Saddleback, Laguna Schools’ Scores Rise

Continuing this year’s trend, schools in the Saddleback Valley and in Laguna Beach managed to improve already impressive scores on the standardized Stanford 9 test.

By honing in on lackluster spelling scores and attempting to fill in gaps in students’ knowledge of mathematics, the 2,500-student Laguna Beach Unified School District saw scores jump in most grades and subjects tested.

Elementary mathematics scores went through the roof and ranged between the 82nd and 90th percentiles districtwide. At Top of the World Elementary, second-grade math students earned nearly flawless scores--in the 94th percentile.

Test scores are measured against those of a national pool of test-takers. The 50th percentile is the national median, with half in that pool scoring lower and half scoring higher.

This year, about 4.3 million public school children in grades 2 through 11 took the Stanford 9. Because different school districts take the test at different times, scores will continue to trickle in through mid-July, when the state will post them on the Internet. The test measures basic skills, such as reading, math, language, spelling, science and social science, depending on the grade level.

Laguna Beach also saw strong improvement in districtwide spelling scores: Last year, they ranged between the 53rd and 64th percentiles; this year’s figures were between the 54th and 78th percentiles.

“We identified [spelling] as an area of weakness last year,” Assistant Supt. Wendy Doty said. This year, Laguna is trying out a handful of spelling programs before picking one for the whole district. “Sometimes, someone saying this is an area we’re going to focus on . . . can make a difference.”

In the much larger Saddleback Valley Unified School District in South County, districtwide scores climbed several notches in nearly all categories tested. The 34,000-student district’s strongest showing came in mathematics, where marks ranged from the 66th percentile in 10th grade to the 84th in sixth grade.

Supt. Peter A. Hartman credited the improvement to a number of factors: a reading push, some test preparation for students and the use of Stanford scores as a red flag for students who may need to be held back a year.

“Generally speaking, [the scores] seem to look a little up. They seem to be going in the right direction,” Hartman said. “ . . . We think everyone is taking it a little more seriously, thinking it’s a little more important.”

Hartman said he is still concerned about high school reading scores, which lagged behind scores in other grades and subjects, falling between the 56th and 59th percentiles districtwide.

Although reading scores still lagged at the 60th percentile or lower, Trabuco Hills High School saw several scores improve by six or seven points. The school hung posters and posted bulletin items to stress the test’s importance, Assistant Principal Dan Sullivan said.

“This year, everything pulled together,” he said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Elementary and Middle Schools

Both the Laguna Beach and Saddleback Valley unified school districts showed improvement on this year’s Stanford 9 standardized test. The following list shows percentile 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.

LAGUNA BEACH UNIFIED

*--*

Reading Math Language Spelling School Grade 1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000 Districtwide 2 65 75 72 90 66 78 57 70 3 74 76 78 84 75 77 59 65 4 72 82 70 83 71 77 63 78 5 72 74 77 82 72 74 64 70 6 74 72 79 80 65 66 64 65 7 71 72 72 77 66 71 61 63 8 75 72 73 76 71 71 53 54 El Morro 2 64 67 71 79 69 70 56 65 3 68 75 81 83 73 74 54 66 4 63 78 57 82 66 74 54 71 5 64 70 74 77 69 71 52 64 Top of the 2 66 79 74 94 62 82 59 72 World 3 76 77 76 85 75 78 61 63 4 78 83 79 83 74 78 70 82 5 77 78 78 86 75 76 72 74 Thurston 6 74 72 79 80 65 66 64 65 Middle school 7 71 72 72 77 66 71 61 63 8 75 72 76 73 71 71 53 54

