Summary of 2007 California Standards Tests Results



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Background


  • The California Standards Tests (CSTs) are designed to assess the achievement of students in California public schools on the state’s academic content standards that specify what California students are able to learn in each grade level and subject area.

  • The CST results are reported using five performance levels: advanced, proficient, basic, below basic, and far below basic. The state target is to have all students score at proficient or advanced.

  • Performance levels were first reported for the California English-Language Arts Standards Tests in 2001, for the California Mathematics Standards Tests in 2002, and for the California History-Social Science and Science Standards Tests in 2002 at the secondary level. The grade 5 science test was first reported in spring 2004, and grades 8 and 10 science tests were first reported in 2006.

  • In spring 2007, the following CSTs were required for all students:

    • English-Language Arts - Grades 2-11
    • Mathematics - Grades 2-9
    • Science - Grades 5, 8 and 10 (Life Science)
    • History-Social Science - Grades 8 and 11 (U.S. History)

  • In addition to the tests required for all students, students in grades 10 and 11 could take math tests based on course completion. Tests were offered in General Mathematics (limited to students in grades 8 and 9), Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Integrated Mathematics 1, 2, and 3 and Summative High School Mathematics.

  • For the first time in 2007, grade 7 students were allowed to take the Algebra I test based on course completion.

  • Students in grades 9 through 11 also took science tests based on course completion. Tests were offered in Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Physics, and Integrated Science 1, 2, 3 and 4.

  • For the first time in 2007, the World History test was offered to students in grades 9 through 11 based on course completion. In the past, World History test was available only to students in grade 10.

English-Language Arts (ELA)


  • The percentage of students scoring at proficient and advanced from 2006 to 2007 has increased for all grades, except for grades 3, 4, and 10. The greatest gain is at grade 8 where there is a five-percentage point increase from 2006 to 2007, followed by a fourpercentage point increase in grade 2 and grade 11. In 2007, the percentage of students scoring at proficient and advanced in ELA ranged from 54% in grade 2 to 32% in grade 10.

  • The percentage of students scoring at proficient and advanced in ELA since 2001 has increased for all grades. The greatest growth over the seven-year period is at grade 2 with 28% increase. There has been over a ten-point increase in the percentage of students scoring at proficient and advanced for all grades since 2001 with grades 2 and 7 scores improved each year from the baseline.

  • Twelve schools at grade 2, nine schools at grade 3, eight schools at grade 4, ten schools at grade 5, twelve schools at grade 6, four schools at grade 7, four schools at grade 8, three schools at grade 9, three schools at grade 10, and three schools at grade 11 increased in the percentage of students scoring at proficient and advanced from 2006 to 2007. Of these schools, seven schools at grade 2, five schools at grade 3, three schools at grade 4, six schools at grade 5, and three schools at grade 6 gained over 10% from last year.

  • Overall across grade levels, 16 schools (twelve elementary schools, one middle school and three high schools) in the District showed an increase in the percentage of students scoring at proficient and advanced in ELA from last year. The greatest growth occurred at Sierra Madre where there was a twelve-percentage point increase, followed by a sevenpercentage point gain at Longfellow. At Sierra Madre, ELA scores improved at every grade level from 2006 to 2007.

Mathematics


  • The percentage of students scoring at proficient and advanced has increased at grades 2 through 5 from last year with over 50% of these students scoring proficient and advanced. The greatest gain is at grade 5 with a 6% increase from last year. Scores on the grade 7 math CST decreased by 11% from last year. (Note that 164 students in grade 7 took the CST Algebra I test in 2007 instead of the Grade 7 CST math, and 68% of them scored proficient or advanced).

  • Districtwide, 5,695 students in grades 7 to 11 took the end-of-course CSTs in mathematics based on course completion. Approximately, 28% of the students took Algebra I, 23% took Geometry, 13% took Algebra II, and 8% took the High School Summative Math CST in 2007.

  • End-of-course mathematics scores at the secondary level were mixed and lagged behind that of elementary, ranging from 12% of the students scoring at proficient and advanced on the Algebra II test to 31% on the High School Summative Math. Districtwide, the overall percentage of students scoring at proficient and advanced from last year increased for Algebra I by 4%, Geometry by 5%, and High School Summative Math by 2% whereas, scores for General Math and Algebra II decreased or remained the same from last year.

