Stanford 9 Scores Up in 3 School Districts

Three more Orange County school districts released their scores on the standardized Stanford 9 test Tuesday, and all showed improvement over last year’s marks.

Scores in the Fullerton Joint Union High School district, home to the acclaimed Sunny Hills and Troy high schools, crept up a few notches to the mid-40th percentiles in reading and the 60th percentiles in math.

Schools in the Westminster system, where about half the students are still learning English, rose more dramatically, although most marks still hovered in the 40s and 50s.

Scores in the Centralia School District, which serves parts of Anaheim, La Palma and Buena Park, also edged up into the 50th and 60th percentiles.

Stanford scores are measured against those of a national pool of test-takers. The 50th percentile is the national median, with half that pool scoring lower and half scoring higher. The test measures basic skills, such as reading, math, language, spelling, science and social science, depending on the grade level.

Orange County test scores will continue to trickle in through mid-July, when the California Department of Education posts them on the Internet. So far, more than half of the county’s 27 school districts have received and released their results.

Fullerton Assistant Supt. Kenneth L. Stichter said he was pleased with the growth in his district’s scores but still would like to see stronger marks in reading.

“Statewide, reading is the challenge--especially reading comprehension,” he said. “We’ll keep plugging away at it and move our scores up bit by bit.”

At Westminster’s L.P. Webber School, scores went up sharply--a jump Principal Rich Guinn attributes to great teaching and extra help programs for students struggling academically.

In his 500-student school, nearly 80% of students speak Vietnamese or Spanish at home and 90% are poor. Yet the school’s marks rose by 11 points to the 51st percentile in second-grade reading and by 26 points to the 56th percentile in fourth-grade spelling.

“I have to single out the commitment that the teachers at this school have for these kids and the compassion that they have for the kids, some of whom come to school with not much [preparation],” Guinn said. “And we are just beginning, let me tell you.”

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Elementary and Middle School Scores

The following list shows Stanford 9 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 score.

CENTRALIA SCHOOL DISTRICT

The district saw its Stanford 9 scores edge up this year.

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Reading Math Language Spelling School Grade 1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000 Districtwide 2 49 53 59 66 50 54 52 54 3 48 50 64 68 55 56 54 56 4 49 53 56 63 55 57 53 56 5 47 51 54 64 54 60 51 56 6 52 53 65 66 59 58 57 58 Buena Terra 2 54 65 67 78 57 68 52 64 3 51 53 64 63 58 59 57 54 4 51 60 55 64 54 62 51 62 5 53 56 45 62 58 57 50 60 6 57 60 63 65 68 64 62 59 Centralia 2 44 37 55 48 47 33 35 25 3 32 41 54 61 39 46 38 44 4 35 35 56 52 46 44 37 34 5 29 36 36 56 36 46 32 43 6 29 28 43 38 40 35 29 30 Danbrook 2 29 27 38 35 26 29 35 33 3 27 30 43 49 34 37 41 36 4 28 29 27 44 32 39 32 33 5 20 39 25 44 26 44 24 38 6 28 30 34 37 31 31 31 31 Dysinger 2 60 46 63 61 58 46 58 55 3 50 54 61 69 60 59 56 59 4 60 57 62 58 57 55 57 63 5 52 59 57 76 61 63 58 65 6 63 61 74 74 57 65 69 72 Knott 2 53 64 62 77 54 69 58 67 3 54 56 74 75 57 58 50 56 4 56 47 69 63 60 55 62 55 5 62 51 68 69 67 66 59 61 6 60 65 73 84 64 74 64 73 Los Coyotes 2 70 78 78 83 70 81 75 81 3 67 67 85 82 76 75 71 77 4 71 74 79 87 74 73 78 76 5 70 66 74 77 71 72 73 72 6 73 72 85 80 79 78 79 80 7 8 Miller 2 61 63 76 74 65 66 72 73 3 61 57 76 79 74 67 72 74 4 58 69 64 76 74 74 65 75 5 46 56 58 72 51 72 59 63 6 58 56 78 76 69 66 65 71 San Marino 2 44 54 55 74 46 54 44 59 3 45 49 51 67 48 54 47 54 4 48 47 48 48 52 47 53 53 5 54 51 66 62 66 60 65 52 6 52 58 61 70 61 59 53 61 Temple 2 47 59 55 74 45 60 58 61 3 63 56 74 72 64 63 60 59 4 41 61 45 74 47 67 48 59 5 56 53 68 54 62 60 55 50 6 55 64 74 80 59 65 61 59

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Source: Centralia School District

WESTMINSTER SCHOOL DISTRICT

Standardized test scores in the district rose this year.

