Newport-Mesa Scores Show Wide Variations

Within a given school district, standardized test scores can vary vastly from campus to campus, disparities driven mainly by demographic differences, the newest test results show.

Take Newport-Mesa Unified School District, for example, where 28% of the students speak limited English. But a look at student populations by individual schools shows stark contrasts.

There’s Harbor View Elementary which has about a 1% limited-English student population. At Pomona Elementary, however, that figure is nearly 90%. The differences are reflected in this year’s statewide test results on the Stanford 9 exam.

Harbor View fourth-graders ranked at the 79th percentile in reading. Pomona fourth-graders scored at the 19th percentile. The district’s overall figure for fourth-grade reading ranks at the 51st percentile.

Newport-Mesa’s director of assessment, Eleanor Anderson, said the scores at schools with large limited-English populations are of little use to her because the Stanford 9 is not a test designed for those students.

Instead, Anderson said, she’ll rely on data from a Spanish-language exam.

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Grading the Schools

Another Orange County school district 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 Tuesday. 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. Elementary and middle school students were tested in spelling, reading, language and math. Those at the 50th percentile scored higher than one half of the pool and lower than the other half.

“LEP” designates students who are limited English proficient. “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.

Newport-Mesa Unified

(Grades 9-11 previously published)

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math Districtwide 2 53 59 48 56 3 49 55 50 60 4 51 58 50 55 5 50 58 47 58 6 56 64 57 63 7 54 64 50 57 8 58 64 48 59

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Adams Elementary

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 57% LEP 2 40 40 35 35 54% LEP 3 40 56 51 63 39% LEP 4 39 51 42 51 57% LEP 5 34 43 33 36

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Andersen Elementary

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 6% LEP 2 78 88 75 85 2% LEP 3 83 83 80 85 2% LEP 4 88 86 82 93 0% LEP 5 88 90 85 92 0% LEP 6 85 89 84 93

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California Elementary

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 10% LEP 2 58 74 59 61 12% LEP 3 56 59 62 56 8% LEP 4 71 77 72 70 11% LEP 5 69 74 67 68

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College Park Elementary

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 44% LEP 2 37 35 34 46 45% LEP 3 38 37 39 28 51% LEP 4 31 38 31 29

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Davis Elementary

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 17% LEP 5 38 43 43 41 15% LEP 6 49 51 51 51

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Harbor View Elementary

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 4% LEP 2 79 93 73 89 1% LEP 3 80 84 70 80 0% LEP 4 79 78 81 84 0% LEP 5 85 87 74 91 0% LEP 6 83 89 83 89

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Kaiser Primary Center

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 13% LEP 2 60 71 52 59

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Kaiser Elementary

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 16% LEP 3 59 64 52 72 13% LEP 4 60 68 55 59 14% LEP 5 57 64 52 69 13% LEP 6 63 71 62 74

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Killeybrooke Elementary

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 43% LEP 2 40 40 34 42 39% LEP 3 44 56 58 68 39% LEP 4 39 58 46 47

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Lincoln Elementary

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 0% LEP 2 73 83 63 77 0% LEP 3 73 75 64 73 4% LEP 4 78 82 72 84 4% LEP 5 74 85 65 85 3% LEP 6 79 84 73 90

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Mariners Elementary

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 8% LEP 2 74 86 72 87 6% LEP 3 72 74 70 77 8% LEP 4 61 69 62 64 6% LEP 5 74 81 68 87 4% LEP 6 80 82 80 86

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Newport Elementary

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 0% LEP 2 66 80 61 73 1% LEP 3 67 69 63 79 0% LEP 4 64 61 55 63 1% LEP 5 60 64 56 58 0% LEP 6 66 72 63 71

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Newport Heights Elementary

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 6% LEP 2 62 74 57 69 6% LEP 3 70 74 59 80 4% LEP 4 63 70 61 74 6% LEP 5 60 73 59 73 3% LEP 6 72 81 77 77

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Paularino Elementary

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 28% LEP 2 48 55 50 50 29% LEP 3 39 46 41 54 24% LEP 4 57 60 59 57

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Pomona Elementary

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 92% LEP 2 27 23 31 30 92% LEP 3 15 18 24 27 85% LEP 4 19 32 18 26

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Rea Elementary

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 82% LEP 5 20 30 21 31 82% LEP 6 16 21 18 26

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Sonora Elementary

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 58% LEP 2 37 50 40 52 58% LEP 3 35 44 52 49 52% LEP 4 34 40 37 42

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Victoria Elementary

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 37% LEP 2 53 67 53 62 26% LEP 3 43 62 45 71 28% LEP 4 43 55 46 53 21% LEP 5 46 51 49 62

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Whittier Elementary

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 85% LEP 2 21 15 20 18 88% LEP 3 12 16 19 40 86% LEP 4 17 29 18 19

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Wilson Elementary

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 77% LEP 2 31 17 21 28 84% LEP 3 15 19 19 23 77% LEP 4 18 23 20 19 74% LEP 5 15 25 16 26

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Ensign Intermediate

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 21% LEP 7 61 67 51 62 19% LEP 8 66 69 53 66

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Te Winkle Intermediate

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 52% LEP 6 37 49 43 41 44% LEP 7 44 62 43 47 46% LEP 8 39 53 35 40

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Corona del Mar High

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 2% LEP 7 74 83 70 77 5% LEP 8 68 75 56 71

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Costa Mesa High

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School Grade Read Lang. Spell Math 31% LEP 7 44 46 40 44 25% LEP 8 52 52 45 53

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Grade 2

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Districtwide Read Lang. Math Spell LEP 24 21 28 25 ENG ONLY 66 78 72 60 FEP 53 63 57 53

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Grade 3

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Districtwide Read Lang. Math Spell LEP 18 23 35 29 ENG ONLY 67 71 73 62 FEP 50 63 69 55

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Grade 4

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Districtwide Read Lang. Math Spell LEP 18 28 24 20 ENG ONLY 68 72 71 65 FEP 59 67 66 69

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Grade 5

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Districtwide Read Lang. Math Spell LEP 19 29 29 22 ENG ONLY 67 72 73 62 FEP 45 57 60 48

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Grade 6

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Districtwide Read Lang. Math Spell LEP 18 29 28 22 ENG ONLY 71 76 77 71 FEP 63 73 74 73

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Grade 7

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Districtwide Read Lang. Math Spell LEP 19 30 25 19 ENG ONLY 69 75 69 63 FEP 57 73 62 59

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Grade 8

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Districtwide Read Lang. Math Spell LEP 18 24 25 18 ENG ONLY 70 74 69 57 FEP 61 69 62 57

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