On the same day that the California Department of Education
released its list of 2010 Distinguished Schools
– the highest honor by the state for public schools – it also
released results from the yearly springtime standardized tests.
On the same day that the California Department of Education released its list of 2010 Distinguished Schools – the highest honor by the state for public schools – it also released results from the yearly springtime standardized tests.
A school from Morgan Hill Unified School District won’t be found on the Distinguished List, but overall the district’s schools have improved in English language arts and mathematics on the STAR, or Standardized Testing and Reporting program.
The 2010 results reveal students improved in the areas of English language arts – 58 percent were proficient or advanced – and mathematics – 60 percent were proficient or advanced. On the English portion, MHUSD students improved by 4 percentage points from last year’s 54 percent, and increased also by 4 percentage points in math from 54 percent last year to 58 percent in 2010.
Districtwide 18 percent of students tested below basic or far below basic in both math and English language arts.
Students are tested in English language arts, math, social studies and science depending on the grade level. Each child is scored as either advanced, proficient, basic, below basic or far below basic.
“I am happy to point out that the results indicate more of our students are taking rigorous math and science classes and they are performing better in those classes,” said Charles Weis, Santa Clara County’s Department of Education superintendent. “Even more encouraging, Hispanic students are helping to lead this trend.”
At MHUSD, there are 3,141 Hispanic students, close to half of the 7,019 students enrolled in the district in 2010.
Though not all students classified as “English language learners” identify as Hispanic or Latino, the majority are, based on school demographics. Calculations done by the Morgan Hill Times show that 17.5 percent of second- through 11th-grade English language learners scored proficient or advanced in English language arts, and 40.5 percent tested at below basic or far below basic.
In math, the findings weren’t as dire: 32 percent were proficient or better and 36 percent were below basic or far below basic.
The scores released Monday don’t include the Adequate Yearly Progress or Academic Performance Index, which are calculations used to measure the progress of No Child Left Behind standards. The AYP and API scores are typically released in September each year.
If a school fails to improve each year, according to the federal mandate No Child Left Behind, it can fall into Program Improvement and can be subject to sanctions depending on how many years a school has not improved.
Currently, four schools in MHUSD are in Program Improvement: San Martin/Gwinn Elementary (year one), El Toro Elementary (year two), P.A. Walsh Elementary (year three) and Jackson Elementary (year five). By year five, a school must make serious changes such as firing the principal and 50 percent of the staff or making major structural changes to the school day in regards to the length of the day and curriculum.
Those four MHUSD schools released their plans for this school year in May as part of each school’s required Single Plan for Student Achievement.
How MHUSD second- through sixth-graders performed on the STAR test
(in percentages)
Barrett
English-language arts: 23 percent advanced, 29 percent proficient, 31 percent basic, 11 percent below basic, 6 percent far below basic
Math: 29 advanced, 30 proficient, 24 basic, 14 below basic, 3 far below basic
El Toro
English: 21 advanced, 33 proficient, 25 basic, 12 below basic, 7 far below basic
Math: 32 advanced, 28 proficient, 21 basic, 14 below basic, 4 far below basic
Jackson
English: 23 advanced, 30 proficient, 25 basic, 11 below basic, 10 far below basic
Math: 29 advanced, 33 proficient, 19 basic, 15 below basic, 4 far below basic
Los Paseos
English: 30 advanced, 31 proficient, 25 basic, 10 below basic, 2 far below basic
Math: 34 advanced, 33 proficient, 18 basic, 14 below basic, 1 far below basic
P.A. Walsh
English: 18 advanced, 24 proficient, 31 basic, 15 below basic, 10 far below basic
Math: 19 advanced, 28 proficient, 27 basic, 19 below basic, 6 far below basic
Nordstrom
English: 43 advanced, 33 proficient, 16 basic, 5 below basic, 2 far below basic
Math: 46 advanced, 28 proficient, 23 basic, 8 below basic, 1 far below basic
Paradise Valley
English: 40 advanced, 33 proficient, 20 basic, 4 below basic, 3 far below basic
Math: 50 advanced, 30 proficient, 13 basic, 7 below basic, 0 far below basic
San Martin/Gwinn
English: 20 advanced, 30 proficient, 30 basic, 14 below basic, 5 far below basic
Math: 27 advanced, 31 proficient, 24 basic, 16 below basic, 2 far below basic
