Schools in L.A. Area Trail in CAP Tests

Asserting that “when California educators set goals, they deliver,” State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig said that many of the state’s elementary and middle schools have met “accountability targets” set by the state for performance on the California Assessment Program (CAP) test. However, schools in the Los Angeles area did not perform as well on the whole as those in the rest of the state.

“I’m obviously disappointed,” Honig said of Los Angeles area schools.

“Two-thirds of the schools in our state are doing what we asked them to do,” Honig said. He explained that the state set performance and progress goals in 1983-84 and in 1985-86. The figures released by the state this week--a kind of report card for the public schools--indicate that the majority have met or surpassed those targets.

The figures are based on average CAP scores for third, sixth and eighth grades, and show whether schools with these grades met state performance and progress targets on the tests.

Statewide Results

Statewide, Honig said, 56.5% of schools with third grades met the state targets. Only 36% met no targets. Sixty-four percent of schools with sixth grades met the goals, as did 69% of the schools with eighth grades.

Honig said he was especially pleased that “all types of schools have shown that they can do the job: rich and poor, inner-city, rural and suburban, those with middle-class English-speaking students and those with new Americans for whom English is a second language.”

But schools in Los Angeles County did not fare as well. About 45% of those with third grades met the state’s 1983-84 targets, while 25% met no targets and scored poorly when compared with similar schools. Just over 48% of the county schools with sixth grades were top performers. Local schools with eighth grades came closer to meeting statewide norms, with over 65% as top performers.

“Other comparable areas are making considerable progress,” Honig said. “Los Angeles seems to be stuck in the starting blocks. Other areas are leaving it behind.” Honig pointed out that Los Angeles Unified School District can ill afford a strike or other major disruption of the schools in light of its mediocre performance. “Los Angeles can’t afford to be on hold for a year,” he said. “It’s the largest district in the state, and we have got to find a way to get it going again.”

L.A. Unified Trails

Los Angeles Unified’s scores trailed those of county schools taken as a whole. About 38% of the district’s schools with third grades, 41% of those with sixth grades and 59% of those with eighth grades met the 1983-84 targets.

Other county districts varied widely in performance and progress. For example, all schools in the Beverly Hills Unified School District met the state’s targets. And, all of the schools with sixth grades in the Compton Unified School District performed poorly, while its schools with eighth grades did almost as well as schools statewide.