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Educators pleased with students’ test results
by Robb Fulcher
Hermosa educators were pleased with another round of local success as the California Department of Education continues its efforts to measure the state’s schools against each other.
Students at Hermosa’s two public schools once again showed improvement in standardized academic testing, according to a two-year-old measuring tool used by the state.
The third-through-eighth grade Hermosa Valley School rose 16 points and the Kindergarten-through-second grade Hermosa View School gained 39 points in the Academic Performance Index, which is based on the Stanford 9 tests that students take.
Valley School students collectively scored 867 and View School second graders scored 888, out of a possible 1,000 on the state’s index. Schools scoring under 800 are given numerical goals to strive for the next year. The Hermosa schools were given no specific growth targets because they continued to score 800 or above.
But by continuing to improve even within the 800-plus range, Valley is eligible for some sort of cash award if the California Legislature votes to dole out more award money based on the test scores.
View’s eligibility for awards is up in the air. State officials see View’s improvement as statistically questionable, because fewer than 100 of the school’s second graders took the Stanford 9 in the previous year. Smaller student populations are harder to measure, state officials contend.
"There were some conversations last year that this was not fair to the schools with smaller populations, so I’m not sure what will happen there," View Principal Carol Caballero said.
She said that View teachers do not focus overmuch upon preparing kids for the standardized tests.
"We try to stay focused on good teaching for each individual child, meeting their needs," Caballero said.
She said improvements in student test scores have been caused in part by the state’s hiring of more teachers to reduce the number of students in each classroom.
They test, they score
Students in Hermosa’s schools scored well across all grade levels on the Stanford 9, which aims to measure proficiency in reading, writing, math and spelling.
In 17 areas Hermosa kids scored higher than they had in four years of testing.
"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," District Superintendent "Duffy" Clark said after the Stanford 9 scores were released.
The Stanford 9 test results were similar to those of the previous year, with Hermosa students scoring mostly in the top 20 to 30 percent of all students statewide.
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.
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 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.
Standards met
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 six 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. ER