California Assessment Program Test Scores : Students Get the Good Word; Test Shows Improved Writing

High-school students throughout San Diego County showed strong improvement in their writing skills, exceeding the growth displayed by their peers across California, in the latest results from the nation’s most comprehensive standardized writing test being released today.

The gains give heart to state schools Supt. Bill Honig and especially to county educators who have pushed hard for increased writing instruction at all grade levels during the past four years.

Scores from the second year of the California Assessment Program essay test for 12th-graders taken last December show county students raised their average score to 272 from 258, compared with a gain to 256 from 250 for all seniors statewide.

(Essays are graded by teams of teachers on a range from 1 to 6, with 6 being the best possible essay, and then converted by the State Department of Education into scaled scores on a range from 100 to 400. CAP does not provide individual student scores but only scores for schools and districts as a measure of whether state educational goals are being met.)

In particular, students in the San Diego Unified School District--the nation’s eighth-largest urban system--boosted their scores to 261 from the 246 recorded on the first CAP direct-writing test in December, 1988.

The district, with 6,000 of the county’s 20,000 seniors, posted its substantial gain despite increased numbers of students with limited English skills--4.2% of the total in 1988 to 7% in 1989. Madison, Hoover and San Diego high schools, all with large numbers of limited-English and nonwhite students, made jumps of more than 40 points in their scores.

Impressive gains were also registered by the San Marcos, Carlsbad, and Escondido districts in North County, although San Dieguito remained tops in the county, with a scaled score of 338. Only the heavily nonwhite Oceanside and Sweetwater districts, and the rural single-school Mountain Empire district scored below the state averages, although they all also showed gains over the first-year scores.

The CAP writing results are carefully noted by educators, since the test is on the cutting edge of a nationwide reform movement to require more essay- and performance-based testing rather than multiple-choice exams.

As such, the test requires students to show what they have learned rather than simply provide information about style, grammar and content. A similar essay test is given to all state eighth-graders and will be expanded to elementary grades in the next couple of years.

“I think the improvement shows that we have demystified writing” both for teachers and students “by taking it out of the abstract and explaining it in concrete terms,” Tom Boysen, superintendent of the County Office of Education, said Wednesday. “And the results show that gains can be accomplished at any school, given good, sustained instruction.”

His office has sponsored a host of efforts to help teachers improve their writing instruction, as well as operating both the College-Ready Writers and High School-Ready Writers projects at the secondary school level to provide cash incentives for schools showing strong improvements.

“We’ve created good performance standards through the CAP test and made it important for people to pay attention, so that they have clear, focused targets to which they can judge their teaching,” Boysen said, crediting UC San Diego literature and writing professor Charles Cooper for developing the state’s direct-writing assessment.

Cooper has stressed that students need to practice all kinds of writings, that gains in literacy are connected to specific uses, and that both teachers and students need to be encouraged to enjoy writing as a discipline.

School districts throughout the county have now adopted new literature-based reading instruction programs, where reading and writing are taught together rather than separated into discrete subjects.

But Boysen said that the higher scores should not satisfy anyone yet.

“The new data shows that 57% of our students in the county now do acceptably well on the essays, which means that they are graded with a 4 or better,” Boysen said, “but our top high school in the county, Torrey Pines High School (in the San Dieguito district), has 78% of its students at 4 or better.

“I think that, while we should be pleased to be at 57%, we should be asking ourselves how we can get the entire county to 78%.”

The CAP test requires students to write timed essays in one or more types of writing: autobiographical; evaluation of an argument; interpretation of an argument; reflection on an abstract idea; position on a controversy; observation of an incident.

In statewide data not yet available at the county or district levels, Honig said that Asian students improved to 260 from 253, black students improved to 215 from 209, and Latinos students improved to 218 from 212.

Honig said that non-native English speakers with English fluency, who constitute 14% of the statewide senior class, increased their scores seven points, to 243 from 236. But limited-English speaking students, 7% of the total, dropped five points statewide, to 153 from 158.

