3 campuses miss marks

Three Newport-Mesa Unified School District sites joined the federal

list of at-risk schools Tuesday, as the government cited them for

failing to make adequate yearly progress.

Rea, Killybrooke and Davis elementary schools, all in Costa Mesa,

joined five other Newport-Mesa schools currently on the

program-improvement list. The ranking, introduced under the No Child

Left Behind Act, identifies schools that have failed to meet federal

standards for two years in a row. To make adequate yearly progress, a

school must meet the federal standards for every significant student

group -- including ethnicities, English-learners and students low on

the socioeconomic ladder.

Eight Newport-Mesa schools marked for program improvement is the

highest number the district has had.

“They raised the targets this year, and I think you’re going to

find countywide, there are many more schools that did not meet those

high targets,” said Peggy Anatol, Newport-Mesa’s director of

assessment. “We met all our state targets, and we were very happy,

but this is the national set of criteria for No Child Left Behind.”

When a school is put on the program-improvement list, it becomes

eligible for a number of government-imposed measures, including

removing teachers, changing curriculum and, potentially, a takeover

by the state.

The system of ranking schools for program improvement has inflamed

many in the education community, particularly this year. At the end

of August, the state government and the federal government issued

reports regarding the progress of school sites over the last year --

the former showing many schools growing by leaps and bounds, the

latter downgrading many of the same schools for not having high

enough test scores.

The difference between the two reports is criteria. The California

Department of Education judges schools by how much progress they have

made over the year before, and the federal standard measures schools

against a rigid standard. By 2014, the government mandates that all

students be proficient or better in English and in math.

As a result, some of the Newport-Mesa schools that made the

biggest state gains this year failed to meet federal standards --

among them Killybrooke, which, despite making the single biggest leap

of any elementary school in the district, is now on the program

improvement list.

Across California, many schools fell below the federal level

because the government’s standards increased in the last year. In

2004-05, about one quarter of all students had to rank as proficient

or above on English and math tests -- nearly double the percentage

from the year before.

“Obviously, in one regard, given the way the system was set up

three years ago, I wasn’t surprised,” said Supt. Robert Barbot. “I’d

rather we not be there, obviously. At least Killybrooke and Davis, on

the ... [state Academic Performance Index], showed growth points, but

the bar has also been moved up.”

Davis failed to make adequate yearly progress because of two

subgroups’ scores -- English-learners’ scores on English tests, and

math scores from students at a socioeconomic disadvantage -- that

were both less than two percentage points below the federal

standards.

“We knew that in the future, with these ever-increasing targets,

we’re going to have to stretch higher,” Anatol said. “We all worked

hard, but the three new schools were not able to meet those targets.”

A year ago, Newport-Mesa had five schools -- Estancia High School,

TeWinkle Middle School and Pomona, Whittier and Wilson elementary

schools -- on the program-improvement list. In 2004-05, Estancia,

Pomona and Whittier met the federal standards for test scores,

meaning that if it hit the target again the next year, it would be

taken off the list. TeWinkle and Wilson did not meet the state

requirements.

Those five schools are categorized as year-two program-improvement

schools, meaning that they must implement new educational services

over the next year. Barbot said the district would have to examine

each site to determine what services it needed.

The program improvement process only applies to Title I schools,

which are economically disadvantaged and receive federal funds. Of

Newport-Mesa’s 12 Title I schools, all but four are listed for

program improvement. Wilson, one of the district’s lowest-income

sites, met federal standards in 2003-04 but fell this year as the bar

lifted.

Candy Sperling, the principal of Wilson, was disappointed by the

scores but said they reflected her school’s demographic. About

one-fourth of Wilson students are proficient in English, she pointed

out, and about the same number met the federal standards this year.

“I think for kids who are proficient, they made that target,”

Sperling said. “That’s reason to celebrate right there. We know we

have a job to do for the rest of them.”