STAR test results in the news

The 2006 STAR test results were recently published by the state and the results, naturally, have been reported all over.

I haven't had the time nor the inclination to delve into analyzing SFUSD's STAR test results. Frankly, the granularity of the data is overwhelming. The design of the test, it seems to me, is geared towards giving teachers and administrators specific information about the progress of individual students and grades within specific schools. Of course this can be summed up to provide measures of the performance of whole schools and districts, but that is not the real design or purpose of the tests.

So I'll reserve my geeky obsession with test data for the API scores. I encourage parents to take a look at the results for your child's school. There are a wealth of data there for anyone with a appetite for statistic.

SFUSD has posted this "fact sheet" touting the district's improved performance:

The San Francisco Unified School District improved on the California Standards Tests for the fifth consecutive year in 2006.

• 48% of students tested are achieving at the proficient and advanced levels in English Language Arts, up from 35% in 2002.
• 57% of students tested are achieving at proficient and advanced levels in Math, up from 37% in 2002.
• SFUSD is averaging 5% annual growth in math and 3% annual growth in ELA.
• These gains are direct evidence of our district-wide attention to student achievement in all schools. SFUSD has focused intensely on ensuring that schools understand their achievement data and put in place strategies to raise achievement. All schools implement a standards-based curriculum in core subject areas, while more teachers and principals are getting professional development focused on the implementation of that curriculum.

The District outperformed the State at every grade level on the California Standards Test in English Language Arts and Mathematics in the rate of students scoring at proficient and above.

Our efforts to improve achievement in underperforming schools continues to pay off.

• Four-fifth of the STAR schools improved their performance on the CST English Language Arts and/or Math. STAR schools are under-performing schools that receive additional resources, support and close monitoring from the central office.
• Over two-thirds of SFUSD'fs Reading First schools showed improvements on the California Standards Test in English Language Arts. The top 3 schools showing maximum improvement at the elementary level were Reading First schools. Reading First Schools receive additional resources from a Federal Grant focused on effective implementation of a standards-based reading and language arts curriculum.
• Two out of three phase one Dream Schools showed significant improvement on both content areas of the CST.

An analysis of the trends over the last 4 years shows improvements at all grade levels in one-third of district schools.

The District's area of concern continues to be the performance of the targeted groups, African American and Latino students, in English Language Arts and Math. Their rate of improvement was the same or lower than that of the District. These groups have to improve at a higher rate to close the existing achievement gap.

Congratulations to all the hard working educators in the district.