Dividends seen in ed spending
STAR scores up slightly; CALPADS generates first reliable graduation rates
Published: September 1, 2011
California Standardized Testing and Reporting results continue their incremental rise, and the state is finally able to set a reliable baseline from which to gauge high school graduation and dropout rates, but continued progress depends on other numbers—ones preceded by dollar signs.
Average scores in STAR’s English-language arts, mathematics, science, and history-social science tests are up only slightly from 2010, according to results released by the California Department of Education last month, but they’ve risen 19 percentage points in English and 15 percent in math since the standards-aligned tests were first administered in 2003.
“Our test scores are improving, our students are achieving, and now more than ever they need the resources and funding necessary to continue that momentum,” CSBA Executive Director Vernon M. Billy said.
Gaps continue to separate racial, ethnic and socioeconomic student subgroups, however. Details, including test scores at the state, county, school district and individual school level, are available at http://star.cde.ca.gov.
Graduation and dropout rates
The latest graduation and dropout rates for California students, announced shortly before the STAR results were released, were also favorable—both in themselves and in terms of the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System, which has survived threats of funding cutoffs and a series of serious technical problems.
For the first time, CDE was able to track the progress of individual students from ninth grade through their high school years. The results: 74.4 percent of students who were ninth-graders in 2006 graduated with their class in 2010; 7.4 percent failed to graduate but remained in school; 18.2 percent dropped out.
As with STAR, the graduation and dropout rates continue to reflect disturbing gaps among different groups of students. However, CDE Data Management Division Director Keric Ashley pointed to Hispanic students’ graduation rates to illustrate how CALPADS’ data can be used to target strategies for closing the gaps. Little more than two-thirds of Hispanic students graduated on time, Ashley noted—in large part because many Hispanics are designated as English learners, whose graduation rate is only 56.3 percent.
“If we remove the English learners from the 67.7 percent graduation rate, the remainder of the Hispanic students have a 75.1 percent graduation rate,” Ashley explained. “Clearly, the Hispanic achievement gap is much more about language than race. It’s detailed reports like this that will allow educators to focus our limited resources to help students and schools improve performance.”
Fluor ties sustained gains to funding
CSBA President Martha Fluor congratulated CDE for generating reliable graduation and dropout numbers.
“For the first time, school districts and county offices of education have access to comprehensive graduation rates, providing them the ability to base local education reform on inclusive and accurate data to further improve student achievement. These findings continue to emphasize why CALPADS is a worthy investment,” Fluor said.
“California must invest the resources and services required to address the diverse needs of our students and provide every child the opportunity to succeed” Fluor continued. “This data reiterates the significant need to continue to invest even more in education in order to close the achievement gap.”
Easy links:
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STAR data
- A more detailed California School News story on CALPADS’ data: “Graduation data ‘a big win’ for CALPADS and accountability”