La Cañada Unified scores at the top of new Common Core tests
When La Cañada Unified learned years ago California would move away from the Academic Performance Index — a standardized test-based score used to signify student achievement — toward online Common Core tests, officials braced themselves for a learning curve.
Having spent years earning API scores close to 950 out of a possible 1,000 when most schools were struggling to hit the 800-point benchmark, the district looked slightly askance at a new testing era and the increased rigor and introspection it boasted.
So officials buckled down, committing early on to preparing teachers and students for what was to come. By 2013-14, when the state suspended the API and offered field testing and a grace period to let districts chart a new course, LCUSD was already implementing Common Core standards in the classroom.
That decision paid off last week, when the district learned students in six of the seven grade levels who’d taken the new California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress tests this spring earned No. 1 rankings in English, while five grade levels placed in the top three statewide in math.
“We were just absolutely thrilled with the performance of our students,” Lindi Dreibelbis, the district’s chief director of assessment, said Tuesday. “This was truly a multiyear effort on behalf of all of our stakeholders.”
Students in grades 3 through 8, as well as high school juniors, were tested in English and math. Grades 5, 8 and 10 also took traditional California Standards Tests for science, while students with special needs participated in two modified assessments, district officials reported.
Now as the LCUSD waits to receive individual student scores from the state to pass on to parents, officials and administrators are beginning to pore over the details of the districtwide and grade-level reports.
What they’re discovering is that the news is largely positive. Districtwide, 85% of students who were tested met or exceeded the state’s standard in English, with 82% meeting or exceeding the math benchmark.
In addition to achievement measures, the district is looking at mean scale scores for each grade level, as well as performance in each subject’s subcategories, so improvement goals can be set for learners at every level, Dreibelbis said.
La Cañada Unified Supt. Wendy Sinnette expressed her pride in students’ performance in a Sept. 8 district release, attributing the success to a coordinated effort among educators and their administrators, district officials and the tech department. She additionally recognized the assistance of community groups who helped fund technology improvements in advance of the online tests.
“We also are indebted to the community’s finance and moral support as we face the ongoing challenges of transitioning to the new state standards,” she stated in the release.
When it came to preparing teachers and students for the increased rigors of the new online testing format, which increases in difficulty as students produce correct answers, Assistant Supt. of Curriculum and Instruction Anais Wenn said the district decided not to go the test prep route.
Instead, it focused on hands-on training for teachers and providing the technological infrastructure and support necessary to get new lessons into the classroom as quickly as possible.
“If we teach what we are supposed to teach, our students will perform,” Wenn said. “What they memorize they will forget, (but) what they understand and internalize from their lessons in the classroom is theirs forever.”
For more on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress test results, visit caaspp.cde.ca.gov.
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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com
Twitter: @SaraCardine
