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West Campus High School proved again why it’s one of the most sought-after schools in the Sacramento area after posting top scores on the California High School Exit Exam.

Just over a mile away, Hiram Johnson High School proved why it remains a top priority for Sacramento City Unified School District officials after posting among the worst results in the state.

Same district.

Similar neighborhood.

Different admissions policy.

West Campus is an open enrollment campus, where students must meet grade-point average requirements in order to apply. Among schools with more than 200 10th-graders taking the 2009-2010 exit exam, West Campus had the lowest percentage in California of sophomores failing, tying Orange County High School for the Arts, a charter that also has admissions requirements.

For the second year in a row, all but one of West Campus’ 202 sophomores passed the English portion of the exit exam, while only two 10th-graders did not pass the math portion.

“We expect that from them,” said Sacramento City Unified Superintendent Jonathan Raymond. “We expect (West Campus) to outperform. They are a criteria school and are selecting some of our highest performing kids.”

Locally, Vista Del Lago High School in Folsom and Oak Ridge High in El Dorado Hills were also among the state’s top performers.

Hiram Johnson was the worst traditional high school in the six-county surrounding region on the English portion of the exit exam with a 38 percent failure rate.

In math, Hiram Johnson was the fifth worst locally with 32 percent of 10th-graders failing.

“This is why they are a priority school,” said Raymond, referring to a list of six schools the district is attempting to transform academically and physically. “We won’t have those results next year.”

Hiram Johnson is open to all students. For 15 years, West Campus was a satellite program at Hiram Johnson before cutting ties in 2000.

“In the past, anytime a student was a problem at another school they were transferred to Johnson,” said Pat Haddeman, who taught math at Hiram Johnson from 1999-2010. “That fact alone explains the test scores.”

Overall, data released Tuesday show more than four of every five 10th-graders passed each of the high school exit exams on their first try last year, according to the California Department of Education.

Students must pass the exit exams to get a high school diploma. All students take the exams in the 10th grade – and most pass. Those who fail can take the tests multiple times during 11th and 12th grades.

For the class of 2010, about 24,615 students statewide still need to pass the exit exams.

“Passing the exit exam is a high school graduation requirement because students need these important basic skills to be successful in college, the work force, and in life,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell in a statement.

The percentage of California 10th-graders failing the high school mathematics exit exam fell from 20 percent during the 2009 school year to 19 percent during 2010. English failure rates also dropped, going from 21 percent to 19 percent.

Locally, performance on the test was a mixed bag.

• At the school district level, Rocklin Unified was among the top performers in the state, while Twin Rivers Unified was among the worst. Twin Rivers 10th-grade students failed the math portion of the exit exam at a rate 18 times that of Rocklin Unified, which had 2 percent of sophomores fail.

Twin Rivers had 36 percent of 10th-grade students not pass the math portion and 31 percent not pass the English portion.

Among school districts with more than 500 10th-graders, Twin Rivers Unified had the third-worst passage rate in California on the math exit exam, just behind Oakland and Compton. It was among the 10 worst statewide on the English exam.

“Obviously our schools and leadership team are extremely disappointed,” said district spokeswoman Trinette Marquis. “Our school site leaders take this very personally and would have liked to see our students do better even though it’s their first time taking it … . There are no excuses.”

Marquis said Twin Rivers has already begun addressing academic shortfalls in its secondary schools in part by creating neighborhood task forces that are restructuring schools.

• George Washington Carver School of Sciences and Art, a Waldorf-inspired school in Sacramento City Unified, saw its passage rate jump 36 percentage points in math and 23 percentage points in English.

In math, that was the second-largest improvement in the state among schools with more than 50 10th-graders behind Crenshaw Arts-Technology High School in Los Angeles County.

“We are thrilled and proud of our CAHSEE improvement,” said Allegra Alessandri, principal at George Washington Carver. “These results are from a clear focus not only on academic achievement, but building a strong supportive culture of learning.”

• Placer County students boasted the highest math and English passage rates among 10th-graders in the state, while Yuba County students were among the worst performers.

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