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School administrative officials say lower test scores at Los Gatos and Saratoga high schools don't necessarily mean teachers aren't doing a good job in the classroom. Instead, the scores may mean students aren't taking the examinations seriously enough.
"The students still aren't at the point of taking this test seriously," said Los Gatos High School Principal Trudy McCulloch.
McCulloch was referring to the California Achievement Test, Sixth Edition, administered last spring to students throughout the state, including those in the Los GatosSaratoga Joint Union High School District. But with the CAT/6 test, there's not as much pressure put on students to be successful since the results don't wind up on their high school transcripts. The results don't prevent them from going to college.
McCulloch also brought up the fact that state tests are "moving targets," meaning that there's been no consistent test over the years in any area.
"I'm not making excuses," McCulloch said. "I think we can always do better."
In all areas of the CAT/6, including reading, language, mathematics and science, Los Gatos and Saratoga high school students were still consistently higher than other schools in the county and state, with a high percentage of students falling under the advanced or proficient categories.
Of the Los Gatos and Saratoga students who took the CAT/6, 508 juniors also volunteered to take California State University's test for early assessment of readiness for college English. District Director of Educational Services Steve Lopez gave an assessment report of the CAT/6 scores and CSU scores to district board members during a Nov. 2 meeting. Lopez reported only 53 percent of those juniors who were tested are ready for English at the college level. The news took school board members by surprise.
The point of the new early assessment test, Lopez said, is to help students know if they need to work harder in English and mathematics skills as high school seniors, so they can avoid remedial or "bonehead" classes when and if they enter the CSU system. Those juniors who test as "ready" are allowed to bypass CSU's English and math placement exams. The new Early Assessment Program is a collaborative effort by the State Board of Education, the California Department of Education and the California State University.
Los Gatos and Saratoga seniors had extremely high pass rates on the California High School Exit Exam—for one simple reason.
"Why do students do so well on the exit exam?" Lopez said. "They would like to graduate."
At both Saratoga and Los Gatos high schools, 96 percent of students passed the English portion of the exit exam and 99 percent passed the math portion. This comes after the test was recently revised, when it proved too tough for past classes of students statewide.
Lopez said another part of why students didn't test as well as on the early assessment test for the CSU system is because high school and college testing still needs to be better aligned. He added the district also needs to improve how it approaches different modes of assessment and how it analyzes testing results with different systems. Los Gatos and Saratoga high schools currently use different evaluation systems.
"Our expectation is that all students are proficient at all the standards," said Superintendent Cynthia Ranii. "We want everyone to meet the standards. That's the target."
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