This past spring, students across the state in grades 3-8 and grade 11 took part in California’s new statewide testing in English and Math. The test, called the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP), is aligned with our new Common Core state standards, which are designed to encourage critical thinking, analytical writing, and real-world problem solving.
This is the first year that school districts and parents will receive results from the new test. If you have a 4th or 5th grader, your student’s individual report will be sent to you in about a month.
You may remember that Poway Unified students took this test in 2013-14 too. We were a pilot test district, and although we did not receive our results, we did learn about some glitches and technology needs at some of our school sites. This gave our district an extra year to get things in order before the real thing in the 2014-15 school year. That was a nice advantage for us.
So back to this year. CAASPP broke down student scores into four achievement levels: standard exceeded, standard met, standard nearly met, and standard not met. Here are some numbers for you based on the percentage of students who met or exceeded standards:
Statewide: 44% in English, 33% in Math
San Diego County: 51% English, 40% Math
Poway Unified: 73% English, 65% Math
Adobe Bluffs: 80% English, 80% Math
As you can see, Adobe Bluffs did very well, with 80% of last year’s 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders meeting or exceeding standards in both English and Math. Only six (of 26) elementary schools in the district scored in the 80s in both English and Math. We should be very proud of our kids’ performance. And let’s not forget to give credit where it’s due — our teachers and parents worked hard to prepare our AB students, and our staff worked hard to prepare the necessary infrastructure. What a team! We have a lot to be pleased about, but until 100% of our kids are reaching standards, there’s certainly room for improvement.
What do the test results tell us? First, our results certainly help gauge students’ progress in learning the new, more rigorous Common Core academic standards. As our baseline year, we know our starting point now, and we can move up from here. The results also reflect how ready our school technology infrastructure was for this type of computer testing and how prepared the students were to take a test requiring typing skills and a comfort level in navigating the computer with a mouse.
The district is working on disaggregating all the data the state gave us for all Poway Unified schools to see what else we can glean:
- Would our kids benefit from more teacher training in Common Core?
- Were students from school with 1:1 device programs or multiple computer labs more prepared to navigate the computer test?
- How does our achievement gap look for English Learners, low income students, and various ethnic subgroups?
The answers to these questions and others should help Poway Unified target supports so we improve our scores next year and every year.
If you would like more information or to check out how other schools did, the official state website is caaspp.cde.ca.gov.
Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff
PTA Vice President of Legislation & Advocacy