ANALYSIS:

At the Jan. 8 Newport-Mesa School Board meeting, a group of parents calling themselves the Mesa Verde Education Committee strongly criticized all facets of Adams Elementary School, from school leadership and student safety to test scores.

Adams supporters responded in kind, speaking out at the Jan. 23 school board meeting and challenging critics to visit the school and give it a chance.

The foundation for much of the criticism are Adams’ state and federal test scores. Interpreting standardized test scores is not easy. But conclusions can easily — and inaccurately — be drawn, depending on how the numbers are interpreted. Below are some beliefs repeated about Adams’ scores on Daily Pilot blogs, and the truths behind them.

Belief: Adams annually falls below state-recommended test scores.

False. While state education officials have made an Academic Performance Index score of 800, on a scale of 200 to 1,000, the goal for all public schools in California, schools were given no timeline to reach it. Instead, each school is assigned its own growth target, or points it should increase every year. For Adams, in recent years it’s been about 5 points a year.

Since the API was introduced, Adams has met its target every year except for the 2001-02 academic year. In 1999, Adams scored 661. The most recent scores put Adams at 760.

Belief: All subgroups except white students score below state recommendations.

False. For teaching strategy purposes, students are broken up into “subgroups.” Scores can be analyzed by groups such as race, socio-economic or disability status, or English-speaking ability. Just as the school as a whole has a growth target, so do the subgroups.

According to last year’s scores, white, Latino and English-learning students met their targets. Socio-economically disadvantaged students needed to improve their score by 5 points, but improved by 4.

The state test takes into account that students and schools start at different distances from the same 800-point goal. Federal scores mandated by No Child Left Behind do not.

Belief: Adams Elementary School does not have the best scores in the district, or best compared to similar schools.

True. Many parents have pointed to Victoria Elementary for comparison. Percentage-wise, the demographics of the two schools are similar, with a majority of Latino students, Victoria with 57% and Adams with 65%. However, Adams has significantly more English-learners (238 to Victoria’s 140). A more accurate comparison, school officials say, may be Sonora Elementary. Adams has a 65% Latino population, Sonora 66%. Both have more than 220 English learners.

Sonora saw a huge jump in its state scores, from 709 to 819, earning state accolades. Adams went from 743 to 760. Until this year, Adams was the higher-performing school in all subgroups. Over the least three years, both schools have shown progressive improvement. However, Adams has been slower to move students who are categorized as far below and below proficient in math and English to the higher tiers. Proficiency is educational jargon for showing sufficient knowledge and skill in a particular subject.

Belief: Adams’ progress should be assessed solely by its ranking against similar schools across the state.

False. While there are any number of ways to measure a school’s success, the ranking against similar schools can definitely be among the most deceiving. Every year educators lump all the schools with similar demographics together, then rank them among each other.

In 1999, Adams was ranked 9, on a scale of 1 to 10, against similar schools. Its ranking statewide was a 6. Since then its state ranking has stayed between 6 and 4, this year settling at 5. But against similar schools, that ranking has gone from 9 to 4, this year settling on 5.

To put this into context, take a look at Newport Coast Elementary School. Newport Coast has one of the highest state scores in the district at 919. Statewide, the school is ranked a 10. But against similar schools, Newport Coast is ranked 2.

Also of note is that Adams Elementary School is in No Child Left Behind’s Program Improvement. Program Improvement is a probationary period for schools that can carry sanctions if they continually fail to meet federal proficiency requirements for English and math. A school enters the program if it doesn’t meet requirements two years in a row.

Adams is one of four in the district in the Program Improvement. Adams must meet federal requirements two years in a row to exit the program. It’s halfway out.

Of significant note for all schools in the district is that starting with the 2007-08 year, the federal proficiency requirements in both subjects jumps almost 11%. They will do so annually through the 2013-14 year, when 100% of students are expected to be proficient in math and English.

Proficiency requirements were level for the last three years — meaning this will be the first time in four years the federal bar has been raised — and several schools may be affected, officials said.

The district will be hosting an Adams information night at 7 p.m. March 3 at Adams Elementary School. Residents in the Adams attendance zone will be invited to the event, district officials said.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at [email protected].