*--*

Source: Laguna Beach Unified School District

*

SADDLEBACK VALLEY UNIFIED*--*

Reading Math Language Spelling School Grade 1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000 Districtwide 2 67 71 77 80 79 81 64 69 3 67 69 76 80 72 76 64 67 4 70 70 72 75 71 73 65 69 5 66 69 76 79 72 75 63 66 6 70 72 81 84 74 78 67 72 7 65 68 71 79 74 78 63 69 8 67 67 73 74 73 73 57 60 Aliso 2 70 67 71 76 71 80 53 67 3 62 57 72 68 69 66 57 53 4 66 74 70 77 70 76 72 71 5 55 69 56 79 68 72 47 64 6 66 71 83 84 79 78 68 68 Cielo Vista 2 70 66 78 78 78 80 65 64 3 62 62 71 74 69 66 59 61 4 60 61 63 73 61 64 57 63 5 61 63 71 81 66 73 58 63 6 68 72 76 85 64 73 66 70 Cordillera 2 76 79 79 85 84 86 73 77 3 69 73 79 86 79 85 65 70 4 73 70 73 72 79 77 71 66 5 70 71 72 77 68 78 62 70 6 74 76 81 82 76 79 68 72 Del Cerro 2 73 74 83 83 74 80 68 73 3 74 74 82 84 76 79 77 75 4 79 78 76 83 72 73 77 76 5 77 77 81 82 80 77 81 73 6 81 80 89 89 85 85 81 84 Del Lago 2 62 74 75 82 71 80 61 76 3 61 69 80 78 74 78 59 74 4 63 67 70 76 64 73 61 62 5 61 63 71 78 74 67 59 64 6 70 79 87 89 75 83 72 83 DePortola 2 68 71 75 78 80 81 64 69 3 74 70 77 78 76 72 69 68 4 77 73 78 70 76 73 74 74 5 74 74 78 84 79 80 65 72 6 81 76 88 88 82 84 73 77 Foothill 2 75 77 85 85 86 88 73 77 3 77 79 86 88 82 86 71 73 4 80 81 77 83 79 80 74 75 5 73 80 88 91 79 85 72 78 6 73 79 85 89 74 81 66 80 Gates 2 39 48 57 64 49 61 32 42 3 46 47 65 58 51 51 47 44 4 47 46 53 56 54 53 33 46 5 48 47 61 50 54 50 44 39 6 61 56 71 75 70 63 50 49 Glen Yermo 2 71 67 82 81 82 79 61 65 3 63 64 70 78 63 72 56 60 4 55 63 58 60 59 66 52 59 5 58 60 69 72 69 65 56 54 6 60 65 71 80 64 74 57 63 Lake Forest 2 63 69 72 78 82 83 60 70 3 70 67 81 77 81 74 64 64 4 73 72 74 73 76 77 70 72 5 71 68 77 79 72 74 65 67 6 71 74 81 81 73 73 67 73 La Madera 2 69 77 76 85 75 85 63 70 3 75 78 85 89 81 80 66 72 4 69 78 76 81 74 78 66 73 5 67 74 75 81 72 78 62 67 6 71 75 87 86 80 77 71 73 La Tierra 2 79 69 83 78 83 77 78 65 3 57 75 67 88 64 84 59 77 4 61 61 71 73 69 67 70 65 5 65 53 81 71 78 63 70 56 6 67 71 74 87 67 74 57 80 Linda Vista 2 56 62 72 65 68 67 54 59 3 54 61 68 77 62 71 64 64 4 59 59 55 61 59 63 57 63 5 59 61 74 68 74 69 61 62 6 66 71 71 80 66 74 64 66 Lomarena 2 64 67 63 70 69 77 62 62 3 47 54 55 63 52 63 50 64 4 61 58 69 64 65 60 59 54 5 56 62 66 66 63 68 52 55 6 58 63 71 70 64 65 58 61 Melinda 2 69 74 81 84 81 85 68 73 Heights 3 71 73 76 82 72 81 63 69 4 71 75 75 80 71 76 71 76 5 66 66 76 76 71 74 69 67 6 71 69 78 81 76 80 58 67 Montevideo 2 73 66 74 77 85 77 67 66 3 69 71 76 72 71 74 61 62 4 67 68 67 72 65 70 68 71 5 74 71 83 81 78 76 70 74 6 72 72 81 83 76 76 74 73 Olivewood 2 50 51 61 65 69 67 56 62 3 39 50 55 64 47 60 45 59 4 54 45 66 65 57 54 52 53 5 47 57 56 67 54 65 48 61 6 55 54 70 66 59 62 55 57 O’Neil 2 78 78 85 81 89 87 74 73 3 75 76 81 85 80 85 73 73 4 77 82 81 86 81 88 74 81 5 80 77 88 84 88 86 74 73 6 72 77 87 87 83 84 77 79 Portola Hills 2 75 76 85 86 85 89 67 71 3 71 81 84 90 78 85 66 72 4 79 74 82 80 79 77 69 75 5 74 77 82 84 72 80 76 67 6 79 81 88 91 84 84 75 80 Rancho Canada 2 74 71 84 83 88 86 72 67 3 75 71 84 79 81 79 67 72 4 69 74 77 79 74 80 65 72 5 69 71 77 77 76 79 67 68 6 77 76 91 92 88 86 81 82 Robinson 2 71 79 80 84 83 87 67 71 3 71 74 76 82 77 79 65 69 4 77 74 77 80 75 78 69 72 5 71 74 81 84 77 84 65 67 6 74 75 88 86 79 81 71 74 Santiago 2 69 66 83 79 85 81 69 66 3 65 68 74 86 73 81 63 70 4 69 64 70 66 70 69 67 73 5 66 59 79 68 76 68 67 62 6 63 73 74 85 67 79 59 74 San Joaquin 2 51 56 69 74 66 66 56 60 3 64 62 74 75 66 71 64 64 4 59 64 59 67 60 63 51 60 5 51 66 64 75 64 72 53 58 6 51 50 57 60 62 54 52 51 Trabuco 2 48 64 67 87 43 82 50 72 3 46 73 62 81 60 x 45 61 4 51 74 51 x 58 67 61 67 5 28 63 37 64 34 62 32 66 6 63 x 74 x 62 x 57 x Trabuco Mesa 2 75 76 80 81 78 84 71 76 3 70 71 70 74 68 74 66 70 4 73 73 72 80 72 71 69 70 5 77 71 81 80 74 76 75 71 6 72 74 83 83 73 75 71 70 Valencia 2 72 78 81 86 81 87 70 76 3 80 80 85 88 83 86 78 78 4 82 80 84 86 84 84 76 84 5 78 76 86 86 76 81 72 71 6 80 82 88 94 81 89 81 82 La Paz 7 70 74 74 83 73 81 67 72 8 72 72 76 76 76 77 59 64 Los Alisos 7 64 64 65 77 72 75 59 66 8 65 67 69 73 67 73 53 60 Rancho Santa 7 66 72 74 82 79 83 65 70 Margarita 8 67 69 76 78 78 77 58 59 Serrano 7 61 63 68 75 68 73 62 66 8 63 62 69 69 69 67 55 58

