Elementary Pupils Score Well, 8th-Graders Slip

As a group, San Diego County public elementary schools made a strong showing in meeting or exceeding the first statewide testing targets for math and reading improvement, but the county’s junior high and middle schools didn’t fare as well, according to data being released today by state schools Supt. Bill Honig.

The test results stem from an effort begun by Honig three years ago to chart improvements in California public schools after increased spending for education. Goals were set for students taking the California Assessment Program (CAP) reading and math tests in the third, sixth and eighth grades. Results are being measured at two-, four-, and six-year intervals.

“California’s schools are accountable to the public for the performance of their students,” Honig said in prepared remarks. “We said we would hold ourselves accountable for the investment being made in education reforms and we’re sticking to our promise.”

Honig has been arguing for more state education funding for next year than has been proposed by Gov. George Deukmejian, and has been challenged by Deukmejian to show the results of funding increases over the last several years.

Scores from the state’s more than 4,000 elementary schools show that nearly two-thirds of the schools met their reading or math goals, half of them meeting both, Honig said. About 24% failed to meet either goal.

In San Diego County, 70% of the 313 elementary schools met their reading goal at third grade, 67% met their math goal, and 56% met both goals. The percentages were almost identical for the math and reading tests given sixth-graders at 265 elementary schools. In both grades, about 18% of the schools failed to meet either goal.

But both statewide and county scores for the eighth-grade level showed far less progress.

“We need to really get to work on improving the performance at the eighth-grade level,” Honig said, expressing dismay that only 40% of the state’s 1,600 schools with eighth grades met the reading goal, 55% the math goal and 33% both goals. “We know we’ve not adequately addressed the problems of the middle grades.”

Only 34% of 88 San Diego County middle schools met the reading goal, 57% met the math goal and 28% met both goals. More than 37% of the schools failed to meet either goal.

“I’m concerned also about those schools that didn’t meet any goals,” Honig said. “It’s clear that there are still large numbers of students not being properly served. We’re going to work to change that.”

Honig’s office compared scores from the 1983-84 tests with those compiled during the 1985-86 school year. Schools could meet the goals in two ways:

- Increase their actual scores by more than the statewide growth targets set up three years ago by committees made up of school district, university and state Department of Education officials who looked at testing trends and drew up goals.

- Attain a target score within the top range of scores for schools in a similar category, based on a composite index including the education levels of parents, the English fluency of students, the rate of student turnover during a school year, and the number of families receiving government assistance.

While Honig warned against using CAP scores as the only indicator of success, he said that poor or declining scores are danger signs that must be dealt with.

“In the weeks and months to come, we will work closely with those schools who fall into this category, to assess the causes and seek remedies so that those students will be better served,” Honig said.

Peter Bell, a researcher with the San Diego Unified School District, said that CAP scores for any single year have more meaning on a district or state level than for individual schools. San Diego Unifed is the state’s second-largest district, after Los Angeles, and accounts for the largest number of schools in any single county elementary or secondary school district, with 107 elementary schools and 21 middle or junior high schools.

The number of students who take the CAP tests may be small at an individual school, between 60 and 90 students, and no student takes all the CAP tests in any one year, Bell said.

“So districtwide totals are more realistic and the gains that the district shows are more likely to be a real gain,” Bell said. “If a school gains or loses a few points, then it is not so meaningful for a single year.”

Bell said that a parent should be concerned if an individual school’s scores decline, but that a more accurate measure would be the school’s performance over a period of several years. “One should not rush to judgment for an individual school based on one year’s rise or fall of CAP scores,” Bell said. “But districtwide, with 7,000 kids, I think we can (note) trends.”

San Diego city schools have shown improvement in their CAP scores over the last five years, said Grant Behnke, assistant director of the district’s evaluation department.

The percentage of San Diego Unified District schools meeting one or both of the reading and math goals was similar to that for all county schools in the state data released today.

PERCENT OF SCHOOLS MEETING CAP TEST GOALS GRADE 3

TEST STATE COUNTY S.D. UNIFIED MET READING AND MATH GOALS 51 56 55 MET READING GOAL 65 71 74 MET MATH GOAL 63 67 68 MET NO GOALS 24 18 14

GRADE 6

TEST STATE COUNTY S.D. UNIFIED MET READING AND MATH GOALS 53 56 55 MET READING GOAL 68 71 72 MET MATH GOAL 62 67 68 MET NO GOALS 23 19 15

GRADE 8

TEST STATE COUNTY S.D. UNIFIED MET READING AND MATH GOALS 34 28 29 MET READING GOAL 41 34 29 MET MATH GOAL 56 57 71 MET NO GOALS 37 38 29

Schools could meet goals in two ways:

1) Exceed statewide growth targets set up three years ago. 2) Achieve a score in the top range of scores for schools in a similar category, based on a composite index including the education levels of parents, the English language fluency of students, the rate of student turnover and the number of families receiving government assistance.