STAR signs mixed; scores up, but so are AYP standards  

The latest results from California’s State Assessment and Reporting Program exams, released Aug. 14, indicate that despite five years of consistent and steady improvement, more schools will face sanctions when federal No Child Left Behind Act requirements tied to STAR results ramp up next year.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, who held three press conferences at various locations throughout the state to discuss the latest STAR scores, also warned that 2008 numbers underscore what he called a “crisis in the education of black children,” who have some of the lowest achievement numbers and highest dropout rates of any group of California students. O’Connell pointed out that white and Asian students continue to outperform Hispanic and black students, and he added that African Americans perform only marginally better than Latino students—many of whom are still learning English.

The gap, he added, has a racial component that cannot be explained by differences in family income or economic class. In fact, the numbers show that white students from poor families are outperforming black students whose parents are not economically disadvantaged.

“While we celebrate the progress made by all subgroups of students over the last five years, we cannot lose sight of the fact that more than half of our students, and too many students of color, are not meeting our high standards,” O’Connell said.

O’Connell said he will rely heavily on recommendations for closing the achievement gap issued earlier this year by his P-16 Council, an advisory committee that includes CSBA Executive Director Scott P. Plotkin.

P-16 report ‘galvanized’ black community

In a teleconference with reporters, O’Connell called upon Debra Watkins, another P-16 Council member and president of the California Alliance of African American Educators, to talk about the black community’s response to subpar achievement among African American students.

Watkins said the work of the P-16 Council documenting lackluster black student achievement “has galvanized the African American community in ways I haven’t seen in my three decades as an educator.”

Rather than sit by passively while “other people educate our children,” black educators and parents are mobilizing to “take charge of their own destinies” and find ways to help black students succeed in school, Watkins said. This past summer, she noted, black educators were part of a collaborative that conducted three algebra workshops to help Alameda County students succeed in math.

There was other good news. Since the tests were first aligned to state standards six years ago, O’Connell said, 11 percent more students now test advanced or proficient in English, improving from 35 percent to 46 percent proficient, and 8 percent more students are scoring at the proficient or advanced levels in math, improving from 35 percent to 43 percent proficient.

The percentage of students scoring at proficient or advanced in English in grades two and four through nine has increased by double digits since 2003, with students in grades three though seven making similar double-digit gains in math during the same period.

“Since 2003, 532,494 more California students have become proficient in English-language arts, and 415,129 more students have become proficient in math,” said O’Connell.

But O’Connell said this rate of improvement won’t be good enough to prevent many more schools from falling into Program Improvement under NCLB. The federal legislation requires that schools boost the number of students proficient in English and math by 11 percent next year in order the meet NCLB standards for adequate yearly progress.

By 2014, schools will have to show that 100 percent of their students are proficient in these subjects, including students who are still learning English and those with disabilities, a target that CSBA and other members of the education community argue will be virtually impossible to meet.

“We have the highest standards and the most diverse student population of any state in the country,” O’Connell said. “This year’s gains are particularly encouraging, considering that they are built upon five years of consistent growth. The bar is about to be raised on NCLB. Even though we are making consistent progress, I am concerned that many more schools will fail to make AYP.”

O’Connell and other members of the education community—including CSBA—have been lobbying federal lawmakers for years to amend the federal NCLB legislation. Among other things, reformers want federal officials to give schools credit for the rate at which student achievement is improving, rather than setting absolute targets. The Bush administration has rejected California’s growth model for measuring student success. NCLB critics say they are hopeful that a new administration will mean a change in federal education policy.

Related link:

•  Review CDE’s statewide and local STAR results and analysis @ http://star.cde.ca.gov.