Standard Tests

SCORES FOR ALL STATE STUDENTS MAKE MODEST GAINS BUT TROUBLING GAP PERSISTS

By Larry Slonaker

Mercury News

California students scored steady if unspectacular gains this year on state achievement tests, according to scores released Monday.

They made improvements in most subjects and grade levels on the state's cornerstone testing program, which is tied to subject standards taught throughout the state's public schools.

As usual, Santa Clara County students easily outscored the statewide averages in almost all categories of the California Standardized Testing and Reporting Program. But as in the rest of the state, many disadvantaged students continue to perform poorly, and significant gains in some subjects have been elusive.

``With five years of data, we can now see a clear trend of student gains in nearly every subject and every grade,'' state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said Monday in a statement.

However, not all the trends are positive.

For example, when the test first was given in 2001, 21 percent of those who took the Algebra I portion scored well enough to be considered at least ``proficient,'' which is the state's benchmark for competence. This year only 19 percent reached the proficient level -- a disheartening decline, considering all the special teaching and funding remedies that have been diverted to improve test performance.

Likewise, the so-called ``achievement gap'' between low-scoring subgroups -- including poor, Latino and special education students -- and their counterparts remains troubling. For example, in 2001 the percentage of Latino students scoring at proficient levels in the English portion of the test was 34 points lower than white students. This year, the gap barely moved, hovering at 33 points.

Certain subgroups languish

This trend pervades schools across the state, even in the reputedly high-achieving districts. Students in the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District scored well overall, but certain subgroups, such as Latinos and English-language learners, were in some cases far lower.

``Some progress is not enough,'' said Russlynn Ali, head of the Education Trust-West, a non-profit Oakland group that acts as an advocate for low-income and minority students. Gaps across the spectrum of subjects and age groups ``are wide, and in some cases getting wider.''

She blamed the problem on the tendency of the poorest schools to receive the least resources and the least experienced teachers.

As with overall scores, the picture is somewhat better in Santa Clara County, where the gaps are narrower than in the rest of the state.

One school that saw a significant jump in scores was Almaden Elementary in San Jose, a heavily Latino school where about 80 percent of students are categorized as poor. The percentage of students there reaching proficiency in math jumped almost 30 points.

To boost scores, the stress at Almaden has been on teacher training, said Principal Miguel Montes. That, coupled with enthusiastic teachers, made a big difference, he said.

``It takes a lot of caring to do what these folks have done,'' he said. ``They love their work.''

But as with so many schools across the state, Almaden has a long way to go to meet the state's ambitious goal of having all students scoring at the proficient level by 2014. Also, the pressure is increasing for greater and greater gains to meet federal No Child Left Behind standards, which threaten sanctions if schools don't improve scores among all students, including low-achieving subgroups.

Big jumps for charter school

East Palo Alto Charter School, which serves kindergartners through eighth-graders, showed big jumps in its students' proficiency. Last year, just 23 percent of its second-graders tested as proficient or above in the test's language arts section. This year, that number soared to 61 percent -- 19 points higher than the state average. Eighth-graders leaped forward in language arts, too -- from 8 percent to 21 percent.

``Their eyes were as big as saucers,'' K-2 lead teacher Sarah Braunstein said of the students. `` `I'm advanced?' they said. `I'm proficient?' ''

The biggest factor was that teachers at the school received more intense coaching, Braunstein said. ``We got at least three times as much feedback.''

Schools are assigned goals they are supposed to meet each year. Later this month the state will release its Academic Performance Index, the measuring stick that shows whether schools and districts are meeting those goals. The results are based largely on the STAR test results released Monday.

Parents should receive an individualized STAR report card for their children in the mail, in most cases no later than mid-September. Teachers also receive individualized reports for students in their classes.