LVUSD students who take STAR do well

By Stephanie Bertholdo Acorn Staff Writer

The tests may have changed, but students in Las Virgenes Unified School District (LVUSD) continue to produce top academic scores on the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) exams.

The Stanford 9 (SAT/9) test was replaced this year by another nationally norm-referenced test, the California Achievement Test (CAT/6).

Students also took a separate, California Standards Test (CST), which is more aligned with actual classroom coursework.

The Phase I report, which was released in mid-August, showed how students, schools and districts performed academically and how they measured up in participation rates.

All 13 of the schools in LVUSD met the criteria for reaching proficiency or higher in English/language arts and math.

To make the grade in 2003, elementary and middle schools had to have 13.6 percent of all students scoring proficient or better in the English/language arts and 16 percent in math. The percentage of students expected to score at proficient or better was lowered for high schoolers, where only 11.2 percent was the benchmark for English, and 9.6 percent of students were required to score proficient or better in math.

Following is a chart outlining the percentage of students who scored proficient or higher in the California Standards Test in English/language Arts:

The percentage of students who scored proficient or better in math in grades two through seven were as follows:

Math classes vary by the time students are in eighth grade. While 77 percent of eighth-grade students were tested on general mathematics, which the state considers sixth- and seventh-grade standards, others got a jump ahead in Algebra I in eighth grade, and two students tackled geometry while still in middle school. There were only 73 students who were tested on Algebra I in 11th grade. The percentage of students who scored proficient or better in general math in eighth and ninth grade were as shown on the right.

In social science, the percentage of eighth-grade students scoring proficient or better was 56, while 51 percent of 10th grade students who took the world history component scored proficient or advanced.

For the 875 11th graders who took U.S. history, 64 percent were scored proficient or better.

Ninth through 11th graders were tested on biology or life sciences. The percentage of students who scored proficient or better in this subject was as shown on right.

Fifty-three percent of 11th grade chemistry students scored proficient or better, while the number of students tested in earth science was so low that the statistical significance is negligible.

Students in LVUSD also earned top scores for the California Achievement Test section of the STAR.

Log into the Internet and visit www.star.cde.ca.gov/star2003/Report for details.