CAP Rebels Fail to Tilt Senior Scores at Monroe

An aggressive plan to improve California Assessment Program test scores at Monroe High School in Sepulveda met with unexpected resistance this winter.

Monroe faculty and administrators designed a series of incentives and preparation sessions to get the senior class enthused about taking the CAP test. The exam is one of the most widely quoted standardized tests given to public school students in California.

But all the work to organize pep rallies, design T-shirts and establish tutoring sessions appeared threatened when a student-written flyer began circulating at the school. It urged seniors to throw the test.

“If we purposely fail the CAP, we graduate,” read the leaflet from a group called the Senior Class Against Stupid Tests. “We do not do everything the faculty tells us to do. We are thinking individuals.”

The flyer suggested that students “join us” by filling in only the top of the answer sheet “and then doing whatever you wish for the remainder of the test time.”

When CAP test results for the Los Angeles Unified School District were released last week, Monroe’s scores had improved--despite the rumblings from disgruntled students. Monroe Principal John Anderson called the scores a victory for the teachers and the Illustrians--the name Monroe’s senior class has adopted.

Seniors Outscore 1986 Class

This year’s seniors posted better scores than the 1986 Monroe graduating class in all four categories--reading, written expression, spelling and mathematics. The scores also were above the average district scores.

Motivating seniors to do well on the CAP test became especially difficult this school year--Monroe’s mini-backlash notwithstanding. Last summer, before signing the 1986-87 state budget, Gov. George Deukmejian eliminated a $14-million program that provided cash bonuses to high schools for improved performances on the test.

Bill Honig, state superintendent of public instruction, said he believes the 2-year-old plan that granted incentives of up to $400 per senior student was responsible for improving basic-skills test scores of seniors at hundreds of high schools in the state. Deukmejian said he cut the program, known as “Cash for CAP,” in order to ensure a $1-billion state surplus.

Many high school principals had ambivalent feelings about the incentive program. Although it did spur students to improve scores on CAP tests, the educators said they did not like the program’s subliminal message of doing well just to get money.

But without Cash for CAP, schools such as Monroe had to create new ways to drum up enthusiasm for the test.

Principal Anderson decided to make an all-out push to improve student scores on standardized tests last year when newspapers published data showing Monroe’s senior-class scores ranking among the lowest in the state. Thirty teachers met with Anderson during the summer to discuss methods of improving the scores.

After several planning sessions, they settled on a strategy. The campaign would emphasize the CAP test as a measurement of the seniors’ academic capabilities and achievements. “We told them the better they did on the test, the better they would feel about themselves,” Anderson said.

In September, seniors received buttons reading, “Let’s Cap the CAP.” A few weeks later, teachers began wearing T-shirts with “CAP Busters” emblazoned across the back.

There were for-seniors-only assemblies where an all-senior band and senior cheerleaders performed. Administrators, teachers and students exhorted the class to do well on the test.

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda) appeared at one of the assemblies, and a Sepulveda car dealership donated several hundred dollars for refreshments at the assemblies.

“We wanted to get the message across that the faculty, the administration and the community cared about their performance on the test,” Anderson said.

The senior class president from Kennedy High School in Granada Hills challenged the Monroe seniors to see which class scored higher on the test.

“He told the kids they were a bunch of losers and they couldn’t outscore the Kennedy senior class,” Anderson said.

Soon after, buttons bearing the crossed-out name of Kennedy’s senior class--”Excelsior”--began to appear. Anderson even bet Kennedy’s principal $100 that Monroe seniors would do better than Kennedy seniors.

Preparation for the CAP test wasn’t all fun and games. Seniors attended seminars on strategies for taking the test and took two practice tests with questions similar to those on the real CAP test.

Then, one week before the exam, the leaflet appeared.

The one-page flyer told students: “The only reason for the CAP push is so the administration can look better.

“Do you think they care about you as an individual when they’re giving a test that will be averaged with the rest of the school? Not a chance . . . If we fail the CAP, we will brutally embarrass the entire faculty in front of all the other schools.”

Anderson and other administrators were caught off guard by the student protest. At a final CAP assembly two days before the test, Anderson addressed the leaflet’s criticisms.

“I told the students . . . that they would be the ultimate losers if they didn’t do well on the test,” Anderson said.

Several students--including Gregg Hesling, a senior who was among those who produced the leaflet--were threatened with disciplinary action. There were no expulsions or suspensions for publishing the flyer, however.

Hesling said the flyer had an impact. Some students, he said, “failed” the CAP on purpose. “I know people who could have gotten 100%, but they didn’t,” he said.

If there were students who threw the test, it wasn’t a significant number.

Besides scoring higher than last year’s class, Monroe seniors ranked higher than Kennedy’s seniors in three out of four categories.

Anderson won his bet with Kennedy’s principal, but the Monroe administrator said he has mixed emotions about promoting high scores on the CAP test.

“How can we build a basic-skills program that has long-term effects when we promote short-term goals like CAP test scores?” Anderson said. “We should be stressing the real benefits of education rather than the results of a bet with Kennedy.”

CAP TEST SCORES These are average results of test scores among high school seniors who took the California Assement Program exams in December: STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 62.9 63.2 69.7 68.3 85-86 62.7 63.4 70.1 68.7 86-87 63.6 64.1 70.6 70.0

LOS ANGELES UNIFIED AVERAGE

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 57.8 58.5 67.4 63.9

BIRMINGHAM

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 62.5 65.9 72.2 70.3

CANOGA PARK

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 61.4 62.2 71.3 68.7

CHATSWORTH

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 63.4 63.9 70.7 69.9

CLEVELAND

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 57.5 57.9 64.1 62.3

CLEVELAND MAGNET

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 72.5 73.4 77.4 78.2

EL CAMINO REAL

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 65.0 69.4 73.6 72.8

FRANCIS POLYTECHNIC

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 55.0 53.5 65.3 60.0

GRANADA HILLS

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 66.6 68.1 70.2 73.7

GRANT

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 58.4 60.3 69.5 67.6

KENNEDY

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 59.4 60.0 64.2 65.4

MONROE

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 60.9 59.9 69.2 65.9

NORTH HOLLYWOOD

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 61.6 62.0 68.9 66.7

NORTH HOLLYWOOD MAGNET

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 68.5 69.9 74.6 75.3

RESEDA

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 60.3 59.2 67.6 65.1

SAN FERNANDO

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 50.4 51.2 59.8 56.7

SAN FERNANDO MAGNET C.I.P.

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 65.7 70.1 72.8 75.8

SHERMAN OAKS CENTER

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 63.5 61.7 76.9 65.4

SYLMAR

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 60.2 59.5 66.3 63.8

TAFT

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 65.2 66.2 69.4 72.1

VALLEY ALTERNATIVE

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 55.8 55.3 63.9 56.6

VAN NUYS

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 56.7 58.7 65.5 63.7

VAN NUYS MAGNET

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 75.1 77.8 81.1 86.9

VAN NUYS PERFORMING ARTS MAGNET

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 64.7 66.8 72.2 71.5

VERDUGO HILLS

Reading Writing Spelling Math 84-85 57.3 57.4 66.7 62.3 85-86 56.7 57.5 66.8 62.5 86-87 57.7 60.3 65.6 65.9