Vast Majority of State’s Schools Lag in New Index

Eighty-eight percent of California’s public schools fell below the state target for achievement, according to the state’s first-ever ranking of elementary, middle and high schools, released Tuesday.

Even in Orange County, one of the highest-performing large counties in the state, about three-quarters of schools for which rankings were available similarly missed the state performance target. Schools were assessed in three ways--whether they met the target, set at a raw score of 800 based on standardized test results; where they ranked in comparison with other schools statewide; and how they fared when measured against schools with similar student demographics.

Overall, the county’s schools ranked fifth among counties with 100 schools or more, according to a Times analysis of average scores.

Excellence emerged in predictable areas, from the affluent, high-tech hub of Santa Clara County to the education-minded suburbs of Orange County, including Fountain Valley, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Los Alamitos and Newport Beach. But surprising anomalies also cropped up. In some schools with the highest overall rankings, the numbers dropped precipitously when they were compared with similar schools. Sunny Hills High, one of the county’s most prestigious schools, ranked at the top compared with campuses statewide, but dropped into the bottom half when compared with similar schools. And despite its lofty ranking, Sunny Hills’ raw score--and those of other top-ranking schools--fell short of the state target.

The giant Los Angeles Unified School District fared dismally, dominating the bottom ranks. Thirty-four percent of the district’s schools ranked 1 on a scale of 1 to 10, and more than two-thirds landed at 3 or below. And in Orange County, schools in Anaheim and Santa Ana, where many students are poor and struggling to learn English, tallied mostly below-average statewide rankings.

Many of those schools, however, took consolation in having done well compared with the 100 campuses statewide that face similar obstacles in socioeconomics, teacher qualifications and number of students learning English as a second language.

Raymond A. Villa Fundamental in Santa Ana is one such school. Its state ranking is only 3, but its similar-schools rank is 10.

“Although our goal is to raise our statewide rank much higher, we’re very pleased with how we did compared to similar schools,” Principal Greg Rankin said. “Our teachers were here in the summer volunteering their time before school even started.”

Overall, the numbers provided a largely positive assessment of Orange County schools contrasted with the rest of California. About 46% of local schools ranked in the top 30% statewide. Likewise, Orange County claimed five of the state’s 30 highest-ranking high schools--Oxford Academy in Cypress, University in Irvine, Troy in Fullerton, Laguna Beach and Corona del Mar--and two of the top 30 elementaries--Andersen and Harbor View, both in Newport Beach.

Rankings were unavailable for one of the county’s largest school districts, the 44,000-student Capistrano Unified School District, because of a computer glitch at the district that caused scores of many students to be omitted from the rankings. The district expects accurate numbers for its 36 schools within the month.

Indicating the extraordinary level of public interest in the unprecedented ranking of 6,700 schools, the California Department of Education’s Web site was nearly paralyzed by 4,000 hits soon after the data were posted Tuesday morning. At one point, the department had to shut down its system so that data could be e-mailed to news organizations.

He added that the agency was attempting to install additional phone lines to ensure online access. (It is available at http//:www.cde.ca.gov/psaa.)

Cornerstone of Accountability Bid

The Academic Performance Index, as the ranking is known, is the cornerstone of the state’s $242-million push to make schools accountable for students’ learning. It is designed to measure academic performance and to establish a base from which school progress can be gauged.

The API, which makes California one of 26 states that publicly rank schools or districts, is for now based solely on results of the Stanford 9 basic skills test, which was given last spring to nearly 4.3 million public school students in grades 2 through 11. Every school is given a score from 200 to 1,000, calculated according to a seven-step formula.

Those scores are then ranked statewide in 10 groups of equal size from 1 to 10. Schools are separated by type--elementary, middle and high schools--and ranked within those categories.

Every school that scores below 800, the state’s academic target, is told how much it must improve its score before the second API is released next fall. Only 12% of the schools met the target of 800 in this first go-round.

California schools that make the prescribed amount of progress will be eligible for financial rewards. Schools that fail to meet improvement targets could have remedies forced on them and, in extreme cases, face takeover by the state.

A second ranking of 1 to 10 compares each school’s 1999 API score to the scores of 100 schools with similar socioeconomic and ethnic characteristics.

Garden Grove Unified officials confessed to being stumped by the rankings at Sarah McGarvin Intermediate, with a statewide rank of 7 and a lowly 1 when measured against similar schools. District officials believe the ranking is mistaken, possibly because more than half the students at the school failed to answer a question about their parents’ level of education. That might have skewed the scores, administrators said, so they have asked the state to recalculate the numbers.

“That sticks out like a sore thumb,” said Al Sims, administrative assistant for evaluation and research. “That’s a very, very solid school academically and it doesn’t make sense.”

Even though Anaheim City schools fared well when compared with similar schools, program evaluator Pam Ellis said she wanted to see how the state calculated which schools were similar.

“We are pleased that most of our schools are in the 8, 9, 10 [similar schools] range,” she said. But “we don’t know who we are being compared with. . . . It’s hard to jump up and down about it because of that.”

In coming years, the index is expected to include several other factors, including attendance and graduation rates, results of a forthcoming high school exit exam and scores on additional Stanford 9 questions designed to assess students’ mastery of the state’s rigorous new standards.

Gov. Gray Davis heralded the inauguration of the ranking system, which was mandated by legislation that he signed last spring.

“Starting today, the era of accountability has finally begun in public education,” he said. “It matters less to me where a school ranks today; what really matters is whether it shows improvement a year from today.”

Many schools welcomed the index, even as they said it is somewhat flimsy.

The affluent, high-achieving Irvine Unified School District was understandably pleased with its student performance. Of the 29 Irvine schools ranked, five fell below the statewide target of 800, and none of them by more than about 50 points.

What’s more, the rankings suggested that Irvine schools enhance enviable demographics with a strong curriculum and effective instruction. Compared with schools with similar numbers of students in poverty and teachers lacking full credentials, many Irvine schools still came out on top. Nine of them gained perfect 10s in overall statewide rankings and the index of similarly situated schools.

Delaine Eastin, California superintendent of public instruction, acknowledged that many of the state’s lowest-ranked schools are in urban areas. But she said additional information that compares individual schools against others with similar students will help parents gain perspective on the data.

The similar-schools rankings were highly prized in Santa Ana Unified, where many pupils are poor and learning English as a second language.

Although all but six of the district’s 45 schools ranked in the bottom third of the statewide index, most Santa Ana schools scored well when compared to schools facing similar economic and linguistic disadvantages.

“I think that [performing] so well when compared with similar school districts really does reflect the instructional efforts and interventions students are able to access,” said Linda Kaminski, chief academic officer at Santa Ana Unified.

Santa Ana also had some unqualified successes, such as Greenville Fundamental School, which achieved a statewide rank of 9 and a similar-schools score of 10.

“It shows that success is attainable,” Kaminski said.

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Contributing to this report were Times education writer Doug Smith in Los Angeles and Times staff writers Lisa Richardson in Orange County and Dan Morain in Sacramento. Richard O’Reilly, Times director of computer analysis, and Sandra Poindexter, data analyst, also contributed.

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How Did They Score?

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O.C.’s Best and Worst

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