENA PASILLAS and JENNIFER TREXLER / Los Angeles Times