Test results and district’s attitude are encouraging

There is good news coming from our public school campuses, and it’s

not that a new school year is about to begin.

Once again, our students outperformed their peers on statewide

testing. The percentage of high school sophomores in Newport Beach

and Costa Mesa who passed the California High School Exit Exam in

2005 was 76% on the English and the math test, more than 10

percentage points above state averages.

The results were also good on the Standardized Testing and

Reporting Program, given to elementary and middle school students.

They topped state results at every grade in English, history and

science, and at nearly all grade levels in math.

School leaders were quick, and correct, to point to hard work as

the key to the district’s results.

“The magic of it all, the secret, is hard work -- making sure

standards are taught at every grade level,” Supt. Robert Barbot told

the Pilot. “As we’ve all learned, it’s just a lot of hard work and

concentration.”

Perhaps the best news was at two campuses that have been lagging

behind the rest of the district: Paularino and Killybrooke elementary

schools.

The number of second-graders at Paularino who were at least

proficient on the English test skyrocketed from 30% in 2004 to 62%

this year. Killybrooke had the district’s highest math increase with

its fifth-graders -- their numbers leapt from 14% to 46%.

Across the district, students made up previous drops on the vast

majority of tests.

The main area of concern is the high school’s science scores,

which remained level or dropped at all the campuses. The number of

ninth-graders scoring proficient or better in chemistry fell from 84%

to 65% and eleventh-graders’ biology scores declined from 72% to 53%.

School officials pointed out that more students took those tests this

year, which is never a satisfying answer, but they did, to their

credit, acknowledge that they need to figure out why students didn’t

do better on the exams.

Also to the district’s credit, they know more work is needed, as

school districts across the country strive to hit the 2014 No Child

Left Behind deadline when all students must pass the tests.

“Every school is across-the-board improved, but ‘improve’ is a

journey,” Barbot said. “We’ve gotten from A to B, but now we have to

get to C. Until every child everywhere has equal opportunity and is

able to achieve at the level they’re capable, we’re not going to be

satisfied.”

With that attitude, we should expect our students to hit those

goals well before 2014.