After receiving the results of the California High School Exit
Exam, and the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) test this
week, local high school administrators realized their students only
took one test seriously – the one that determines if they
graduate.
After receiving the results of the California High School Exit Exam, and the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) test this week, local high school administrators realized their students only took one test seriously – the one that determines if they graduate.
Both Anzar High School and San Benito High School had high marks on the exit exam, with more than 80 percent of sophomores at Anzar passing English and math, and more than 70 percent at SBHS doing the same. Students who didn’t pass the exit exam this fall, will have four chances to re-take the exam, each year until they graduate.
While the scores on the exit exam, which the students must pass in order to graduate from high school, were high, the STAR test results were much lower, and administrators say it has do to accountability.
“This is a very big concern for high schools,” SBHSD Superintendent Jean Burns Slater said. “Students need to see the relevance in the test. It’s different compared to other exams because when students take tests like the advanced placement exam, if they pass it they can get college credit for courses, but with the STAR test, there is no individual accountability, it just affects the school itself.”
Because the STAR test results are part of the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) report, which monitors school improvement, low results for two consecutive years ultimately can cause districts to be deemed “under performing,” and allow parents to send their students elsewhere.
The fact that students realize the STAR results don’t directly affect them is one of the reasons both schools saw a big gap between test scores, Slater said. The exit exam tests the tenth-grade student’s math skills up to Algebra I, which is usually an eighth-grade course. On the exit exam, 70 percent of SBHS sophomores passed, while only 50 percent scored “proficient” or above in Algebra I or higher courses on the STAR test. Anzar saw an even larger gap, with 87 percent of the students passing the exit exam math portion, and only 18 percent being proficient or above in the STAR test. Anzar administrators were not available for comment.
The Department of Education reported Monday that the high exit exam scores and low STAR results is a statewide trend. Of the 4.6 million sophomores tested, 75 percent passed the exit exam, but STAR results were mixed.
“Results at the high school level continue to cause concern,” State Superintendent of Schools Jack O’Connell said in a press release. “The bottom line is that our high schools are not performing at the level they should be, and these results further my commitment to my initiative focusing on improving our high schools.”
The Department of Education doesn’t recommend comparing the results of the two exams because of their differences, but Slater said, that’s because of the lopsided amount of attention each test is given.
“The difference is based on how the students perceive the exam,” she said.
Teachers at SBHS told Slater that because the tests were given at the same time, some of the students grew tired of testing, and started not to care.
“By the third day, a lot of them just started to make patterns and fill in the bubbles,” she said.
Stephany James, media secretary for SBHS Associated Student Body, took the both tests last spring, and said what Slater has heard is true.
“The majority of students don’t care,” she said. “If you ask anybody the STAR test sort of sits low on the list because the exit exam is the one that counts for us.”
SBHS already is brainstorming ways to promote both tests next year. One idea includes offering a grade bump for students who score in the advanced category on the STAR test. A student who scored in the advanced category in algebra, would get credit for taking honors algebra, but Slater said, this is still only an idea.
“The fact that our exit exam scores were so high is great, but we need to find a way of encouraging our students to take both tests seriously,” she said.
To read the full report of the exit exam scores of each school, log onto: www.cde.ca.gov, and click on “Tests and Accountability.”
