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Educators pleased with student scores
by Robb Fulcher
Hermosa Beach Stanford Achievement TestNational Percentiles |
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|
Grade |
Reading |
Language |
Math |
Spelling |
||||
|
2000 |
2001 |
2000 |
2001 |
2000 |
2001 |
2000 |
2001 |
|
|
2 |
76 |
80 |
87 |
85 |
74 |
85 |
67 |
73 |
|
3 |
76 |
77 |
78 |
82 |
78 |
85 |
66 |
72 |
|
4 |
74 |
80 |
79 |
80 |
75 |
80 |
73 |
78 |
|
5 |
77 |
77 |
78 |
83 |
78 |
80 |
71 |
73 |
|
6 |
75 |
79 |
75 |
77 |
84 |
87 |
75 |
73 |
|
7 |
70 |
72 |
77 |
77 |
80 |
80 |
64 |
71 |
|
8 |
73 |
72 |
75 |
84 |
75 |
82 |
61 |
60 |
Hermosa School Superintendent Duffy Clark returned to campus after a summer break and praised students and administrators for their performance on the latest round of standardized academic testing.
"Everybody here is pleased that we showed continued improvement," Clark said on Monday.
Students in Hermosa’s K-8 public school district once again scored well across all grade levels on the state-mandated Stanford Achievement Test, which aims to measure proficiency in reading, writing, math and spelling.
"In 17 areas we had the highest scores we’ve had in four years of testing, so we feel like everyone is hard at work, the teachers and administrators, and everyone associated with the test," Clark said.
"At least by this snapshot of the kids at this particular point in time, there’s growth. And that’s what we want, to maintain a sustained growth in learning," he said.
The Stanford test results were similar to last year’s, with Hermosa students scoring mostly in the top 20 to 30 percent of all students nationwide.
Hermosa students also showed almost across-the-board improvement over the year before. Out of a total of 28 categories tested, the district’s kids improved in 21 areas, slipped in four areas and remained even in three areas, compared to last year’s results.
Students meet standards
Most Hermosa students also performed well on the California Standards Test, which aims to determine whether state-mandated goals for English language arts are being met in the classroom.
Some 73 percent of fourth graders scored in the desired range of "proficient and advanced," 22 percent scored in the "basic" range and 6 percent scored "below basic" or "far below basic" in their skills.
Eighth graders fared somewhat worse, with 61 percent scoring in the proficient and advanced range, 33 percent in the basic range and 6 percent landing below or far below basic.
State educators have set "proficient" and "advanced" as the target areas for students to hit, but the educators have not published a formal definition laying out what a "basic" grasp of language arts actually entails.
In the more comprehensive Stanford test, Hermosa students’ lowest scores came in the category of eighth grade spelling, in which they ranked only in the top 40 percent nationwide. That represented only a 1 percent slip from the year before.
By subject area, students in most other grades also made their lowest scores in spelling.
The top scores came in the category of sixth grade math, in which Hermosa students ranked in the top 13 percent nationwide.
Awaiting the fall
This fall educators will release the results of yet another measure of academic success, the Academic Performance Index, in which the Stanford test results are further dissected and analyzed, in part to more accurately compare one school with another.
Hermosa Valley School students last year scored among the top 10 percent in statewide academic testing, with Hermosa View School students close behind.
The Academic Performance Index also showed that Valley students ranked right in the middle compared to other schools with similar demographic features such as class size, socioeconomic status and the frequency of students transferring in and out of the district.
On a scale of one to 10, Valley students pulled down a 5 when ranked against demographically similar schools.
View School was not compared to demographically similar schools, because the student population is so small that such a ranking cannot be accurately determined, said officials of the California Department of Education.
In the overall comparison of all statewide public schools, Valley students scored 851 out of a possible 1,000 points based on that year’s Stanford test. ER