Schools

South Pas Students Increased Scores in English, History and Science

The California Department of Education recently released the STAR results.

Students in showed gains in their proficiency for English Language Arts, history and science, but dipped slightly in math, according to test scores released by the California Department of Education. 

The California Standardized Testing and Reporting assessment, released Friday, showed SPUSD students scored 85.2 percent proficient in ELA in 2012, up from 83.2 percent in 2011. History scores inched upward from 76.0 percent last year to to 77.2 percent this year. And science proficiency jumped from 84.8 percent to 88.6 percent. 

Math, however, showed a slight decline in performance. Last year, 76.8 percent of students scored proficient. This year that number dipped to 76.6 percent.

Find out what's happening in South Pasadenawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Still, SPUSD students performed well above the state average. In math, just 51 percent of students statewide tested at proficient or advanced, while 57 percent tested at proficient or advanced in English and Language Arts.

Superintendent Joel Shapiro said the District reviews STAR data as one piece of information that indicates levels of student achievement. Standardized testing, he said, shows a "snapshot" of how students did on a specific test on one particular day. Nevertheless, he added, it's the only data that is common among all students in the state, so the District takes it seriously.

Find out what's happening in South Pasadenawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Educators tend to look at trends over a three-year period, he added. Overall, the District has seen growth in English Language Arts scores, as well as growth in science and social science scores. Mathematics results have varied. Proficiency rates have continued to be strong at all elementary grades, and they varied by grade level and course at the middle school and high school levels.

"Overall, we're disappointed in math results at 6th and 7th grades, as well as Algebra II at the high school. Although our results consistently remain well above those throughout the state, we believe we can do better. We'll be developing action plans to drive our improvement efforts in these particular areas,'' Shapiro said.

For more complete results, or to view school-specific scores, visit the California Deaprtment of Education website's 2012 STAR results page. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from South Pasadena