Primary Grade Scores Rise in La Habra

Every week during the school year, second-graders at Arbolita Elementary School in La Habra wrote letters to their principal and knew they’d get a personalized reply.

At first, the letters described class activities with faulty grammar, spelling and punctuation. But Principal Rosemary Herendeen says she saw marked improvement over the course of the year.

“It was more fun for them to write when they knew somebody was actually going to read their letter and respond to it,” said Herendeen, who retired at the end of the school year.

The extra writing practice and other activities helped second-graders at the school more than double their rankings in the language section of the annual Stanford 9 test, jumping from the 22nd percentile to the 48th.

“When the scores came in I didn’t really know if I wanted to see them or not,” Herendeen said. “But I was practically dancing down the hall.”

Test scores for other schools in the 6,000-student La Habra City School District showed the most dramatic increases in the early primary grades, with middle schoolers performing about the same or slightly better than last year.

The 12,000-student Fullerton School District also posted increases in its scores in most categories, mirroring a trend seen throughout the county this year. Both districts teach students in grades kindergarten through eight.

Stanford 9 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 annual test taken by second- through 11th-graders around the state measures basic skills, such as reading, math, language, spelling, science and social science, depending on the grade level.

Fullerton school officials credited tireless teachers who are becoming more adept at analyzing student performance measures and using the results to plan their lessons

“Foremost, we must salute our teachers and their relentless efforts on behalf of our students,” Fullerton Supt. Ron Cooper said.

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Fullerton, La Habra Scores

The following list shows Stanford 9 test 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 scores in the comparison group.

FULLERTON

Students in the Fullerton School District posted modest gains in most Stanford 9 categories.

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Reading Math Language Spelling School Grade 1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000 Districtwide 2 49 54 57 63 51 55 52 55 3 45 46 54 58 49 51 52 55 4 47 54 49 57 50 57 48 54 5 49 48 54 55 54 54 51 49 6 55 58 66 68 60 62 57 59 7 53 57 64 67 61 65 55 59 8 55 57 62 64 58 60 50 51 Acacia 2 56 67 70 82 66 77 58 70 3 55 70 60 84 67 77 61 70 4 71 68 73 75 74 70 71 69 5 61 63 64 75 70 79 59 61 6 65 66 77 73 74 76 58 64 Beechwood 2 -- 79 -- 78 -- 79 -- 76 3 -- 60 -- 75 -- 69 -- 74 4 -- 67 -- 63 -- 70 -- 68 5 -- 53 -- 63 -- 55 -- 52 6 -- 74 -- 71 -- 75 -- 64 Commonwealth 2 56 66 71 77 80 72 72 68 3 29 33 28 41 38 34 39 51 4 37 48 37 48 49 47 47 50 5 44 43 44 42 57 49 48 49 6 46 56 56 63 59 65 51 60 Fern Drive 2 61 73 65 81 53 74 66 75 3 64 55 67 61 67 58 69 65 4 66 68 65 70 67 66 67 69 5 68 64 74 74 67 71 77 67 6 68 74 79 83 76 74 72 79 Golden Hill 2 54 55 61 65 58 66 48 53 3 49 56 45 57 52 61 51 61 4 51 61 47 66 48 63 52 64 5 62 59 61 58 61 59 58 54 6 54 68 60 79 58 68 62 66 Hermosa Drive 2 59 58 67 68 61 64 57 65 3 66 60 76 71 72 67 69 65 4 65 67 70 75 65 70 64 72 5 62 65 71 76 61 63 57 55 6 70 77 80 82 73 76 65 70 Laguna Road 2 80 83 88 90 86 86 82 84 3 78 78 90 89 84 87 83 81 4 81 86 87 90 80 84 86 86 5 78 80 88 91 82 81 86 80 6 80 81 90 91 83 80 87 87 Maple 2 34 32 42 44 28 28 35 37 3 -- 24 -- 38 -- 29 -- 36 Orangethorpe 2 40 47 49 59 43 49 43 49 3 33 29 41 40 31 31 40 42 4 35 41 36 49 37 47 34 37 5 44 34 48 41 41 48 35 39 6 46 50 54 58 52 51 42 40 Pacific Drive 2 38 33 37 36 38 34 43 37 3 38 35 45 43 32 41 45 44 4 44 47 41 45 48 47 45 46 5 40 37 37 41 50 44 41 43 6 50 50 53 59 52 58 47 52 Raymond 2 45 49 53 65 37 47 41 46 3 47 44 63 70 50 49 51 57 4 42 52 41 54 38 50 42 40 5 44 47 48 46 45 47 42 35 6 43 51 54 63 44 59 33 47 Richman 2 21 30 39 34 23 26 23 29 3 17 22 33 36 22 25 26 28 4 14 22 20 22 21 28 12 21 5 14 16 23 23 23 25 21 21 6 23 23 37 39 27 30 29 29 Rolling Hills 2 61 68 64 72 69 60 61 57 3 60 63 65 68 59 60 55 62 4 68 58 66 55 60 56 61 56 5 61 65 61 63 54 62 54 57 6 61 66 71 66 65 60 64 59 Sunset Lane 2 69 70 80 80 69 70 80 78 3 63 69 74 84 71 77 80 85 4 52 66 58 73 61 72 64 77 5 67 53 71 66 68 60 75 60 6 69 71 80 83 77 76 78 80 Valencia Park 2 41 48 43 58 45 47 42 46 3 28 34 35 45 33 40 36 43 4 22 35 21 38 29 44 21 36 5 29 27 31 29 35 32 30 29 6 39 39 48 48 41 43 39 43 Woodcrest 2 24 33 28 44 24 29 26 37 3 23 26 31 26 25 24 35 33 4 30 32 38 34 34 35 31 33 5 39 29 46 35 46 35 34 34 6 45 39 59 54 49 51 51 52

