High School Test Results Improve in S.D.

High school juniors in the San Diego Unified School District outperformed their peers across the nation on a recent standardized test, school officials revealed in a report to be released at a board meeting today.

The results on the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS) also showed improvement for the district over the previous year.

San Diego Unified students have scored higher than most California and U.S. students for several years. The new test scores represent a continuation of that trend, said Grant Behnke, the district’s director of planning, research and development.

Results of the CTBS administered to 6,800 high school juniors in November showed San Diego students scoring at or above the 50th percentile, or median, in 9 of 10 subtests. They were above the 60th percentile in 6 of the 10 subtests.

The only subtest in which they averaged below the median was reading comprehension. The district’s percentile rank was 46, meaning that only 46% of San Diego students scored above the median.

Behnke recommended that reading instruction be given “additional review and attention” by the district. He also proposed additional analysis of test performances by students with limited proficiency in English.

The current 11th-grade class performed as well as or better than 11th-graders from the previous year in every subtest.

The CTBS is broken down into four categories--reading, language, spelling and math.

Here is a comparison of 1983 and 1984 results:

- In total reading, the score was 50 for both years. In reading comprehension, the score was 46 for both years. In vocabulary, the score climbed from 50 to 52.

- In total language, the score improved from 59 to 61. The score improved from 58 to 62 in language mechanics. The score remained the same, 57, in language expression.

- In spelling, the score was also the same as last year--63.

- In total math, the score was 64 for both years. The score improved from 62 to 64 in math computation, and from 60 to 62 in math concepts and application. (The total scores under each category are cumulative, so the total score of 64 in math is correct--even though it is higher than the two parts.)

In a report, Behnke cautioned that changes in the test form make it difficult to compare 1983 and 1984 CTBS scores with data from previous years.