Statewide test scores flat Statewide test scores flat (August 20, 2004)

Little improvement seen in local, statewide results

By Julie O'Shea

Most Mountain View schools, along with hundreds of others throughout California, saw little or no improvement on a battery of state-mandated test scores, released Monday by the Department of Education.

These latest results have administrators worried that California's K-12 students won't meet federal academic growth targets by the 2014 deadline. President Bush's "No Child Left Behind Act" mandates that all U.S. schoolchildren -- regardless of whether they are in special education or are English language learners -- be proficient in reading, writing and math within the next 10 years.

The scores show that English language proficiency for Mountain View-Whisman students ranges between 41 to 49 percent for grades two through eight. Math proficiency is between 34 and 62 percent for the nine-school district.

At the Mountain View-Los Altos high school district, 70 percent of the 905 ninth graders tested last spring are proficient or advanced in English, and 24 percent of the 439 freshmen tested showed proficiency or better in algebra while 76 percent of the 371 tested in geometry were proficient or advanced.

Sixty percent of the 890 sophomores tested were proficient or advanced in English, and 17 percent of the 302 who took geometry showed proficiency or better while 56 percent of the 328 who tested in advanced algebra are proficient or advanced.

The California Standards Test, which falls under the umbrella of the state's STAR testing program, has five score categories: Advanced, Proficient, Basic, Below Basic and Far Below Basic.

The state goal is to have students at the Proficient mark or above, which will put them on the path toward higher education.

"There wasn't a dramatic change," Mountain View-Whisman Associate Superintendent Eleanor Yick acknowledged of the test results. She said she wasn't sure, however, why these scores didn't show much growth from last year's results.

Yick said administrators plan to scrutinize the test results and find ways to improve their students' performance for next year, paying close attention to Castro Elementary School, which has some of the district's lowest scores.

Brigitte Sarraf, the high school district's associate superintendent for educational services, said that while her schools' scores remain higher than the state average, growth was "sporadic."

"We are not really concerned," she said. "There are no serious and significant declines across the board,

"We are looking for upward trends in our students," she said. "For us, every single kid counts."

There is also good news for the high school district. Results from the state high school exit exam, also released Monday, show that 75 percent of California's Class of 2006 passed the test that went through a major overhaul during the last 12 months.

Mountain View-Los Altos Union's passage rate for the English portion of the test was 86 percent, and 88 percent passed the math section. Implemented under Governor Gray Davis' tenure, students need to pass the exit exam before the can receive their high school diplomas.

For a complete list of STAR test and High School Exit Exam scores, visit the California Department of Education Web site at www.cde.ca.gov.

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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