Local students achieve mixed results from a new STAR test
By Rebecca Ray
Even though some fourth- and seventh-graders in Los Gatos and Saratoga did better than the state average on a new writing test, there is plenty of room for improvement, local educators say.
Last spring, for the first time, fourth- and seventh-graders in California took the California Standards Writing Assessment Test. The test was one of several administered under the state Standardized Testing And Reporting program, established by Senate Bill 376 in October 1997.
Under the STAR program, second- through eleventh-graders take state standards tests and the Stanford Achievement Test, Ninth Edition, which test students in various subjects.
On the writing test, which scored students on a scale of two through eight, less than 1 percent of the students in California, in either grade, received perfect scores of eight. Fourth-grade classes at Lakeside, Lexington, Loma Prieta and Louise Van Meter elementary schools in Los Gatos, and at Argonaut, McAuliffe and Saratoga elementary schools in Saratoga, were no exception. But at Alta Vista Elementary School in Los Gatos, 4 percent of the fourth-graders received perfect scores.
The range of scores for local middle schools included results from Rolling Hills and Fisher Middle Schools in Los Gatos, where 1 percent of seventh-graders at each school scored eights, to McAuliffe, where 13 percent of seventh-graders received eights. McAuliffe offers grades K-8.
But during the 2001-2002 school year, local schools say they will emphasize writing more than ever to improve next year's scores.
At Alta Vista, and at Blue Hills and McAuliffe elementary schools in Saratoga, which are in the Cupertino Union School District, each student's performance in math and writing will be assessed in classes in 2001-2002 to determine whether performances meet state standards.
In 2000-2001, the Cupertino district measured how students performed in literacy in class. Renè Jones, district director of standards, assessment and accountability, said he thinks this emphasis raised students' literacy scores on the STAR tests between 2000 and 2001.
Similarly, the Los Gatos Union School District attributes its students' growth in reading scores to the district allocating more resources toward improving primary literacy.
During the 2001-2002 school year, the Cupertino district and Alta Vista will begin to focus on beefing up students' writing skills at all grade levels. Students will receive prompts, or starter sentences and will then write narratives, autobiographies and letters, and engage in other types of writing that appear on the state tests.
At Alta Vista, where half the students scored sixes or higher on the state writing test, teachers will score students' writing samples along a state standard. Students will also edit each other's papers to see how they could improve.
Since 2001 was the first year the state administered the writing test, students weren't as prepared to take it, Jones said. Teachers and students can now use the experience of taking the test to prepare for the next one.
The SAT9, a nationally normed test, measures how students compare to others nationwide. It tests second- through eighth-graders in reading, math, language and spelling, and ninth- through eleventh-graders in reading, math, language, science and social science.
Schools' scores on all tests can be found at the California Department of Education website at www.cde.ca.gov.
Schools that improve their performance on the SAT9 by specified amounts will receive $157 million in February 2002. Each school that qualifies for the money will receive about $67 per test-taker. In 2001, schools received $227 million, or $63 per kindergarten through twelfth-grade student. The schools that will receive money in 2002, and the amounts they improved their scores between 2000 and 2001, should be known by October.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
