Class of 1985 Beats Class of ’84 on Basic Skills Test

California’s high school seniors scored higher in all areas of the state’s basic skills test this year than last, giving school officials some optimism that recent education reforms are paying off.

The average scores for this year’s seniors, who took the test in December, rose in reading, writing, spelling and mathematics. With the exception of reading, the average scores were higher this year than at any time in the last decade.

The scores for seniors in the Los Angeles Unified School District also increased in each of the four areas one year after the huge school system restored the sixth period of instruction in the high schools.

“These scores reflect the tremendous effort being made statewide and locally to improve the standards of our schools,” state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig said.

He added, however, that the increase in scores will be significant only if it continues for several years.

Campaign Leader

“We don’t know yet whether this is a statistical blip or it’s the start of something good,” Honig said Wednesday.

Since being elected in 1982, Honig has led the campaign for reinvigorating academics in California’s high schools.

Taking a cue from Honig, the Legislature increased high school graduation requirements in 1983, and both the University of California and the California State University systems have increased the number of academic high school courses they require of entering freshmen.

Apparently, the strategy is paying off. The state Department of Education said Wednesday that more seniors this year will have taken an advanced year of study in English, mathematics, science or history than seniors in recent graduating classes. For example, 86% of the class of 1985 said they will have taken four years of English, up from 73% in the class of 1984.

Honig, who predicted that test scores would rise if academic standards were toughened, said Wednesday that he is pleased with the test results.

“It only stands to reason that if you take more academic courses, you are going to do better on academic tests,” Honig said.

He also acknowledged, however, that a new $14.4-million bonus fund for high schools that raise their scores on the California Assessment Program may have contributed to the better results.

Incentive Increased

In the past, seniors had little incentive to take the test because they received no individual credit and because the school scores were not published until the next year.

Now, under the so-called “Cash for CAP” program, a school may win bonus money of up to $400 per senior if at least 93% of the students take the exam and the school’s average score goes up. State officials said they will announce the individual school winners in several weeks.

“A lot of kids didn’t try on this test because the scores didn’t mean anything to them,” Honig said. “This year they were more serious about it because they could win something for their school.”

The percentage of students who showed up to take the test increased from 79% last year to 91% this year. School officials noted, however, that an increase in the percentage of students taking a test typically results in a lower average score.

Los Angeles school district spokesmen William Rivera agreed that the bonus plan may have contributed to the score increase.

“We emphasized the test more this year, and there was more enthusiasm about it,” Rivera said.

The scores for the 12th-grade test are based simply on the percentage of questions answered correctly. In reading, the 218,000 seniors who took the test this year averaged 62.9% correct answers, up from 62.2% last year but well below the 64.1% score of the class of 1976.

SCHOOL SCORES High school seniors scored higher this year than last in California Assessment Program tests, whose scores are recorded by percentage of right answers. CALIFORNIA SENIORS

Year Reading Writing Spelling Math 1983-4 62.2 62.6 69.4 67.4 1984-5 62.9 63.2 69.7 68.3

LOS ANGELES SENIORS

Year Reading Writing Spelling Math 1983-4 56.4 56.6 65.8 61.3 1984-5 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3

SAN DIEGO UNIFIED SENIORS

Year Reading Writing Spelling Math 1983-4 63.0 62.7 69.7 69.7 1984-5 63.8 63.5 69.8 70.6