In survey questions asked as part of the test, students indicated how many writing assignments they do each week, how much time they spend on homework and how much they read for pleasure.

Scores were higher for those students who did more assignments, read more and spent more time on homework--results that while not surprising are nevertheless stressed by Honig as part of his “bully pulpit” effort to improve attitudes toward education.

Students with only one writing assignment per week averaged 253, compared with a score of 283 with students doing 11 or more per week. Students with two or more hours of homework daily averaged 304, and those who read for pleasure one or more hours per day averaged 310.

“The outcome once again demonstrates that, the more students write, as called for in the new state English/Language Arts curriculum framework, the better they perform academically,” Honig said.

Boysen agreed, adding that he hopes students will be asked next year whether they enjoy writing more, given the increased emphasis and practice in schools.

HOW TO READ THE SCORES These are the San Diego County school-by-school results of the California Assessment Program’s writing exam administered last winter to high school seniors throughout the state. During one class period, students are required to write an essay from one of six general categories: autobiographical incident, evaluation, interpretation, reflective essay, controversial issue and observational writing. Each essay is graded for thinking and writing skills as well as for basic mechanics, such as spelling and grammar.

The CAP program is designed to measure the progress of schools and not youngsters individually. The grades are combined into a single scaled score, ranging from 1 to more than 400.

The statewide average was 250 for the class of 1989 and 256 for the class of 1990. The average score for San Diego County was 258 in 1989 and 272 in 1990.

Results are listed by school district and by individual high school so that parents can compare the performance of youngsters in their community with that of students in the rest of the county. (Schools are listed alphabetically by district.)

* State Rank shows how the school or district did in relation to all others in the state. The range is from 1 to 99, with 99 being best.

* Relative Rank provides a way to compare a district or school with others whose students are similar in terms of ethnic makeup and socioeconomic level and in their ability to speak English fluently, as well as how often those students move from school to school.

For example, seniors at Poway Unified, with a score of 307, did better than 92% of others in California. But they did better than only 65% of other students with similar backgrounds. Granite Hills students, on the other hand, did almost as well when compared with similar students as when compared with students statewide. With their score of 270, Granite Hills students earned a statewide ranking of 67 and a relative ranking of 65.

WRITING EXAM RESULTS

Number Scaled Relative District Tested Score* Rank** San Dieguito 787 338 89 Coronado 117 336 82 San Marcos 269 320 99 Carlsbad 339 301 74 Poway 1,408 299 51 Fallbrook 391 294 89 Escondido 1,011 288 77 Vista 834 286 90 Ramona 272 279 87 Grossmont 3,584 273 65 COUNTY AVERAGE 18,234 272 San Diego 5,526 261 48 STATE AVERAGE 256 Mountain Empire 59 247 56 Oceanside 562 241 44 Sweetwater 3,011 241 58

Test taken December 1989

* Range 100-400, with 250 the statewide average

**Position in relationship to 20% of California districts with similar socioeconomic standing in the state on a scale of 1-99 with 1 low and 99 high.

Source: State Department of Education SAN DIEGO COUNTY

1988-89 1989-90 School Score Rank Rel. Score Rank Rel. Borrego Springs Unified 241 41 60 270 66 92 Borrego Springs 241 44 60 270 62 92

1988-89 1989-90 School Score Rank Rel. Score Rank Rel. Carlsbad Unified 275 72 68 301 85 74 Carlsbad 275 72 68 305 85 76 La Palma --- --- --- 249 44 31

1988-89 1989-90 School Score Rank Rel. Score Rank Rel. Coronado Unified 313 94 69 336 97 82 Coronado 313 92 69 336 95 82

1988-89 1989-90 School Score Rank Rel. Score Rank Rel. Escondido Union 234 34 19 288 77 77 Escondido 206 19 3 280 71 87 Orange Glen 217 25 6 274 66 67 San Pasqual 275 72 38 327 93 82 Valley 246 47 82 188 8 10

