With standardized tests beginning next week, administrators and
students at San Benito High School are working hard to press upon
the student body how important the results are for the school’s
future.
Hollister – With standardized tests beginning next week, administrators and students at San Benito High School are working hard to press upon the student body how important the results are for the school’s future.
Because the school dropped four points in the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) scores last year, students need to improve their test scores this year so SBHS can avoid becoming a “Program Improvement School.” Over time, that designation could lead to reduced funding, school administrators being fired and the school being taken over by the state, according to Maria Reyes with the school and district accountability division of the California Department of Education.
To avoid that fate, students are trying to get the word out to their classmates about the importance of this year’s round of testing. And the faculty are taking a hard look at what they teach, when they teach it and how standardized tests are given. Overall, the school must gain two points to avoid state sanctions.
“Students are generally under the impression that it doesn’t matter,” said junior Stefany James, who is a member of the Associated Student Body. “But now we may have things stripped away from us,” such as school events, athletics, clubs and electives.
Unlike the high school exit exam and in-class tests given by their teachers, many students don’t take STAR seriously because their are no immediate consequences for a lackluster performance, she said.
To encourage their peers to take the tests seriously, students involved in a wide range of campus activities, from student government to athletics, are visiting classrooms today to emphasize the importance of satisfactory scores.
“In my experience there has been a disconnect,” said Principal Deborah Padilla. “I don’t think students take it (STAR) as seriously as they should.”
School administrators also taking more steps to boost test scores, such as reviewing how and when material is taught.
“In terms of curriculum, we’re making sure all courses are taught (California) standards-based,” Padilla said.
Also, the school is changing when students take certain classes based on when they will be tested on the material. For example, world history, now taught to freshman, will be taken by sophomores starting next year, which coincides with when they will be tested on that subject.
And throughout the semester, SBHS has offered extra classes for students who need help in reading and math.
Administrators also looked at how the tests had been given in the past.
“We don’t think we were testing in a good situation,” said Jean Burns Slater, district superintendent. “We were kind of cramming it down students’ throats.”
This time around, tests will be limited to 90 minute blocks and students will take their tests in classrooms that are familiar to them with the teachers who teach whichever subject is being tested. Depending on their grade level, students will be tested in English, math, history and science.
This past year, to try to get students and their parents realize the importance of the standardized tests, the school has sent information to parents stressing the importance of the tests for students and the school.
“I think it’s very important to have more data, to look at our strengths and weaknesses. We want to build on our strengths,” Padilla said. “We’re trying to get students and the community to understand how the test is used.”
To further asses the school’s educational plan, district officials hope to hire WestEd, a San Francisco-based company that will evaluate SBHS’s teaching standards and help develop a more effective strategy for raising test scores, said Burns Slater.
“People say we’re teaching to the test,” she said. “But we’re testing our teaching.”
Under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, any school that fails to improve its STAR scores and high school exit exam scores for two consecutive years, is identified as a program improvement school by the California Department of Education. If it still fails to make progress even with the state’s assistance, the district begins a series of steps including offering students the choice to transfer to another school.
If after four years that school is still under-performing, the length of the school day and year are extended and the most of the school staff members, including the principal, are replaced. Eventually, a low-performing school can be closed and reopened as a charter school or be taken over by the state.
Now that SBHS is on the first step of that process, James said students feel more urgency about the STAR test.
“This year students were informed of the Program Improvement School (status). In terms of consequences, we feel pressured to perform well,” she said.
Luke Roney covers education and agriculture for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at [email protected].