*--*

Source: Saddleback Valley Unified School District

Some data not available

High School Scores

LAGUNA BEACH UNIFIED

*--*

Reading Math Language Science School Grade 1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000 Districtwide 9 59 65 79 79 69 71 65 69 (Laguna Beach 10 66 65 72 71 69 66 72 71 High) 11 63 68 72 75 70 71 73 75

Social science School Districtwide 65 76 (Laguna Beach 71 71 High) 79 85

*--*

Source: Laguna Beach Unified School District

*

SADDLEBACK UNIFIED*--*

Reading Math Language Science School Grade 1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000 Districtwide 9 55 59 72 77 67 72 63 64 10 55 57 65 66 61 65 67 69 11 54 56 68 68 62 66 66 66 El Toro 9 52 58 72 76 62 70 68 64 10 56 56 66 66 60 61 69 70 11 56 58 72 72 64 66 72 69 Laguna Hills 9 59 62 76 80 75 73 68 66 10 54 61 66 72 66 70 69 73 11 54 61 75 74 66 70 72 71 Mission Viejo 9 58 59 71 76 67 73 61 61 10 60 60 66 65 67 70 68 65 11 57 61 66 70 62 71 68 69 Trabuco Hills 9 53 59 71 78 67 74 63 65 10 53 60 65 68 59 66 66 71 11 51 53 66 68 63 66 63 66 Mira Monte 9 Alternative 10 62 44 47 44 54 57 72 57 11 54 44 62 39 58 51 61 39 Silerado 9 24 28 26 25 29 40 29 37 Continuation 10 20 16 32 24 20 17 33 33 11 26 18 29 24 26 24 31 31

Social science School Districtwide 64 67 62 62 72 73 El Toro 70 68 64 63 75 77 Laguna Hills 70 69 64 64 75 77 Mission Viejo 64 68 66 62 71 74 Trabuco Hills 60 66 59 63 70 70 Mira Monte Alternative 56 56 75 52 Silerado 33 33 Continuation 27 22 34 36

*--*

Source: Saddleback Unified School District

Some data not available