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Heber Elementary School instructor Estela Perez discusses with student Kayla Osuna, 11, how to increase Kayla's California Standards Test scores during the CST Fair held Wednesday. (April 19, 2012) |
HEBER — Heber Elementary School student Kayla Osuna, 11, is “a little nervous” about the California Standards Tests she’ll be taking soon.
But she’s also committed “to get the highest score I can get,” Kayla said.
Kayla is one of the tens of thousands of California students that take the tests every year.
The CST “is how schools are measured,” said Heber Elementary School Principal Patty Marcial. Furthermore, the CST provides accountability on students’ academic performance, she said.
Last year, Heber Elementary School’s CST score surpassed the statewide performance target of 800 by a few points, she said.
“The hope is that every year we continue to improve,” Marcial said, and for this year the target to reach is 818. “That’s our goal.”
But the school isn’t leaving this target up to chance, as the CSTs will take place in eight days.
A CST Fair at Heber has been going on throughout the week, “alerting that the CST is fast approaching,” Marcial said.
With this fair, instructors like Juan Trujillo have been encouraging students to set goals, do their homework, read for 30 minutes each day “and ask questions,” Trujillo said.
Students have also reviewed last year’s CST scores with their parents in order to set new score targets.
“It’s a big thing for them,” said parent Sergio Apolinar, referring to CST scores and students.
Apolinar said he thinks getting parents involved in CST preparations “is a good idea for the school.”
He is particularly fond of the chart, which “give us the opportunity to review scores,” he said.
And reviewing scores was what Apolinar did with his sixth-grader son, Sergio, 12, on Wednesday.
Apolinar encouraged his son to set reachable goals, he said. And Sergio seems to be all set and ready.
“I’ve been waiting all year to take the test,” Sergio said. “My goal for mathematics is 465 and for English Language Arts is 460,” he said proudly.
The 2011 standardized testing and reporting scores reported that about 45 percent of students ranked proficient or advanced in English Language Arts in Imperial County, and that 44 percent ranked proficient or advanced in general math for grades two through nine.
For schools within the Central Union High School District, a number of initiatives employed over the years are aimed to target student success, said Superintendent Thomas Budde.
The district had moved the timing of advanced placement testing so that it does not present conflicting priorities for students, Budde said. Also, test scores within the district are monitored very closely and a “major effort” is made to provide teachers with the necessary feedback.
While there may not be any punishment or consequence to lower-than-desired scores, a school’s reputation and image are affected by the overall scores nonetheless, he said.
Recent scores also prompted district officials to make geometry instruction more of a focus, Budde said, noting that such efforts appear to have produced results. And although there have been consistent gains in the scores over the years, there have remained some areas of concern, such as the scores of English-language learners and socioeconomic disadvantaged students.
It is hoped that that district efforts to improve the overall academic success of all students translates into improved CST scores for these two groups, Budde said.
Brawley High School Principal Simon Canalez said that the school is analyzing data on a quarterly basis instead of waiting for the yearly test results. This allows the school to get a “better feel” for which areas students are progressing in or struggling with.
Some of the latest data had prompted the administration to focus on math and algebra, Canalez said. The high school had an overall point growth of 39 last year, which raised them from their base of 719 to 758.
Brawley was also able to meet their target growth for the campus’ different subgroups, which included a growth of 40 points for Latino students, 40 points for socioeconomic disadvantaged students, 15 points for white students and 54 points for English language learners, Canalez said.
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