Double Digit Gains Made in High School Test Scores

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

08/15/2007 (KFSN) -- Across grade levels Clovis Unified School District students raise scores on state assessments.

California's release of the 2007 Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program today brought good news to Clovis Unified, where high school students showed gains of up to 18% over 2006 scores in math, science and English Language Arts (ELA).

"Over the past two years our secondary academic teachers have invested countless hours in improving the delivery of California's rigorous content standards," said Associate Superintendent of Curriculum Services and Innovation Ginny Boris, Ed.D. "The fruits of their labor are evident in double digit improvements by our high school students."

According to the numbers, only 29% of students in Fresno Unified are proficient in English and language arts. That's well below the statewide average of 43%. The results show 62% of Clovis Unified students are proficient in English.

The numbers are similar when it comes to math. Just 28% of Fresno Unified's students are proficient. That's an increase from two years ago, but still well below the statewide average. 60% of Clovis Unified students were proficient in math.

Linda Hauser, FUSD Chief Academic Officer, says "We're very pleased to see there is steady improvement in English language, arts and mathematics. What we need to do now is go deeper. We've made steady progress but now we're ready for breakthrough results."

Fresno Unified's numbers have increased about 5% in math and 4% in English over the last two years.

While across the state secondary math, science and ELA scores stayed relatively flat (with gains from zero to four percent), Clovis Unified saw results in Chemistry (14%), Earth Science (10%), Algebra II (18%) and 10th Grade ELA (11%) grow by double digits. "These results affirm the efforts of our teachers to continually adjust their approach to instruction to better serve our students," said Superintendent Terry Bradley, Ed.D. "We won't be satisfied until 100% of our students achieve at or above grade level expectations. These large improvements renew our belief that this goal is attainable."

Over the past five years, CUSD elementary school students have also increased their performance in both math (13.2%) and ELA (13.5%).

Of additional note:

Eight of 11 Title I schools have more than 50% of students scoring proficient or advanced in math.
Six of 11 Title I schools have more than 50% of students scoring proficient or advanced in ELA.
72% of CUSD second through sixth graders scored proficient or advanced in math and 65.9% scored proficient or advanced in ELA.
The number of CUSD students in grades 2-11 scoring proficient or advanced in ELA grew to 62.1% compared to a statewide average of 43%.
The number of CUSD students in grades 2-11 scoring proficient or advanced in math was 60.2%, far above the statewide average of 41%.
Elementary science scores rose over last year with 56.7% of students attaining proficient or advanced compared with a statewide average of 37%.

Click here to view the STAR test results for 2007: http://star.cde.ca.gov/star2007/

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