Westminster Pupils Raise Their Testing Scores 5.2%

Westminster elementary and middle schools showed across-the-board improvement on California’s standardized test, raising their scores in every category for an overall gain of 5.2%.

According to Stanford 9 test results released Friday, average scores in the Westminster School District ranged from a low of the 36th percentile, in third-grade reading, to a high of the 56th percentile, in sixth- and eighth-grade math.

While the districtwide averages were uniformly higher, scores for individual schools varied up or down from last year’s scores. Most of the district’s scores, however, are still below the national average.

“We’re pleased with the scores,” said district spokeswoman Trish Cannady. “We had expected an increase and this is really a reflection of the concerted effort that our principals and teachers made throughout the school year.

“They really focused on making sure that the curriculum they were teaching was aligned with what the students were going to be tested on,” she said.

The school system administered the Stanford 9 exam this spring to 9,850 pupils in grades two through eight, about 4,000 of whom are not native English speakers. The district population is roughly one-third Latino, one-third Vietnamese and one-third white. The ethnic breakdown at individual schools, however, varies widely.

The Stanford 9 tests elementary and middle school students on reading, language, spelling, math and science, depending on the grade. By definition, the 50th percentile is the national norm, with half the students in a nationally selected group scoring higher and half scoring lower.

The district’s weakest scores came in reading, but given Westminster’s high population of students with limited English skills, officials are still pleased with the progress.

“Looking at our scores, they are still pretty good,” Cannady said.

Frank N. Eastwood Elementary had the highest scores in the district, mostly in the 50th and 60th percentiles. Some scores were outstanding: sixth-grade spelling scores jumped from the 58th percentile to the 70th and math scores for that grade moved from the 75th percentile to the 81st.

The school also has the highest populations of native English speakers in the district, Cannady said.

Other schools also showed impressive gains.

H.B. Anderson second-graders improved by double digits in every category, although students in other grades at the school showed more modest improvement, or even decline.

At Clegg Elementary, second- and third-graders improved by double digits in nearly every category, with second-grade math scores improving 21%.

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Westminster Elementary Scores

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Reading Math Language Spelling School Grade 1998 1999 1998 1999 1998 1999 1998 1999 Anderson 2 24 34 26 37 21 33 37 47 Elementary 3 24 23 42 45 30 32 41 42 4 30 34 46 45 42 43 45 39 5 29 31 42 47 37 37 37 43 6 33 37 52 58 31 42 44 46 Clegg 2 45 58 38 59 44 60 43 59 Elementary 3 42 50 43 53 43 53 39 50 4 40 50 42 46 41 46 44 49 5 42 50 51 54 44 53 39 50 6 54 54 64 61 53 50 53 52 DeMille 2 41 48 45 44 35 45 40 49 Elementary 3 21 32 26 42 26 36 31 48 4 30 37 40 37 40 39 41 48 5 35 32 37 40 37 45 36 44 6 39 39 41 50 47 49 44 51 Eastwood 2 50 43 55 50 57 51 54 40 Elementary 3 63 61 61 69 63 66 54 59 4 65 66 59 63 59 62 56 62 5 62 59 64 60 67 53 60 57 6 61 65 75 81 64 68 58 70 Finley 2 24 31 32 42 23 37 26 37 Elementary 3 16 27 23 34 22 33 22 31 4 22 19 29 26 30 33 25 25 5 21 27 27 30 29 37 30 32 6 28 29 39 39 36 41 38 42 Fryberger 2 25 38 28 35 28 44 34 48 Elementary 3 39 30 38 35 41 39 44 43 4 40 38 47 39 44 46 43 44 5 41 45 48 50 51 40 41 43 Hayden 2 40 40 53 45 43 40 54 59 Elementary 3 26 35 46 48 35 46 44 58 4 36 38 46 51 44 50 44 47 5 40 39 58 60 61 62 53 55 Meairs 2 30 34 34 31 35 39 35 40 Elementary 3 20 28 31 41 28 36 30 44 4 30 30 36 39 40 38 34 35 5 25 37 24 41 32 50 30 45 Schmidt 2 30 37 32 38 31 41 42 60 Elementary 3 23 33 42 47 27 40 41 57 4 27 33 33 43 37 42 29 44 5 29 30 30 37 37 45 36 46 Schroeder 2 54 50 58 62 57 60 56 54 Elementary 3 56 60 70 74 61 65 55 61 4 52 57 52 57 50 57 50 55 5 47 49 48 49 47 53 44 52 6 53 59 61 57 64 63 54 64 Sequoia 2 48 59 58 69 59 63 48 61 Elementary 3 53 52 50 55 49 54 51 45 4 51 62 45 58 47 58 46 59 5 55 53 68 60 59 54 50 50 6 47 63 58 79 51 64 48 61 Webber 2 33 40 42 39 33 33 37 42 Elementary 3 21 32 38 62 22 42 29 52 4 24 23 29 38 34 40 26 30 5 28 30 40 42 41 42 41 46 6 29 40 42 53 39 47 35 52 Willmore 2 20 39 25 52 21 48 23 48 Elementary 3 20 18 33 37 30 25 28 32 4 14 22 24 30 24 32 13 30 5 14 20 20 36 21 29 24 28 6 22 24 34 39 31 33 30 27

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Westminster School Scores

The Westminster School District’s Stanford 9 test scores rose this year, with all districtwide totals increasing. Some schools posted big gains on the state-standardized exam. The following percentile listings show how scores ranked, on average, against a nationally selected group. A score in the 99th percentile, for example, is equal to or higher than all but 1% of the comparison group’s.

Westminster Elementary Scores

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Reading Math Language Spelling School Grade 1998 1999 1998 1999 1998 1999 1998 1999 Districtwide 2 35 41 40 45 37 45 41 50 3 31 36 41 50 35 44 38 48 4 35 38 41 43 41 45 38 43 5 35 39 41 47 43 47 40 46 6 39 43 52 56 46 50 42 49 7 34 41 46 53 46 54 43 45 8 40 41 53 56 45 48 36 42 Johnson 6 29 35 39 50 38 50 32 44 Middle 7 35 35 44 46 48 54 45 37 8 41 37 53 51 47 48 39 41 Stacey 7 41 48 50 57 50 59 47 52 Middle 8 47 48 56 62 48 56 38 47 Warner 6 37 44 55 59 47 50 40 46 Middle 7 27 40 43 57 41 50 39 46 8 32 38 49 54 41 41 33 38

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Source: Westminster School District

Los Angeles Times