1988-89 1989-90 School Score Rank Rel. Score Rank Rel. Fallbrook Union 250 50 35 294 80 89 Fallbrook 256 55 34 305 85 91 Ivy 196 14 48 173 5 15

1988-89 1989-90 School Score Rank Rel. Score Rank Rel. Grossmont Union 270 67 67 273 69 65 El Cajon Valley 248 49 86 252 47 87 El Capitan 262 60 64 264 56 52 Granite Hills 270 67 65 286 75 70 Grossmont 273 70 26 293 79 58 Helix 302 88 94 274 66 65 Monte Vista 275 72 44 276 67 42 Mt. Miguel 264 61 85 260 53 68 Santana 263 61 58 242 38 23 Valhalla 273 70 26 321 91 93

1988-89 1989-90 School Score Rank Rel. Score Rank Rel. Julian Union 367 99 99 275 70 64 Julian 367 99 99 275 67 64

1988-89 1989-90 School Score Rank Rel. Score Rank Rel. Mountain Empire Unified 219 18 44 247 42 56 Mountain Empire 219 26 44 247 42 56

1988-89 1989-90 School Score Rank Rel. Score Rank Rel. Oceanside City Unified 232 30 40 241 39 44 El Camino 251 50 52 265 57 47 Oceanside 212 21 26 208 17 40

1988-89 1989-90 School Score Rank Rel. Score Rank Rel. Poway Unified 307 92 65 299 84 51 Mt. Carmel 298 86 53 277 68 15 Poway 317 93 76 329 94 78

1988-89 1989-90 School Score Rank Rel. Score Rank Rel. Ramona City Unified 274 71 89 279 72 87 Montecito 175 6 28 200 12 27 Ramona 283 76 91 292 79 90

1988-89 1989-90 School Score Rank Rel. Score Rank Rel. San Diego City Unified 246 46 38 261 57 48 Clairemont 233 36 61 227 27 36 Crawford 246 47 64 241 37 63 Gompers 274 70 80 303 84 91 Henry 270 67 38 281 72 33 Hoover 185 8 29 228 29 67 Kearny 212 21 35 204 14 31 La Jolla 290 81 38 308 87 50 Lincoln 202 17 22 192 9 6 Madison 223 30 8 266 58 33 Mira Mesa 278 74 53 277 68 36 Mission Bay 250 50 36 257 51 38 Morse 241 44 36 253 48 39 Point Loma 239 42 23 237 34 11 San Diego 219 26 60 264 56 96 Serra 247 48 23 281 72 52 University City 251 50 7 283 73 21

1988-89 1989-90 School Score Rank Rel. Score Rank Rel. San Dieguito Union 315 94 94 338 97 89 San Dieguito 326 95 99 317 90 61 Sunset 228 32 11 228 29 6 Torrey Pines 309 90 65 369 99 98

1988-89 1989-90 School Score Rank Rel. Score Rank Rel. San Marcos Unified 262 57 55 320 94 99 San Marcos 262 60 55 320 90 99

1988-89 1989-90 School Score Rank Rel. Score Rank Rel. Sweetwater Union 232 30 57 241 39 58 Bonita Vista 286 78 32 305 85 59 Castle Park 213 22 45 221 24 57 Chula Vista 257 56 77 231 30 40 Hilltop 239 42 29 245 41 35 Mar Vista 180 6 17 241 37 83 Montgomery 230 33 79 240 36 68 Palomar 160 3 22 141 1 7 Southwest 219 26 64 218 23 58 Sweetwater 213 22 70 224 26 68

1988-89 1989-90 School Score Rank Rel. Score Rank Rel. Vista Unified 263 59 77 286 77 90 Alta Vista 158 3 19 281 72 97 Rancho Buena Vista 286 78 92 292 79 83 Vista 263 61 57 282 73 93