CAP Scores Show Improved Writing Skills

Students across San Diego County posted significant gains in the nation’s most comprehensive test of writing skills taken last spring by all eighth-graders in California, giving heart to county educators who have pushed hard for increased writing instruction during the past three years.

The achievement in boosting the countywide raw score 8 points to 272--a statistically significant gain--contrasts sharply with a 1-point drop to 255 among all eighth-graders statewide who took the California Assessment Program (CAP) test in May, 1989. The scores were reported Wednesday by state schools Supt. Bill Honig.

The 45-minute CAP writing test requires students to organize their thoughts and write coherent essays on an assigned topic in one of eight categories of writing. The tests are graded by teams of English teachers on a scale from 1 to 6, in which 6 is considered exemplary and 1 barely competent.

The test is considered a pioneering exam in the nationwide reform movement to require more essay- and performance-based testing rather than multiple-choice exams. It is seen as a better way to measure students’ ability to use what they have learned.

“I’m greatly encouraged. We’re obviously moving in the right direction, but I’m not yet satisfied,” Tom Boysen, superintendent of the County Office of Education, said Wednesday.

Boysen credited the county’s 28 secondary school districts for their sustained efforts in setting standards for showing teachers how to improve writing instruction, as well as his office for operating the High School-Ready Writers project. That project awards $40,000 in incentives to 80 schools that make significant improvements on the writing test.

Students in the San Diego Unified School District--the nation’s eighth largest with almost 7,000 of the county’s 22,200 eighth-graders--also posted an 8-point gain to 256. The district had been disappointed with 1988 results, when its students fell far short of the average state score. (Under CAP, scores for individual students are not collected. Rather, data is compiled for individual schools and for districts to measure the state’s educational pulse and measure whether state educational goals are being met.)

“We’ve put more of an emphasis on CAP in terms of showing our teachers what the CAP writing modes require,” Kermeen Fristrom, director of basic education for city schools, said Wednesday. “We’ve talked to all school faculties and emphasized that English teachers cannot be responsible alone for teaching all writing, that problem-solving writing, for example, has to be practiced in math and science classes as well.”

In addition, the district’s upcoming changes in language arts instruction for kindergarten-through-eighth grade will stress writing more, Fristrom said.

Fristrom said that “teaching to the test” on the CAP writing exam is justifiable.

“If an assessment is good, you want to teach to it,” he said. “The problem with standardized tests is when the test is inadequate and students don’t learn from it. Here we teach students how to write evaluations, how to write reports of information, not the actual test answer, since that would be impossible on an essay test.”

A survey of teachers at 600 randomly selected schools done in conjunction with the test found that more than 90% believe the CAP test “will improve or strengthen” their writing curriculum and has already changed their teaching methods.

The survey was co-sponsored by UC San Diego literature and writing professor Charles Cooper, who wrote the CAP test. Cooper has said that students need to practice all kinds of writings, that gains in literacy are connected to specific uses, and that teachers themselves need to be encouraged to write more carefully.

Boysen cautioned Wednesday that fewer than half of the students both countywide and statewide still score a 4, 5 or 6 on their essays, with four considered adequate. At the county level, 47% are at four or above, compared with 43% at the state level. But county students achieved much more heavily at level 3, which indicates some achievement, compared to statewide, where students scored more 2’s and 1’s.

Both Boysen and Fristrom said that good teaching of writing can compensate in large part for socioeconomic differences among school districts and individual schools.

“There’s no mystery about it: if you have clear standards, and if students are taught well and persistently, you’ll see results,” Boysen said.

In Oceanside, for example, Lincoln Junior High scored at 268 while its counterpart Jefferson Junior High fell far short at 215. Although Jefferson has a somewhat lower socioeconomic profile, Oceanside School District spokesman Dan Armstrong refused Wednesday to use the difference as an excuse.

“Lincoln was disappointed with their scores a couple of years ago, so its principal and her staff dedicated themselves to getting scores that reflect the level of teaching at the school, and they have busted themselves in doing so,” Armstrong said. “At Jefferson, well, things have been different, and this should really put them on the spot.”

Honig expressed disappointment over state results, but said an increase to eight from six in the number of writing categories contributed to the statewide drop.

“However, it’s clear we still have a long way to go,” Honig said. “One really important spinoff of this test is that it forces an expansion of the more rigorous curriculum to the lower grades.”

Statewide, students whose primary language is English averaged 264, whose those who are fluent in English but non-native English speakers averaged 244. Students who are still limited-English speaking scored 167, and writing specialists such as Cooper say that mastery of written language is one of the most difficult transitions for students to make.

In San Diego County, the Sweetwater, San Diego Unified and San Ysidro districts have the largest concentrations of non-fluent English speakers.

Statewide, Asian students scored at 290, white students at 289, Latino students at 218 and black students at 211. For San Diego County, whites averaged 301, followed by Asians at 286, Latinos at 203 and blacks at 229.

CAP SCORES

1989 California Assessment Program Grade 8 Direct Writing Assessment Results for San Diego County School Districts

1989 Scaled Number Scaled Rank Relative Change District Tested Score (Percentile) Rank From 1988 Rancho Santa Fe 39 380 99 96 -41 San Dieguito 926 336 96 76 +8 Poway 1,574 321 93 64 -2 Carlsbad 420 320 92 91 +19 San Pasqual 24 319 92 91 +71 Julian Elem. 42 303 86 83 +3 Bonsall 79 300 86 96 +31 Ramona 308 295 84 83 +29 Coronado 143 292 82 31 -41 Valley Center 154 292 82 99 +11 Fallbrook Elem. 407 290 81 71 0 Santee 675 290 81 82 +18 Cajon Valley 1,311 288 78 71 +4 San Marcos 426 287 78 73 +27 Lakeside 444 285 77 64 +38 Jamul-Dulzura 98 283 76 54 -9 Escondido Elem. 1,016 278 72 61 -2 Lemon Grove 332 273 68 73 +18 San Diego County 272 + 8 La Mesa/Spring Valley 1,070 270 65 49 0 Alpine 149 268 61 31 -14 Pauma 28 265 60 93 -18 Vista 908 261 57 34 +13 San Diego City 6,826 256 50 45 +8 State 255 -1 Mountain Empire 101 254 50 38 +38 Sweetwater 3,572 252 49 56 +8 Oceanside 806 243 40 60 +3 Borrego Springs 28 191 2 4 -73 San Ysidro 307 181 1 19 -10

Note: State rankings tell how a district ranks among all districts statewide. For example, if a district has a 75 percentile ranking, it scored higher than 75 percent of all state districts. A relative ranking compares districts that have similar socioeconomic conditions, such as income levels of students and numbers of students for whom English is a second language.

Source: California Department of Education