Thursday, September 30, 2010

TLHS: STAR and Advanced Placement Results by Jane Gladshteyn, Terra Linda Wind Intern

After receiving the results of the 2009-2010 Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) exams, Principal Lars Christensen is proud to report that Terra Linda High School has made “significant improvements in all sub-academic disciplines.”
On Monday, September 13, the California Department of Education publically announced the 2010 Academic Performance Index (API) reports for the schools in the district. Terra Linda High has improved by thirty-five points, pushing the school’s API from 763 to 798. Prior to the STAR exams, the state notified the school that it needed to bring up its API score by at least 5 points. However, even with these improvements, TL has still failed to reach the statewide goal of 800. The highest improvement in the district (and in all of Marin County) was at Madrone Continuation School, which improved its score of 491 by 288 points. San Rafael High, on the other hand, only improved seven points, boosting its score to 734.
TL improved in all subjects of the STAR tests, except for Life Science, which showed a slight decrease, down 0.9% from the previous year. The most notable improvements were in Chemistry, Physics, General Math, Algebra 1 and 2, and, especially, in Summative Math, which jumped from 42.2% advanced or proficient to an impressive 80%.
The advanced and proficient scores in ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade English increased by an average of 3.78% from last year. The advanced and proficient scores in mathematics increased by 18.80%, in History, they increased by 2.61%, and in science, they increased by an average of 7.69%.
Christensen acknowledges that such improvements happened for a number of reasons. First, Christensen says that because students were more aware of the importance of STAR tests, they took these exams more seriously. Secondly, he believes that teachers were more cognizant of the STAR related topics, due to a curriculum more aligned to the state standards. He also mentions that teachers made efforts to “see all students as individuals” by working towards individual needs, providing extra help. Thirdly, Christensen thinks that by having only one STAR exam per day, testing was “more conducive to positive results.” And lastly, Christensen states that such results occurred because there was more outreach to parents, which encouraged student-parent talks, stressing the importance of the exams.
If the school does in fact eventually reach its ideal API score of 800, Christensen says that he will be able to have less support classes and instead offer more electives. He does note that, either way, there will be “no direct monetary effects” based on the API score.
Alongside the impressive STAR test results, Assistant Principal Justin Mori holds the results of the AP current year score Summary. The results show that 329 TL students took the AP exams, in subjects including English, Spanish, French, Calculus, Statistics, Biology, Environmental Science, and U.S. History. Christensen describes that overall, “we improve to a great degree.”
The top scores were achieved in AP levels of Spanish, English Literature, and Environmental Science. Fifty percent of students scored a 4 or 5 on their AP Environmental Science exam, sixty-four percent had such results on their AP English Literature exam, and eighty-five percent on their AP Spanish exam. To offset these outstanding results, seventy-three percent of students scored a 1 or 2 on their AP Calculus (AB) exam, showing the greatest decline in scores. Christensen says that although he is concerned about Calculus, he trusts that “Mr. Gustin and the Math department will do everything to rectify the situation.”
Christensen notes that, although we have made major progress, the challenge now is to sustain these scores and continue to improve. He says the Terra Linda is a high-performing school and he “expects nothing less.” Christensen thanks all the Terra Linda students, teachers, and staff, and notes that the hard work “hasn’t gone unnoticed, it is very much appreciated.”

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