Local students are apparently learning what the California
Department of Education believes they need to learn, according to
standardized test scores released Monday.
“I am pleased with our scores, really pleased as an incoming
superintendent,” Superintendent Alan Nishino said Monday. “I am
pleased with the work that has been done and the scores we are
initially seeing.”
Local students are apparently learning what the California Department of Education believes they need to learn, according to standardized test scores released Monday.
“I am pleased with our scores, really pleased as an incoming superintendent,” Superintendent Alan Nishino said Monday. “I am pleased with the work that has been done and the scores we are initially seeing.”
The STAR, or Standardized Testing and Reporting program, results from testing in the spring were released yesterday, rating students at each grade level in one of five rankings: advanced, proficient, basic, below basic and far below basic. Students are testing in math, English-language arts, and, at some grade levels, science.
“We’re seeing a three-year trend of moving up,” said Pat Blanar, the district’s director of curriculum and assessment. “In most areas, we are beating state figures, and in our CAT-6 and CST figures, with more students in the advanced, proficient and basic categories.”
In English, approximately 48.5 percent of students scored proficient or above district-wide, according Times’ calculations. In combined math categories, which include subjects such as algebra, geometry and basic math, 43 percent scored proficient or above district-wide.
The scores released Monday do not include calculations of Adequate Yearly Performance (AYP) or Academic Performance Index (API), Blanar said. Those calculations, which are yardsticks for a school’s “No Child Left Behind” progress, will be released at the end of the month. If a school fails to meet its AYP, it can become “program improvement” school and be subject to sanctions, such as providing after-school tutoring programs. There are no program improvement schools in the Morgan Hill School District.
California’s public school students are making widespread gains in nearly every subject and grade level tested.
According to information from the California Department of Education, 40 percent of students statewide scored at the proficient or advanced level in English-language arts, an increase of 5 percent over last year, while 38 percent of students scored at the proficient or advanced level in mathematics, an increase of 4 percent over last year. Since 2001, California students have improved by 9 percent in English-language arts and 6 percent in mathematics.
“With five years of data, we can now see a clear trend of student gains in nearly every subject and every grade,” O’Connell said. “This impressive gain in student achievement can be traced back to the implementation of our comprehensive standards-based educational system. Since California adopted rigorous standards of what every child should know and be able to do and systematically integrated those standards into the classroom, our schools have made steady improvement.”
Results for individual schools in the MHUSD are available online at http://star.cde.ca.gov/star2005/viewreport.asp
