Newport-Mesa Unified improves on statewide tests

Newport-Mesa schools have improved in their statewide tests for annual academic performance, but wide disparities remained between schools in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District recorded a score of 821 on the 2010 Academic Performance Index (API) — a 10-point gain from last year’s 811. The statewide target for all schools is 800.

An API score, which ranges from 200 to 1,000, measures a district or individual school’s academic performance and growth based on statewide standardized testing results.

While the district’s top-five scoring elementary schools were located in Newport Beach, its five lowest-performing elementary schools were in Costa Mesa, according to API results release by the state Department of Education.

Out of Orange County’s 28 school districts, Newport-Mesa ranked 16th on the API.

The county’s top three performing districts were Irvine Unified at 916, Los Alamitos Unified at 904, and Laguna Beach Unified at 895. The state as a whole scored 768.

“The entire Newport-Mesa community can be exceedingly proud of the overall strides achieved by our students in the latest 2010 API results,” said acting Supt. Paul Reed in a statement to the Daily Pilot. “The district has again improved as a whole, and individual schools have made or maintained stellar marks. “I know that our diligent and dedicated teachers and administrators will set a course for the future drawing on the demonstrated strengths the test results provide to even further ensure the best possible outcome for ‘every student, every day.’”

These API scores were the first of two that will be released this year. The next score, based on the 2011 results, is slated for release in August.

In Newport-Mesa, the results showed a divide between Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, with the five highest-ranking elementary schools — Harbor View (950), Newport Coast (949), Mariners (946), Andersen (934) and Lincoln (915) — all in Newport Beach.

The five lowest-scoring elementary schools — Adams (768), College Park (743), Pomona (725), Whittier (722), Rea (712) and Wilson (718) — are in Costa Mesa.

The score disparity also stayed true at the middle-school level, with Newport Beach’s Ensign Intermediate School earning a 820 and TeWinkle Middle School a 767.

Corona del Mar High School ranked the highest of the five high schools with 884, followed by Early College (882), Newport Harbor (814), Estancia (748) and Costa Mesa (747).

The difference between the Costa Mesa and Newport Beach schools is something the district is always concerned about, Reed said.

The district continues to look at ways to narrow the disparity between Newport and Costa Mesa schools, he said, adding that Costa Mesa schools have generally been improving.