8th-Graders’ Results Lag in CAP Testing : 2nd Straight Year for the ‘Sophomore Slump’

For the second consecutive year, the performance of California’s eighth-graders on the California Assessment Program test marred what otherwise would have been an excellent back-to-school report card for the state’s elementary school children.

Results of the statewide standardized test released Tuesday--the day that more than 4 million California students returned to classes--showed that third- and sixth-graders bettered their scores in reading, math and written expression.

In Orange County, CAP scores for public schools will be released Oct. 21. Jeff Wells, who handles CAP scores for the county Department of Education, said the state has asked counties to agree to simultaneous release of the figures in late October.

The statewide scores, according to State Department of Education officials, far surpassed targets established in 1984 for improvements in test results.

Eighth-graders, however, posted only modest gains in math and writing, and history scores declined.

“The weakness of our middle-grade program is a serious concern,” State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig said. “The history exam is tough. But if we are going to prepare young people for a future where jobs require thinking, then there’s no reason why we cannot continually improve performances on all parts of the test.”

The “sophomore slump” is how Pat McCabe, a consultant to the California Assessment Program evaluation section of the state Department of Education, characterized the sharp drop in the results in the second year of the history test.

“The first year everybody gets psyched up for the test and wants to show how good they can do,” McCabe said. “By the second year, there’s a letdown. I think we’re seeing that letdown in this year’s history results.”

Honig has been worried for several years that the education reform movement has overlooked the state’s middle and junior high schools. An advisory committee that he established to investigate the performance of middle-level schools is expected to report next month on how to strengthen the curriculum at these schools.

CAP scores for high school seniors, reported in May from tests taken in December, 1985, showed improvement in all areas.

Students in the third, sixth and eighth grades take the California Assessment Program test each spring. Results showing the performance of individual school districts on the tests will be released next month, followed later in the year by scores for individual schools.

‘Very Gratified’

Overall, Honig said he was “very gratified” by the improved test performances.

“The test results show that hard work pays off,” he said. “Basically, the results are a good signal. But there’s no reason to let up in effort. We still have a long way to go.”

The exams are scored on a scale ranging from 100 to 400. The first year of each test is used as the “base year,” and the average score is given a value of 250. The performance in later years is measured against this first-year score.

This year, third-graders continued an improvement begun in the past decade by gaining six points in reading to 280, six points in writing to 285, and five points in math to 283.

Sixth-graders also improved sharply over 1984-85, with a seven-point gain in reading to 260 points, a seven-point gain in math to 271 and a three-point gain in writing to 268.

After last year’s sharp decline from the previous year in reading and writing, eighth-graders gained three points in reading to 243, rose two points in writing to 248, and two points in math to 253. History test results declined seven points to 243.