COSTA MESA

After years of having some of the lowest standardized test scores in the district, the numbers are on the rise at Whittier Elementary School. A new community library that serves students, parents, siblings and teachers is at the heart of the improvement, school officials say. The school offers kindergarten through third-grade instruction, as well as adult education and a state-funded preschool. Principal Sharon Blakley, who set up the library for students and their parents, most of whom speak little or no English, says credit also goes to the library’s full-time instructors who teach both the students and the faculty at Whittier.