SANTA MONICA-MALIBU UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

STUDENTS POST GAINS ON 2005 STAR PROGRAM RESULTS

 

Superintendent of Schools John E. Deasy today announced the release of the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program data for the 2005 testing period.  The 2005 data show significant improvement in English Language Arts and Mathematics scores for most grades compared with the 2004 data.  Multi-year trends for English Language Arts and Mathematics also demonstrate significant long-term gains.  “Overall,” Dr. Deasy remarked, “these data document strong academic growth by students over the past year and especially when compared to our starting points in 2001 for Language Arts and 2002 for Mathematics. The overall data is remarkable, and there are some wonderful stories of outstanding growth for our sub groups of students embedded in the scores as well.”

 

Each year, students in grades 2 through 11 take a California Standards Test (CST) in English Language Arts and Mathematics.  History and Science are tested at some, but not all, grade levels.  Students attain one of five levels of performance on the CSTs for each subject tested:  advanced, proficient, basic, below basic, and far below basic.  The State Board of Education has established the proficient level as the desired achievement goal for all students.  It is important to remember that California’s proficiency level is higher than almost all other states. 

 

Scores for students in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District on the English Language Arts CST for each grade for 2001, 2004, and 2005 are shown in the table below, as are the changes in percent reflected by comparing 2005 with 2001 and 2004.

 

                         Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District –

                                      ENGLISH – LANGUAGE ARTS

                                California Standards Test Results, Grades 2-11

Grade

Percent of Students Scoring At Proficient or Above

Change in Percent

2001

2004

2005

2001-2005

2004-2005

2

57

59

64

7

5

3

51

53

57

6

4

4

59

65

72

13

7

5

54

63

68

14

5

6

56

59

59

3

--

7

57

62

66

9

4

8

57

57

61

4

4

9

48

51

65

17

14

10

53

51

49

-4

-2

11

44

40

48

4

8
 

Students in 9th grade experienced the largest one-year increase in English Language Arts scores.  The percent of students attaining proficient or advanced on the 9th English Language Arts CST rose from 51 in 2004 to 65 in 2005, a 14 percentage point increase.  Other sizable one-year gains were posted in 4th and 11th grades, with 7 and 8 percentage point increases respectively.  The 4th grade scores are particularly noteworthy, since in 2005 72% of district 4th graders scored in the proficient or advanced range on their English Language California Standards Test.  Overall, the one-year comparisons reflect growth at 8 of the 10 grade levels tested.

 

The five-year comparison, too, is noteworthy for the overall picture of growth.  Three grade levels (4th, 5th, and 9th) have experienced double-digit growth in the overall percent of students who score at the proficient or advanced levels on the English Language Arts tests.  Only one grade (10th) has shown an overall decline in the five-year period.

 

Students in grades 2 through 7 take a California Standards Test in Mathematics as well.  Scores for each grade for 2002 (the first year for which there are data), 2004, and 2005 are shown in the table below, as are the changes in percent reflected by comparing 2005 with 2004 and 2002.

 

                            Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District –

                                                    MATHEMATICS

                                   California Standards Test Results, Grades 2-7

Grade

Percent of Students Scoring At Proficient or Above

Change in Percent

2002

2004

2005

2001-2005

2004-2005

2

60

69

74

14

5

3

54

66

74

10

8

4

60

65

67

7

2

5

53

57

62

9

5

6

51

51

54

3

3

7

48

51

55

7

4

 

Third grade students recorded the largest one-year gain (8 percentage points) in the percent proficient and advanced on the mathematics test, and 2nd and 5th graders each posted one year gains of 5 percent.  Two grade levels (2nd and 3rd) posted double-digit growth of 14 and 10 points respectively between 2002 and 2005.  Three other grade levels posted sizable gains in the four-year period as well:  5th grade gained 9 percent, while 4th and 7th grades each gained 7 percentage points.

 

Beginning in 8th grade, the California Standards Tests are organized according to the specific mathematics curriculum that a student is taking.  This year, 8th grade students took the CST in general mathematics, algebra, or geometry. 

 

 

Commenting on the widely varied performance of 8th graders on these standards-based mathematics tests, Dr. Deasy noted, “We have made progress towards meeting the State of California’s expectation that students will take and master algebra as 8th graders and we are very proud of the results of our expansion of geometry into 8th grade.  What our analysis of the data clearly show, however, is that students who are not ready to take algebra as 8th graders are struggling with general mathematics concepts.  We need to continue working on strengthening all levels of elementary and middle school mathematics.  This will be a priority for all of us in the upcoming year.”

 

Economically disadvantaged students in Santa Monica-Malibu Unified Schools also posted gains at every grade level on the English Language Arts CST between 2001 and 2005 and on the Mathematics CST between 2002 and 2005, as can be seen in the following charts.  The performance of economically disadvantaged students in 4th and 9th grade has improved by 22 and 25 percentage points respectively in this 5-year period. Four other grade levels have also posted double-digit improvement in the scores of economically-disadvantaged students on English Language Arts CSTs, including 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th.

 

                             Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District –

      California Standards Test Results for Economically Disadvantaged Students

                                     in English Language Arts, Grades 2-11

Grade

Percent of Students Scoring At Proficient or Above

Change in Percent

2001

2005

2001-2005

2

31

37

6

3

14

27

13

4

28

50

22

5

26

39

13

6

21

32

11

7

24

39

15

8

25

33

8

9

15

40

25

10

22

23

1

11

13

20

7

 

Four grade levels – third, fourth, fifth, and seventh -- posted double-digit improvement in the percent of economically disadvantaged students receiving a score of proficient or advanced on the mathematics CST in 2005 compared with 2002. Fully half of the economically disadvantaged students in second and third grade were proficient or advanced on the mathematics CST.  “While we still have a long way to go to close these pernicious gaps, I am encouraged by the magnitude of the gains our economically disadvantaged students are making,” said Superintendent Deasy. 

 

                         Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District –

    California Standards Test Results for Economically Disadvantaged Students

                                             in Mathematics, Grades 2-7

Grade

Percent of Students Scoring At Proficient or Above

Change in Percent

2002

2005

2002-2005

2

45

53

8

3

32

51

19

4

32

44

12

5

23

37

14

6

25

27

2

7

18

31

13

 

 

 

Data analysis and comparison of Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District’s STAR test results will be on-going throughout the fall, as we look in detail at the performance of English Language Learners and students with special needs, compare our performance with that of the State and County, and receive word of our status on Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP, the federal measure of progress on No Child Left Behind) and the Academic Performance Index (API, the state’s measure of school improvement).