8th-Graders Make Slight Gains in Spring CAP Scores

Eighth-graders in California--and in Los Angeles County--continued to make some across-the-board progress in academic subjects, according to results of state achievement tests to be released today.

For the state’s third- and sixth-graders, however, scores on the California Assessment Program exams taken last spring were a mixed bag--they went up in mathematics but dropped slightly in reading and in written language.

Moreover, the latest scores from the annual testing program indicate the once-robust pace of progress by the state’s students has slowed.

“You can’t really tell much with just one year, but if the slowdown continues, especially in reading, then that would be a cause for concern,” Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig said in an interview earlier this week.

He said a host of factors--from increasing numbers of students not fluent in English to “turmoil” caused by budget problems--may have contributed to the slowdown.

The CAP tests are given each spring to third-, sixth- and eighth-graders; 12th- graders are tested in the fall so results can be learned before they graduate.

Exams for this year’s 12th-graders were canceled after Gov. George Deukmejian vetoed testing funds from the 1990-91 state budget. But Honig said he believes “chances are very good” that Gov.-Elect Pete Wilson will provide enough money to enable the Department of Education to test the lower grades as usual.

Statewide, reading scores for eighth-graders averaged 257, up just one point over the 1989 average. In mathematics, students averaged 271, up two points from last year. In history and social sciences, the average score inched up one point, to 260 and, in science, the average score rose two points, to 269. Countywide scores followed a similar pattern.

Los Angeles Unified School District eighth-graders also posted some gains, despite an increase in the proportion of those with limited fluency in English. While they remained well below state averages, scores rose by one point in reading, to 212, one point in math, to 226, two points in social sciences, to 217, and one point in science, to 226. Because the 625,000-student district is so huge, a change of even one point in its scores is significant, CAP officials said.

For the state’s sixth-graders, the average scores dipped one point from last year’s in reading, to 261, and one point, to 268, in a written language test of multiple-choice questions about grammar, vocabulary and other skills. But math scores rose three points, to 270.

Third-graders statewide averaged 275 in reading, a two-point drop over last year’s score, and 277 in written language, a one-point decline. But the average math score climbed five points, to 283.

Honig said many schools in the county are experiencing rapid growth and increasing numbers of students are suffering from poverty or are recent immigrants.

“Los Angeles is swimming against the current and still making progress,” he said. The percentage of students in the Los Angeles district not yet proficient in written English climbed from 16.6% last year to 19.8% among eighth-graders, from 23.4% to 27.6% among sixth-graders and from 41% to 45.1% among third-graders.

“Comparing us to the rest of the state is apples and oranges--the fact is there is not another district in the state that has students who speak 88 different languages,” said Patricia Boerger, administrative consultant for the district’s Office of Instruction.

“We are not happy with these scores--they have to go up--but unless you look at individual schools and their populations, you cannot really tell much,” she said.

CAP SCORE TABLES: B3