Schools

Eagle Rock Schools' Test Scores Are a Mixed Bag

Students in many grades performed above California State Testing averages—but below 2010's scores.

The latest California Standardized Test scores show that while many grades in Eagle Rock public schools performed above state averages in English Language Arts, Math and Science, students often did not perform as well as they did in 2010, especially at the high school level.

In short, the 2011 CST scores—which were made public Monday by the California Department of Education and are aimed at measuring how suitably students have mastered specific skills defined for each grade by the state of California—were inconsistent.

In some grades, Math proficiency was up, while English Language Arts proficiency was down. In other grades, English Language Arts proficiency flourished while Math proficiency dropped. In the case of Eagle Rock High School’s ninth graders, for example, students scored below state proficiency averages in all subjects, even though they improved on last year’s scores in Biology/Life Sciences, ELA, World History and Geometry.

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At the elementary school level, academic achievement was all over the map.

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Second graders at Dahlia Heights scored a 4 percent increase over 2010 in English Language Arts, narrowly matching the statewide average of 56 percent proficiency. But their Math scores (60 percent proficiency) were below the state average of 66 percent, and they lost 9 percent compared to last year’s second graders.

This year’s fifth graders also scored poorly compared to 2010 fifth graders, with Science scores down 15 percent, English Language Arts scores down 14 percent, and Math scores down 12 percent.

But Dahlia Heights fourth graders picked up slack by bettering their 2010 counterparts in English Language Arts by 10 percent (scoring 79 percent proficiency), and outscored 2010 students in Math by as much as 18 percent.

Sixth graders also showed some serious school spirit by outscoring last year’s predecessors in English Language Arts (86 percent proficiency, a 17 percent improvement over 2010) and Math (also 86 percent proficiency, 18 percent better than last year).

The neighborhood’s largest elementary school displayed mixed but solid results. English Language Arts scores declined 2 percent from last year’s scores of 58 percent for second graders. Math was up 1 percent from 2010’s 58 percent but still 7 percent below the state average. Fifth grade scores also dropped, with Science down 8 percent from 2010’s 76 percent, English Language Arts down 5 percent from last year’s 72 percent; and Math dropping a precipitous 22 percent from last year’s 81 percent.

But there was good news from the third, fourth and sixth grades.

Third graders bettered their 2010 counterparts in English Language Arts by 9 percent (58 percent proficiency) and in Math by 1 percent (70 percent proficiency).

Fourth graders improved scores in English Language Arts by scoring 76 percent proficiency compared to last years 68 percent, and Math by 10 percent, scoring 74 percent this year.

Sixth graders showed strong academic growth, scoring 74 percent proficiency (up 4 percent from last year) in English Language Arts, and 80 percent in Math (up 10 percent from 2010).

“We did OK—for the most part we had more ups than downs—and in some areas we need to improve,” said Eagle Rock Elementary Principal José Posada, adding that the Number One question he’s going to ask teachers when they come back to school next month will revolve around the 22 percent drop in Math CST scores in the fifth grade.

To be fair, however, this was just the second year that fifth graders were taught Math through a new program (based on a new publication), and “it could be that what we taught was not aligned to the program,” Posada said. (At Dahia Heights, too, fifth-grade Math scores fell 12 percent, although they increased by 11 percent at Mount Washington Elementary, which, points out Posada, does have about a third of the students in his school.)

On Thursday, Eagle Rock Elementary Principal José Posada is scheduled to attend an LAUSD District 4 principals’ conference, where “we’ll be comparing who did better and who did worse,” he said, adding: “We have to have those conversations in order to improve.”

 

At the high school level, Eagle Rock High’s performance was patchy. Seventh graders eked out a 1 percent improvement in English Language Arts (up to 67 percent proficiency) but tanked on Math, scoring just a 28 percent proficiency (down 25 percent from 2010’s 53 percent). The seventh graders scored 63 percent proficiency in Algebra 1—down 33 percent from last year’s 96 percent score and 20 percentage points below the state average.

Eight graders showed mixed scores, too. In General Mathematics, 27 percent of students scored in the proficient range, up 8 percent from last year, but still below the 32 percent statewide average. In Science, they improved on 2010 scores by 6 percent (up to 62 percent proficiency this year). In English Language Arts, eight graders bettered last year’s scores by 9 percent, earning a 65-percent proficiency rate. In History, they scored 4 percent better than their 2010 counterparts, earning a 54 percent proficiency. In Algebra 1 and Geometry, eight graders scores declined from last year and were also well below the state proficiency averaged.

Ninth graders scored below state proficiency averages in all subjects, even though they improved on last year’s scores in Biology/Life Sciences, English Language Arts, World History, and Geometry.

ERHS 11th graders excelled at Earth Sciences, scoring an 86 percent proficiency, a 14 percent improvement over 2010 students and significantly above the statewide proficiency average of 35 percent—good going, Eagles!

They also scored decently on U.S. History, earning a 60 percent proficiency rate, up 9 percent from last year. Eleventh graders also improved on last year’s scores for Biology/Life Science (50 percent proficiency, up 18 percent from 2010’s scores) and English Language Arts (51 percent proficiency, up 4 percent).

Eleventh graders raised Physics scores to 38 percent from 2010’s 18 percent, but still remained well below the state average of 56 percent. World History scores moved up four percentage points to 20 percent, and just above the state average of 17 percent.

To browse district-wide and school-specific data, visit the California Star Program's website.

Check back tomorrow for a look out the CST scores at and .


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