More students proficient but math scores still lagging
Gilroy – Local students managed to achieve steady gains in English and math in nearly all grade levels, moving in higher numbers toward proficiency but the long-standing downward trend in algebra continues to plague the district, according to the results of the 2006 Standardized Testing and Reporting Program released Tuesday.
Gilroy Unified School District officials and educators, who have spent the past couple years honing in on student math shortcomings and searching for a fix, were particularly happy to hear about the jump in mathematics.
“Actually, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of students district-wide who improved their math performance,” Superintendent Edwin Diaz said.
The most glaring improvement occurred in eighth grade algebra with 84 percent of students scoring proficient or advanced. But Diaz’s excitement concerning that data was a bit tempered.
Only 164 of the district’s 732 eighth-graders were tested in algebra this school year and that’s not enough, he said.
“The bottom line is we need to have more kids taking algebra and passing at the eighth grade level, but when you compare apples to apples you can see a significant increase in the passing rate,” Diaz said.
According to state standards, all students should be enrolled in algebra by the eighth grade, but that’s not happening in Gilroy. So, although, eighth-graders made a significant jump in proficiency over five years – moving from 8 percent in 2002 to 51 percent in 2005 and finally to 84 percent this year – Diaz said he doesn’t know whether more students took the test in the past.
Still, Diaz reiterated that the district has shown improvement.
“My overall impression is that first of all there’s an undeniable pattern of steady growth from year-to-year,” he said.
And another noteworthy positive change this year, emerged in the seventh grade. Proficiency once again headed down after a high of 63 percent in the third grade and an all-district low at 37 percent in sixth grade, but by the time the students hit seventh grade it popped back up to 41 percent.
Valerie Kelly attributes that break in the unwelcome descending trend, to a concerted effort put forth by teachers, administrators, parents, and, of course, students.
“I don’t think anything ever happens in isolation,” said the Ascencion Solorsano Middle School math teacher. “I think it’s because of the collaboration we do as a math department.”
While math doesn’t tend to be most student’s strong subject, the Solorsano staff has managed to convince students “through our continued harping on them, that yes they can be successful,” Kelly said.
The middle school math teacher said she’d like to see specific data on the class that will enter GHS as freshmen this month because she’s witnessed their successful journey. It’s that group of students she expects to have a serious impact on Gilroy’s standardized test scores.
“I think this is the beginning of that wave of change,” she said.
But Kelly doesn’t even begin to take all the credit. The improvement was the result of trickle-down teaching, she said explaining that the students walked into her classroom much better prepared.
“Basically, I’m just really proud of our kids because this is their score,” she said.
Still, not all the news is positive. Proficiency fell drastically once students entered the high school. Only 19 percent of freshman, 9 percent of sophomores and 6 percent of juniors were ranked proficient or above in algebra. In geometry, 44 percent of freshman, 16 percent of sophomores and 5 percent of juniors were ranked proficient or advanced.
A total of 376 students took the geometry test this year, far more than in the past.
The gains in the English language arts section were less significant than in math, but most grade levels managed to show improvement, except seventh and 11th grades that failed to increase scores and fifth and ninth grades that declined by 3 and 4 percentage points respectively.
The ELA scores also fail to exhibit a clear-cut trend with the number proficient increasing and decreasing grade-by-grade. For example, 43 percent of second graders scored levels of proficient or advanced but that number dropped to 37 in third grade and grew to 46 percent in fourth grade.
Assistant Superintendent Jacki Horejs said one explanation for the extremes may be the transient student population. Because the STAR data contains the results of every test administered, students who didn’t spend the full year in the GUSD are still included.
But the district will need to dissect the data district officials and look at each student’s score individually in order to decipher exactly what caused the inconsistency, Horejs said
The district’s English language learners continue to struggle, with the majority failing to attain even double digits in language arts. Of the 1,924 English learners tested, second graders received the highest score with 25 percent attaining proficient or advanced levels. That number dropped to 15 percent in third grade and 14 percent in fourth.
From fifth grade and up, students remained in the single digits, scoring between a low of 2 percent and high of 7 percent. English learners improved by 2 percent since last year and attained a 15 percent increase over the past five years in language arts.
Statewide 42 percent of students scored at the proficient or advanced level in ELA, an increase of 2 percentage points over 2005. The amount of students attaining the proficient or advanced level in math increased by the same percentage, moving from 38 percent in 2005 to 40 percent this year.
Since 2003 when the tests were first aligned to reflect state standards, the percentage of students reaching proficient or advanced levels has increased 7 percentage points in ELA and 5 points in math.
More than 4.7 million students across the state participated in the STAR, a program comprised of four components including: the California Standards Test, California Alternate Performance Assessment, California Achievement Tests and the Aprenda or Spanish assessment.
Students are tested in a variety of subjects and attain one of five performance levels in each, including advanced, proficient, basic, below basic and far below basic.
Language arts and math tests are administered annually to students in grades two through 11. Students in grades two through eight are tested in spelling and ninth through 11th graders are administered exams in science and history/social science
