October 28, 1997FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Kroemer)
RE: TEST SCORES UP AGAIN FOR SAN DIEGO STUDENTS
Test scores for fifth and seventh grade students taking the Abbreviated Stanford Achievement Test show students typically scored at or above the publisher's norm, a report presented to the Board of Education said today.
There were some significant changes in how the tests were administered this year due to a change in the criteria for student participation related to AB 265's Pupil Testing Incentive Program (PTIP). This bill allows districts to be reimbursed for expenses associated with testing. In January of 1996, the Board of Education approved the testing of all eligible students districtwide in Grades 2-10. For the purpose of this report, however, data will focus on Grades 5 and 7, since historical data are available at these grades.
Additionally, in previous years, English speaking students were administered the ASAT and limited English speaking students were administered the Aprenda, a Spanish language test which parallels the ASAT in form and structure, measuring similar skill areas.
This year, because of the PTIP, significantly more limited English proficient (LEP) students were tested with the ASAT than in previous years. Similarly, more students in Special Education programs were tested than prior to Spring 1997. In order to provide meaningful and comparable data for historical analyses, this year's district testing report used English speaking students' data sets for 1997 and both of the previous two years based on the data extracts which do not include the LEP or Special Education students.
On average, San Diego's English speaking students administered the ASAT in Spring 1997 typically scored at or above the publisher's norms.
From 1996 to 1997, fifth grade English speaking students kept their average total reading, total language and total mathematics scores at the 50th, 56th, and 59th percentile, respectively.
Fifth Grade Median Scores
Total Reading Total Language Total Math 1997 50 56 59 1996 50 56 59 1995 50 56 56 From 1996 to 1997, seventh grade English speaking students' median scores in total reading and total mathematics remained the same over the three years at the 56th and 60th percentiles, respectively. Scores in total language declined from the 51st to the 47th percentile.
Seventh Grade Median Scores
Total Reading Total Language Total Math 1997 56 47 60 1996 56 51 60 1995 56 47 57 Fifth grade girls outperformed boys on total language (62/56), and tied boys in total math (59) and total reading (50). At seventh grade, girls and boys were tied for total reading (56) but girls outperformed boys in total language (51/42), and total math (60/57).
When scores are reviewed by major ethnic groups, average scores for Asian and White students are consistently higher than for African American and Hispanic students.
1997 Median Scores For 5th Grade English Speaking Students
African American Asian Hispanic White Total Reading 27 58 40 66 Total Language 32 67 41 67 Total Math 26 75 46 73
Median Scores For 7th Grade English Speaking Students
African American Asian Hispanic White Total Reading 34 56 43 73 Total Language 25 51 37 62 Total Math 28 71 44 71 Students classified as limited English speaking whose native tongue is Spanish take the Aprenda test. As of this year, the Pupil Testing Incentive Program (PTIP) now requires English learners to be tested when tests are available in their native language. Therefore, testing was required at Grades 2-10 for Spanish speaking students districtwide on Aprenda. Many more students were tested on Aprenda in 1997 than in previous years (e.g., more than twice as many were tested at Grade 7 than last year [551 vs 251]).
Aprenda's historical data from 1995 to 1997 shows scores for San Diego's Spanish speaking students at Grade 5 were very similar to previous years, whereas many Grade 7 scores were much lower, especially in reading. The significant increase in the number of Grade 7 students tested in Spring of 1997 vs. 1996 is probably a major factor in this change of test scores. Charts to reflect the median scores for Aprenda students follow on the next page.
1997 Median Scores For 5th Grade Aprenda Students
Total Reading Total Language Total Math 1997 63 58 54 1996 62 58 57 1995 62 56 55
Median Scores For 7th Grade Aprenda Students Total Reading Total Language Total Math 1997 37 56 44 1996 50 64 50 1995 50 60 53 The Abbreviated Stanford Achievement Test is also given to all students in Grades 1-12 at the 23 schools designated racially isolated as part of the district's school desegregation efforts. Results of these tests were also released today, and it is important to again note that these results represent the achievement of a population of students very different from previous years, especially for Hispanic and Asian populations, due to the change in implementation of the Pupil Incentive Testing Program. Among the major findings:
- Spring 1997 achievement levels exceed those from the baseline year of 1980 in all instances, although achievement levels are still below those in the mid-1980's.
- Reading continues to lag behind language and mathematics.
- In Voluntary Ethnic Enrollment (VEEP) schools, resident student scores continue to exceed the corresponding values for their non-resident ethnic counterparts.
ASAT scores for students in the racially isolated schools are reported as the percent of students who score at or above what is considered the national average. The chart which follows on the next page shows the percent of students at or above the national average for each grade level tested in reading, language and math.
ASAT scores at racially isolated schools - percent at/above publisher's median
Grade Level Reading Language Math 1 Data not comparable to previous years 2 28.3% 35.2% 44.0% 3 25.8 27.6 39.8 4 21.2 29.1 31.1 5 20.5 27.6 29.2 6 24.6 32.5 37.5 7 36.8 31.6 39.4 8 26.3 27.2 34.3 9 30.5 29.7 48.8 10 33.2 31.7 56.4 11 Data not comparable to previous years 12 Data not comparable to previous years "Clearly, we are on track in improving student achievement, although there continues to be room for more improvement." Superintendent Bertha Pendleton said. "It will be interesting to compare the scores for 1998, when we have had successive years of reduced class sizes."
