Whether scores are up or down, good or bad, API or CAASPP, local school leaders have not put too much stock into state standardized test results in recent years.
This year was no different.
The latest California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) results were released Aug. 24, and Morgan Hill Unified School District showed modest improvement overall in English Language Arts and mathematics.
On one hand, local school officials called the improved results encouraging. On the other, they believe it to be only one way to gauge student achievement. Mostly, they use the data to help better individualize instruction for students in each of the subgroups while looking to reduce the omnipresent achievement gap.
In ELA, district students increased two percentage points from 50 to 52 percent of students meeting or exceeding state standards. The remaining 48 percent were categorized as either approaching or not meeting those state standards.
In mathematics, the same students improved by one percentage point from 40 to 41 percent of students meeting or exceeding state standards. That means nearly 60 percent (59 to be exact) of local students failed to reach the state threshold.
MHUSD brass quickly sent out a press release Aug. 25 announcing the growth in state results in both subject areas, but at the same time short-selling its significance in the grand scheme of student education.
“Although this is just one of many measures for our district plan, we are very encouraged by the results,” MHUSD Superintendent Steve Betando is quoted in that release.
“As a district, we will always work harder and make improvements from year to year, and these results indicate that we are on the right track,” he continued. “As such, we will continue to use the feedback from this test to better serve our students academically.”
This is the second year of the new statewide student assessments since the California education community did away with the old Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program.
CAASPP includes a number of assessments, but the most widely given are the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments, which evaluate student progress on the California standards in Mathematics and English Language Arts/Literacy, often referred to as the Common Core.
The CAASPP tests for English Language Arts/Literacy and mathematics were given to students in grades three through eight and grade eleven. (Ninth and 10th graders are not given the CAASPP exams) They consist of two parts. First, there is an adaptive test taken on a computer that gives students different follow-up questions based on their answers, thereby providing a more refined picture of a student’s abilities. Second, there is a performance task that challenges students to apply their knowledge and skills to real-world problems. The two parts measure depth of understanding, writing, research and problem-solving skills.
Breaking down the data
This year, the California Department of Education’s DataQuest system allows visitors to compare statistics by grade level as well as by year from the baseline 2015 results to the most recent 2016 scores.
In ELA, MHUSD high school juniors (11th grade) were the most competent with 67 percent meeting or exceeding standards with sixth graders at 56 percent and fifth graders at 55 percent. On the flip side, more than half of the district’s third, fourth, seventh and eighth graders tested did not meet the state standards in that subject.
In math, local third graders performed the best overall with 58 percent meeting or exceeding state standards. However, none of the six other grade levels eclipsed 50 percent of competency in that subject.
Comparing the same students from one grade level to the next was a new key function of the state system. For example, MHUSD third graders were 43 percent at or above state ELA standards in 2015 and improved to 45 percent as fourth graders in 2016. In math, however, those same 2015 scores dropped from 46 percent at or above to 38 percent at or above state standards in 2016. Or in the case of 2015 results for sixth graders to seventh graders in 2016, those students went up 3 percent in math but down 5 percent in ELA.
“It is also clear that growth of student cohorts moving from grade to grade across two testing years indicates strong educational programs at all 12 schools,” according to the MHUSD’s press release. “This information is invaluable to the district as it moves forward in planning, specifically in regards to the Local Control Accountability Plan.”
MHUSD performed better than its neighboring district to the south and against the overall state percentages. In Gilroy, 49 percent district-wide met or exceeded state ELA standards while 40 percent met or exceeded state math standards. Statewide, 49 percent met or exceeded ELA state standards while 37 percent met or exceeded math state standards.
However, the same could not be said when compared to the rest of the county. In Santa Clara County, 62 percent met or exceeded ELA state standards while 55 percent met or exceeded math standards.
Mixed results for individual schools, groups
A breakdown of MHUSD’s two comprehensive high schools show strong scores in English but room for improvement in mathematics. At Sobrato HS, 73 percent of 11th graders met or exceeded state ELA standards while 47 percent met or exceeded state math standards. At Live Oak HS, 68 percent of 11th graders met or exceeded state ELA standards while 24 percent met or exceeded state math standards.
Test results were less impressive at the district’s continuation high school, which deals with the most at-risk students and provides an alternative form of education. At Central, only 16 percent of 11th graders met or exceeded state ELA standards while just 18 percent met or exceeded state math standards.
In the district’s response to varying test scores, they wrote: “Parent education level remains the most influential predictor of student achievement, across the district, with graduate degree parents having students with ten times the rate of meeting or exceeding standards as parents who did not graduate high school.”
Always the elephant in the standardized testing room is the achievement gap, the discrepancy between Caucasian/White student achievement to that of their Hispanic/Latino classmates. This is a nationwide issue and one education leaders everywhere are keen on fixing. MHUSD is not unique in having an achievement gap in 2016.
District-wide, Hispanic students recorded 36 percent meeting or exceeding state ELA standards and 26 percent meeting or exceeding state math standards. As for their White counterparts, those students registered 69 percent meeting or exceeding in ELA and 58 percent doing the same in math.
“Although ethnic achievement gaps among students persist, the data is better illustrating high correlations to parent education level, socioeconomic status, and English language fluency levels,” according to Glen Webb, the district’s Director of Curriculum and Instruction in his lengthy explanation. “Our purpose is to isolate the educational program to best meet the individual needs of each student. These results help to validate ongoing parent engagement efforts that are helping students to overcome this obstacle and are increasing their proficiency level achievement. Our current plan addresses those very issues.”
Webb is expected to provide an in-depth breakdown of the district’s CAASPP scores at a future school board meeting. The next regularly scheduled session is 6 p.m. Sept. 6 inside district headquarters at 15600 Concord Circle.