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Reading Math Language Spelling School Grade 1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000 Districtwide 2 41 46 45 51 45 45 50 56 3 36 42 50 58 44 52 48 57 4 38 46 43 51 45 52 43 52 5 39 42 47 51 47 50 46 51 6 43 47 56 61 50 55 49 54 7 41 47 53 61 54 60 45 53 8 41 46 56 57 48 52 42 44 Anderson 2 34 41 37 41 33 40 47 53 3 23 34 45 60 32 47 42 57 4 34 35 45 39 43 39 39 47 5 31 31 47 47 37 40 43 44 6 37 41 58 60 42 54 46 56 Clegg 2 58 55 59 53 60 55 59 56 3 50 60 53 64 53 61 50 55 4 50 52 46 50 46 56 49 55 5 50 52 54 55 53 54 50 59 6 54 56 61 63 50 57 52 60 DeMille 2 48 47 44 44 45 38 49 57 3 32 42 42 58 36 54 48 68 4 37 42 37 48 39 54 48 60 5 32 41 40 41 45 44 44 53 6 39 42 50 50 49 52 51 55 Eastwood 2 43 49 50 55 51 53 40 54 3 61 59 69 68 66 58 59 51 4 66 69 63 75 62 69 62 56 5 59 72 60 82 53 77 57 67 6 65 68 81 76 68 73 70 71 Finley 2 31 38 42 37 37 33 37 50 3 27 25 34 45 33 41 31 42 4 19 32 26 33 33 39 25 39 5 27 24 30 39 37 38 32 29 6 29 na 39 na 41 na 42 na Fryberger 2 38 39 35 44 44 39 48 54 3 30 41 35 52 39 46 43 57 4 38 37 39 44 46 43 44 52 5 45 44 50 57 40 52 43 50 Hayden 2 40 50 45 66 40 45 59 66 3 35 42 48 65 46 59 58 72 4 38 46 51 57 50 60 47 61 5 39 39 60 51 62 54 55 54 Meairs 2 34 44 31 48 39 42 40 56 3 28 29 41 37 36 37 44 48 4 30 42 39 51 38 50 35 41 5 37 32 41 45 50 41 45 42 Schmitt 2 37 35 38 46 41 38 60 61 3 33 46 47 64 40 59 57 67 4 33 40 43 45 42 49 44 56 5 30 42 37 44 45 51 44 50 Schroeder 2 50 51 62 68 60 59 54 54 3 60 62 74 80 65 73 61 63 4 57 58 57 61 57 62 55 64 5 49 57 49 58 53 63 52 57 6 59 66 57 77 63 71 64 68 Sequoia 2 59 68 69 77 63 77 61 69 3 52 59 55 61 54 60 45 53 4 62 59 58 56 58 55 59 53 5 53 55 60 66 54 66 50 70 6 63 51 79 61 64 45 61 52 Webber 2 40 51 39 58 33 49 42 60 3 32 37 62 58 42 48 52 61 4 23 51 38 49 40 51 30 56 5 30 36 42 58 42 47 46 54 6 40 45 53 65 47 53 52 61 Willmore 2 39 30 52 33 48 30 48 38 3 18 28 37 47 25 42 32 45 4 22 26 30 43 32 34 30 28 5 20 33 36 35 29 34 28 33 6 24 na 39 na 33 na 27 na Johnson 6 35 35 50 50 50 47 44 46 7 35 45 46 56 54 60 37 52 8 37 38 51 47 48 46 41 36 Stacey 6 na 31 na 62 na 48 na 36 7 48 48 57 65 59 60 52 56 8 48 52 62 61 56 59 47 48 Warner 6 44 47 59 57 50 56 46 54 7 40 47 57 61 50 60 46 52 8 38 49 54 64 41 53 38 49

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Source: Westminster School District

Fullerton High School Scores

The Fullerton Joint Union High School District district improved already strong test scores on this year’s Stanford 9. The following list shows Stanford 9 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 score.

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Reading Math Language Science School Grade 1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000 Districtwide 9 43 45 62 65 59 63 52 54 10 40 43 58 63 48 51 55 54 46 11 44 46 59 62 56 55 55 54 64 Buena Park 9 22 25 38 39 38 42 33 34 10 19 22 33 39 24 28 35 35 26 11 25 25 35 38 35 33 32 33 47 Fullerton Union 9 30 34 46 53 46 47 42 42 10 27 32 39 48 37 34 41 40 34 11 31 37 46 50 46 48 43 42 51 La Habra 9 35 39 48 56 48 58 44 48 10 39 35 48 53 44 43 53 43 44 11 40 43 49 54 49 52 51 49 61 La Vista 10 16 19 22 24 20 28 25 36 11 15 16 20 20 18 21 19 23 29 Sonora 9 37 41 58 62 54 58 50 53 10 37 38 51 55 42 45 56 53 42 11 39 43 48 57 51 53 55 56 61 Sunny Hills 9 56 54 79 78 72 74 60 63 10 49 51 76 80 60 65 59 64 55 11 60 56 81 77 72 67 68 67 72 Troy 9 71 72 86 89 82 84 73 74 10 65 72 83 88 74 80 76 79 71 11 70 73 85 87 76 79 78 77 84

Social science School 1999 2000 Districtwide 51 53 10 47 11 63 Buena Park 31 34 10 29 11 46 Fullerton Union 38 43 10 35 11 54 La Habra 41 45 10 36 11 55 La Vista 22 30 11 28 Sonora 50 51 10 42 11 63 Sunny Hills 62 63 10 58 11 73 Troy 77 78 10 76 11 84

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Source: Fullerton Joint Union School District