Schools improve in rankings

It’s been a good year for Sonora Elementary School, and it continued Wednesday.

The school was one of seven Newport-Mesa Unified School District schools to score a 10 out of 10 in the 2007 Base Academic Performance Index report’s similar school rankings, and improved to an 8 out of 10 in its statewide ranking.

The jump was substantial in comparison to the school’s ranking a year ago, when it scored a 2 versus similar schools and a 3 in the state.

The 2007 Base API was calculated using the 2007 spring test scores and shows new base scores upon which they will be judged when growth figures are released in August. The report also showed rankings for schools statewide and versus similar schools.

The similar rankings compare schools’ testing results against other campuses with similar student ethnicities, socioeconomic status, number of fully credentialed teachers and other categories. State rankings are judged by the school’s API scores versus all other schools in California.

“We are really blown away by the 8 [in state rankings],” Sonora principal Christine Anderson said. “Now we just have to repeat the act.”

Anderson attributed the testing improvement to the various changes the school made within the last few years, including a preschool program and reading interventions. The children first exposed to those programs are in second grade this year and their first testing scores were shown in the results released Wednesday, Anderson said

“One of the biggest things is just all agreeing that there were no excuses,” Anderson said of the school’s drastic improvement over last year. “It is easy to say this child comes from a low socioeconomic background or doesn’t speak English. Those are things we cannot change. So we asked ‘what are we going to do to see these kids succeed?’”

Kaiser and Killybrooke elementary schools both saw their rankings against similar schools jump to a 10, as both scored an 8 the year before. Rea Elementary moved up one place statewide to a 3 and reached a 9 versus similar schools, a three-spot leap.

Mariners Elementary continued its dominance with a 10 in both rankings, but Lincoln Elementary and Orange Coast Middle College High School joined Mariners and five other Newport-Mesa schools in getting ranks of 10 statewide.

Newport-Mesa is also celebrating a 60-point increase in its base API over the last 5 years, 17 schools over the target 800 API mark, and 12 schools that moved up at least one ranking statewide. The district had five schools move up in statewide rankings last year.

“It’s a great day,” said district spokeswoman Laura Boss. “In a time when education is taking so many hits, it is very beneficial. We haven’t lost sight that education is our goal.”

Secondary schools, such as Costa Mesa High School, Ensign Intermediate and TeWinkle Middle School, showed increases in statewide rankings as well, something the district hasn’t seen in a while, director of kindergarten through 12 assessment Peggy Anatol said.

“We are pleased,” Anatol said. “It is good to show incremental growth.”

The district also had increases — mostly double-digit — in each subgroup rated by the API over the previous Base API report, including all ethnic groups, socioeconomically disadvantaged, English learners and students with disabilities.

DANIEL TEDFORD may be reached at (714) 966-4632 or at [email protected].