  • Since 2002, grade 5 made the highest gain with a 29 point increase in the percentage of students scoring at proficient and advanced. Grades 2 and 4 showed a steady increase in their math scores each year since 2002. All end-of-course mathematics scores at the secondary level also improved from 2002. High School Summative Math scores showed the highest gain with a ten-percentage point increase from 2002.

  • For grade level math tests, eleven schools at grade 2, ten schools at grade 3, eight schools at grade 4, thirteen schools at grade 5, eleven schools at grade 6, and none of the schools at grade 7 showed an increase in the percentage of students scoring at proficient and advanced from 2006 to 2007. Of these schools, three schools at grades 2, four schools at grade 3, four schools at grade 4, seven schools at grade 5, and five schools at grade 6 increased over 10% from 2006 to 2007.

  • Overall across grade levels, 14 schools (twelve elementary schools, one middle school and one high school) showed an increase in the percentage of students scoring at proficient or advanced in mathematics from last year. Similar to the ELA results, the greatest gain occurred at Sierra Madre where there was a twelve-percentage point increase in mathematics from 2006 to 2007, followed by an eleven-percentage point increase at Hamilton.

Science


  • Students scoring at proficient and advanced on the grade 5 and grade 8 Science tests continued to grow with a gain of 7- and 8-points each from last year, whereas scores on the grade 10 science test decreased by 5% from last year.

  • Districtwide, 4,063 students in grades 9 to 11 took the end-of-course CSTs in science based on course completion. Approximately, 36% of the students took the Biology test, 21% took the Chemistry, 17% took the Earth Science, and 10% took the Physics test in 2007.

  • End-of-course science test scores at the secondary level were mixed. Districtwide, overall scores in Chemistry and Earth Science were increased by 9- and 6-percentage points from last year, respectively, whereas the scores on the Biology and Physics tests decreased from 2006 to 2007.

  • Since 2002, students scoring at proficient and advanced on the Biology and Chemistry tests increased with a 3- and 10-point gain, respectively.

History-Social Science


  • Twenty-eight percent of grade 8 students scored at the proficient and advanced levels, a 5-percent increase from last year and a 13-percent increase from 2003.

  • Thirty-five percent of grade 11 students scored at the proficient and advance levels, a 2- percent increase from last year and an 11-percent increase since 2002.

  • Twenty-two percent of the students scored at the proficient and advanced levels on the World History test in 2007.

Disaggregated Results by Subgroup


  • For ELA, all subgroups increased in the percentage of students scoring at proficient and advanced with gains ranging from 1% to 3% from last year. The greatest increases from last year were for the White, Asian, English learners and non-economically disadvantaged subgroups where 3% more students scored at the proficient and advanced levels.

  • Since 2001, gains in ELA among subgroups in the percent scoring proficient and advanced ranged from 8% to 21% with White, non-economically disadvantaged and non-special education subgroups of students showing the highest gain of 21%. These were followed by the Hispanic, Female, and English fluent subgroups of students with an increase of 19% each.

  • Female, Asian, White, economically disadvantaged, non-economically disadvantaged, nonspecial education and English fluent subgroups of students showed a steady gain each year since 2001.

  • For mathematics, the greatest increases from last year were for the White and English learners where 2 percent more students scored proficient and advanced. Other subgroups that also showed an increase by 1% include the Male, Asian, economically disadvantaged and special education students.

  • Since 2002, gains in mathematics among subgroups in the percent scoring at proficient and advanced ranged from 8% to 16% with Asian and White subgroups showing the highest gain of 16%. These were followed by the Female, Male, Hispanic, economically disadvantaged and non-special education subgroups of students with an increase of 13 percent each.

  • Male and White subgroups of students showed a steady growth each year since 2002 in mathematics.

  • The achievement gap between African American and White subgroups persisted in 2007 for both ELA and Math. The same pattern of achievement gap was also observed between Hispanic and White subgroups. The achievement gap between economically disadvantaged and non-economically disadvantaged subgroups was reduced from 12% in 2002 to 11% in 2006 for mathematics. However, the achievement gap between these two subgroups in ELA widened from 19% in 2001 to 22% in 2007. The achievement gap between English learners and English fluent subgroups was not closed in 2007.