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Middle Schools

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Reading Math Language Spelling School Grade 1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000 Ladera Vista 7 56 54 63 63 60 60 53 56 8 56 58 55 62 55 61 49 50 Nicolas 7 35 42 44 47 39 49 36 45 8 40 42 46 42 41 40 35 36 Parks 7 70 72 83 86 81 81 75 76 8 69 70 82 84 76 78 67 68

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Source: Fullerton School District

LA HABRA CITY

Test scores in the La Habra City School District improved the most at elementary schools.

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Reading Math Language Spelling School Grade 1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000 Districtwide 2 42 51 53 62 40 54 40 51 3 34 36 53 57 35 39 37 43 4 36 40 47 52 41 42 31 39 5 36 40 48 56 44 46 35 41 6 40 42 51 55 43 48 32 35 7 41 41 47 49 51 53 39 38 8 44 44 52 52 50 50 37 34 Arbolita 2 30 43 44 51 22 48 30 44 El Cerrito 2 41 49 53 61 38 49 42 52 Ladera Palma 2 48 61 60 77 48 64 45 59 Las Lomas 2 44 46 51 52 44 53 39 47 Las Positas 3 30 36 49 63 33 41 33 45 4 30 37 47 51 39 39 29 35 5 35 40 44 56 40 45 32 46 Sierra Vista 3 37 38 52 53 37 41 40 44 4 38 44 43 55 39 45 29 43 5 37 37 51 50 50 42 39 35 Walnut 3 32 35 57 55 33 37 39 41 4 40 39 53 50 42 41 35 39 5 35 44 49 63 41 53 35 42

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Middle Schools

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Reading Math Language Spelling School Grade 1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000 Imperial 6 38 43 55 59 45 51 32 35 7 39 40 43 50 48 51 -- 38 8 45 45 55 52 52 50 -- 34 Washington 6 42 40 48 52 40 45 32 35 7 44 42 52 48 54 54 -- 38 8 44 41 50 53 48 51 -- 34

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Source: La Habra City School District