It may be the beginning of the school year, but California schools got their report cards last week, the results of tests given to students in seven grades across the state.
The results of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress for students in grades three through eight and grade 11 provided scores by grade in each school of how well students are mastering academic standards in English language arts/literacy and mathematics.
“The skills called for by these standards—the ability to write clearly, think critically and solve problems—are critical to success in college and 21st century careers,” said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson.
Local schools showed improvement over the 2015 scores – the first year the tests were given – and were significantly higher than the composite English and math scores for both Santa Cruz County as a whole and all California schools.
Scotts Valley students in particular had high marks: Composite scores for the Scotts Valley Unified School District showed that 70 percent of students met or exceeded state minimum standards for English/language arts, an increase over last year’s 67 percent, and 62 percent met or exceeded the math standard, compared to 63 percent last year.
Statewide, just 49 percent of students met or exceeded the language arts standard, and just 37 met or exceeded the math standard. However, these were increases over the previous year, with 43 and 33 percent scores, respectively. Santa Cruz County scores were lower than the statewide numbers, with 45 percent meeting or exceeding the language arts standard, and 34 percent meeting or topping the math standard.
The San Lorenzo Valley composite scores were about the same as last year, about 10 points above the statewide composite: 57 percent of SLV students met or exceeded the language arts standard, and 47 percent met or beat the math standard.
Here are the school-by-school results:
Elementary Brook Knoll Vine Hill Boulder Creek SLE
English 70 61 57 52
Math 70 62 54 50
High School SV SLV
English 87 64
Math 55 49
Middle chool SV SLV
English 69 54
Math 61 44
Torlakson cautioned that “no single assessment can provide teachers with all the feedback they need to tailor instruction to meet the needs of their students. These results should be considered along with other measures of learning and in consultation with a student’s teachers.”
Scotts Valley superintendent Tanya Krause said, “We use the scores in conjunction with other indicators of student learning to help identify students who may need additional help, identify strengths and weaknesses in programs, and ascertain gaps in curriculum and instruction.”
Her counterpart in SLV, Laurie Bruden, said she looks at each grade level and content area separately, to spot areas of strength and weakness.
“We still have a lot of work to do to prepare students for the future, but we are up to the challenge,” she said.
