School test scores promising

Huntington Beach’s elementary schools kept their test scores significantly above county averages, with a spike upward in science results, while the Huntington Beach City School District inched upward across the board, according to results released this week.

Results from this year’s Standardized Testing and Reporting, better known as STAR, program were released by the state last week.

Only the raw test results are available now, but processed information based on these scores will be released over the weeks to come; that data is used by the state to judge academic progress of schools and districts, and it can affect their funding.

The Huntington Beach Union High School District was closer to county averages, but improved slightly in all areas compared to last year. All scores were close to the county average, except for math, which was significantly lower than the 50.9% proficiency rate — a score that has lagged county figures for years.

The high school district’s scores are promising, said Marlene Kline, coordinator of assessment and evaluation for the district.

“I believe things are working really good and our kids are progressing really nicely,” she said. “As a district, the results look really good for us. As long as we’re moving in an upward trend, I think the district is pleased.”

In the Huntington Beach City School District, 69.6% of students were found “proficient” or “advanced” in English, 54.3% in history, 69.7% in math, and 75.4% in science. Math, English and history scores were all within 1% of last year’s scores, while science proficiency increased from last year’s 66.4%.

Ocean View School District had 62.8% of its students at or above proficiency in English, with 54.3% in history, 69.2% in math and 67.9% in science.

Both elementary school districts were well ahead of Orange County and state averages, especially in English and math, where they scored 10% to 15% better than the county as a whole — though because county scores include all grades, it’s not a direct comparison.

In addition to going to the state, these scores get analyzed heavily, affecting the way schools and districts will approach teaching for the next year, Kline said.

“These numbers are looked at districtwide,” she said. “All of our sites use the data, and they’re looking to use that data to help instruction, help program improvement and program evaluation.”

For detailed results, or information on individual schools, go to www.cde.ca.gov.

MICHAEL ALEXANDER may be reached at (714) 966-4618 or at michael.alexander@latimes.com.