Hollister
– San Benito County teachers made a strong effort to prepare
students for the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) test
this spring, but the results released Monday show scores haven’t
changed much since last year.
Hollister – San Benito County teachers made a strong effort to prepare students for the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) test this spring, but the results released Monday show scores haven’t changed much since last year.
The lack of change in countywide scores isn’t a bad or good thing, said Jean Burns Slater, superintendent of San Benito High School District..
“Well it means we’re holding steady, but at the same time, we would really like to see growth,” she said. “Every year there are new challenges schools have to deal with.”
One thing SBHSD had to deal with was students not taking STAR testing seriously because it doesn’t carry consequences for them, according to Slater. The district saw a drop in math scores on the STAR test. But 74 percent of the students passed the High School Exit Exam, a requirement to graduate.
“We’re not really happy with the (STAR) results,” Slater said. “In order to have good results, you have to have students take the test seriously, and I guess we can see that when there are high stakes involved, they do.”
The 2004 STAR results statewide show a slowdown in public schools raising their student achievement levels to proficient or advanced, according to the Department of Education. But San Benito County hasn’t seen a large jump or a huge decline in numbers. Of the grade levels tested in subjects including math, English, science and history, there was no more than a 16 percentage point difference in achievement in each grade level between 2003 and 2004.
STAR is made up of two parts; the California Standards Test, and the California Achievement Test Sixth Edition, also known as the CAT6. Student scores are broken into five different categories, including far below basic, below basic, basic, proficient and advanced.
In order to comply with the federal No Child Left Behind requirements, districts must have a certain percent of students score proficient or higher in all areas. That number won’t be determined until the end of the month. The combination of the STAR results and the Academic Performance Index (API) results, which is another state exam given earlier in the school year, create the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) report for all districts, according to the Department of Education.
The AYP is used to determine if schools are performing to standards, and if a certain percentage of students haven’t scored proficiently for two years in a row, a district can be deemed “under performing” and parents can move their students to another school.
While San Benito County scores didn’t see much change, State Superintendent Jack O’Connell isn’t pleased with the statewide results.
“This is not where we hoped to be,” he said in a statement Monday. “But the trend of student achievement over the last several years remains positive, and I’m convinced we have the appropriate framework in place to continue our record level of improvement.”
Jackie Munoz, superintendent of Aromas-San Juan Unified School District, doesn’t agree with the way STAR tests are scored. She believes scores should be evaluated longitudinally – comparing one student’s score to her score from the year before – instead of comparing one class to the prior year’s class. Students from different class levels are like “apples and oranges,” she said, and should only be compared to their own improvement, not to that of prior students.
“We see tremendous growth in the same kids,” she said. “Looking at the scores longitudinally is the way to go because you can’t really observe a student’s growth unless you go through their education with them.”
Aromas-San Juan schools focused on communication between the junior high school and high school teachers to find weaknesses in the curriculum, and many other schools in the area began to focus their teaching directly to the standards of the STAR test.
Teachers at Sunnyslope School put a lot of effort into making sure their students were ready, and it paid off, according to test results. The number of fifth-grade students proficient or above in English rose 30 percentage points. Principal Melinda Scott said it’s not so much about the score, but that the students are prepared.
“All of our preparation for the test is beneficial even if it doesn’t show up on the test, because our overall goal is to make sure the students master these standards,” she said.
To read the results for each district and school, log onto: www.cde.ca.gov, and click on “Tests and Accountability.”
Christine Tognetti can be reached at 637-5566, ext. 330 or at
ct*******@fr***********.com
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