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Manhattan Beach test scores remain steady generally
by John Tawa
Significant gains in reading and math test scores for second and third graders in the Manhattan Beach Unified School District highlighted the results from the state-mandated 2000 Stanford Achievement Test, released this week, in what was an otherwise static performance from the district’s test takers.
"Overall, I thought our kids did pretty well," said school superintendent Jerry Davis. "I want to thank the students, teachers and administrators for working hard. Anytime you can maintain the level of success that we did a year ago, I’m pleased."
The tests, commonly known as the SAT9, are administered to all students in grades two through 11. They measure student performance against a national standard in reading, math, language, spelling, science and social studies.
Second graders made the biggest strides. They achieved a district-wide percentile ranking of 86 in reading and 89 in math, an improvement of almost 10 percent over the year before. Third graders improved four percentage points in reading, from the 78th percentile in 1999 to the 82nd percentile in 2000; and six percentage points in math, scoring in the 87th percentile this year.
District administrators attributed the improvement to the school district’s renewed focus on the basics at the pre-elementary, first and second grade levels.
"The increase in scores at grades two and three is not an accident of demographics," said Olivia LaBouff, Assistant Superintendent, Educational Services. "I believe that those hikes are the results of thoughtful improvements in those grade levels. That’s where our most concentrated work has been going on. We’re all aware that it all begins at the beginning. That’s where you can make the most powerful difference."
The scores for the district’s five elementary schools were generally strong across all tested areas, with just a few pockets of weakness. Reading, math and language scores were consistently high, with just a slight dip at Meadows Elementary in the fourth and fifth grade reading scores. Spelling and social studies scores also were not as strong, in the mid-70th percentiles generally, but no weaker than last year.
The scores at the Middle School were virtually all above the national average, but while sixth and eighth grade scores remained similar from the year before, seventh grade test scores fell in every subject area when compared to 1999.
"We noticed the dip and we’re curious about why it‘s there," LaBouff said. "We don’t know for sure what caused it."
LaBouff said that seventh grade is typically a year of tremendous physiological change for kids.
"They become a lot more interested in their peer groups than they are in academics," she explained.
High school scores remained virtually the same as last year, with the scores, in the 50th, 60th and 70th percentiles, deviating no more than a few percentage points up or down from the prior year.
"The one to three point fluctuations on either side says to me that it’s a repeat performance," LaBouff explained. "That bothers me because we’d like to continually go up everywhere. We’ll have to sit down and see how we can push the envelope at the higher grades and even high school."
There was the characteristic drop in ninth grade test scores, which is commonly attributed to the influx of more than 800 new students from Hermosa Beach, north Redondo Beach and surrounding communities, some with testing histories significantly below that of Manhattan Beach. However, once the high school students got into the Manhattan Beach School District, the test scores did not appear to reflect any growth as the students moved from class to class.
For example, 11th grade students, who scored in the 63rd percentile in reading as freshmen in 1998, dropped to the 60th percentile as sophomores in 1999 and the 59th percentile as juniors this year. The math scores remained stable, from 71 percent in 1998 to 68 percent in 1999 to 72 percent in 2000.
"I don’t know if that gives us an accurate picture or we should say, "Oh my! They really haven’t improved as readers despite what we’ve done," LaBouff said.
LaBouff added that it is important to look at multiple measures of performance before evaluating whether high school students are improving. In addition, this test, is the ultimate in low stakes tests to high school kids because it doesn’t count on their record, she explained. This creates a problem motivating high school kids to try their best.
Three-year looks at the eighth grade class aren’t any more promising. Reading scores for last year’s eighth graders have stayed virtually the same since they were sixth graders. Math scores have dropped from the 88th percentile, when they were sixth graders in 1998, to the 80th percentile in 2000.
Fourth graders, by contrast, experienced significant improvement in reading and math over the same three-year period. They scored in the 74th percentile in reading as second graders in 1998, improving four points each year, culminating in an 82nd percentile ranking this year. Math scores also improved from the 74th percentile in 1998 to the 82nd percentile this year. ER