Release: #03-43
August 15, 2003

Contact: Pam Slater
E-mail: communications@cde.ca.gov
Phone: 916-319-0818

LOS ANGELES — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today announced that overall statewide results for the 2003 Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program show that California's schoolchildren have demonstrated steady improvement for the fifth straight year.

Results from the California Standards Tests (CSTs) reveal significant increases in the percentage of students demonstrating "proficiency" or above in English-language arts in all grades except for eighth. The greatest increase occurred in grade nine, where 10 percent more students scored at "proficient" or "advanced" this year than in 2001.

Solid gains also occurred in the percentage of students achieving proficient and advanced scores in mathematics in grades two through seven. The greatest increase was in grade two where 53 percent of the students scored proficient or advanced in 2003 — 13 percent more than in 2001.

"These very encouraging results are a testament to the hard work and dedication of our entire education community. Particularly heartening is the fact that student achievement continued to climb in just about every category," said O'Connell. "Fundamentally improving our public schools is not an overnight task. True success is continued measurable improvement. There is no question we have more work to do, but these results show that we are on the right path — a fact for which we all should be proud."

The state established a rigorous "proficient level" as the minimal goal for all California students -- of which more than 4.6 million were tested in the spring.

In grades eight through eleven, the scores varied substantially.

"While our scores in grades eight through eleven were not as consistent as I would have liked, these results underscore why I have been calling for a renewed focus on high school," O'Connell said.

"For the state as a whole, the positive news is the significant increase in the number of students now taking the standards-based mathematics and science tests."

Since 2001, the number of students tested increased 34 percent in algebra I, 23 percent in geometry, and 25 percent in algebra II. Overall, there was a 43 percent increase in the number of high school students who completed or were completing a three-year college preparatory mathematics program.

The 2003 CSTs results for history-social science and science given in high school also showed increases. The percentage of students scoring at proficient or advanced on both the grade ten World History and the grade eleven United States History Tests increased by 3 percent over the past two years. There were both increases in scores and in the number of students tested on three of the four discipline-specific science tests: earth science, biology/life science, and chemistry. There were four new integrated/coordinated science tests administered in 2003 for which there are no change statistics available.

"Significantly, the percentage of students scoring at the lowest performance levels decreased in grades two through five. This shows that our low-achieving students are moving up in the elementary grades where the biggest reform efforts have taken place," O'Connell said.

In addition to greater student achievement at nearly every level, the 2003 STAR results reveal that Hispanic students are closing the achievement gap. English learners, who comprise 25 percent of the students tested, are also making great strides in closing the achievement gap, along with economically disadvantaged students.

Most revealing of all, our low-performing students continue to close the achievement gap, particularly in grades two through five, where the greatest reforms have been made. In a state as diverse as California, the closing of these gaps is crucial to ensuring that all students achieve proficiency.

CAT/6 (replaces the SAT/9)

The California Achievement Test, Sixth Edition Survey (CAT/6), is a nationally norm-referenced test used to compare how California students are doing in relation to students of the same grade level nationwide. Thus, scores reported for the CAT/6 are national percentile ranks.

In this first year of testing with the CAT/6, 50 percent of California's students scored at or above the national average in mathematics.

In reading, California's students didn't do quite as well, with 43 percent of our students scoring at or above the national average -- but this result was affected significantly by the number of English learners in California, a much higher proportion of our students than that of any other state.

Though the CAT/6 gives us a good indication of how our students are doing compared to the rest of the nation, the CST is considered to be a more informative test because it is more closely aligned to what California students are being taught in the classroom.

2003 Adequate Yearly Progress

The results for the 2003 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for all California schools were very encouraging with 54.9 percent of schools making their AYP targets, as compared to 32 percent using 2002 data. For Title I schools only, 49 percent made their target, compared to 22 percent using 2002 data.

"We are pleased at the success rate," said O'Connell. "While I continue to believe that our state system is a better barometer for how our kids are learning, these results are an impressive recognition of the hard work occurring in our schools every day."

O'Connell credited the better-than-expected AYP results on two factors. The first is a substantial improvement in student performance on the CSTs in English-language arts and mathematics. And, secondly, there was a concerted effort on the part of districts and schools to test all of their students.

"I especially would like to emphasize the increase in the percentage of special education students participating in the statewide assessment program," O'Connell said.

For 2002, about 75 percent of special education students took a statewide assessment. That increased to 93 percent in 2003, partly because of the administration for the first time of the California Alternate Performance Assessment (CAPA), a test designed for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. Those results are scheduled to be released August 22 on the CDE Web site.

The AYP results also revealed that 18 percent of the state's Title I schools are in the federal No Child Left Behind's (NCLB) Program Improvement (PI), where they face consequences for not meeting or exceeding AYP requirements. The requirements for a Program Improvement school increase the longer a school stays in the designation.

All Title I schools in PI for the 2003-04 school year must offer choice and transportation for their students to attend another school in the district that is not designated as PI.

However, more than 25 percent of last year's PI schools met their targets for two consecutive years and exited PI.

SABE/2 Spanish Assessment of Basic Education, Second Edition

As part of the STAR Program, selected Spanish-speaking English learners in grades two through eleven were required to take the SABE/2 in addition to the California Standards and California Achievement Tests in English. The SABE/2 is an achievement test of reading, language, spelling and mathematics in Spanish. Like the CAT/6, the test is a national norm-referenced test, but the national student samples to which the scores of California students are compared were comprised only of Spanish-speaking students participating in Spanish bilingual programs. This means that the students in the national sample were receiving reading, language, spelling, and mathematics instruction in Spanish.

The number of California students tested with the SABE/2 decreased from about 108,000 students in 2002 to approximately 103,000 students in 2003. Since the population of students tested in Spanish varies from year-to-year, the California Department of Education does not compare results for this test between or across years.

Results of the 2003 STAR program, including data by school, district, county, and state, are available through the California Department of Education Web site: Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Results. The 2003 AYP results are available at Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).

Attachments

2003 Adequate Yearly Progress Results Phase I
Schools With 100 or More Enrolled in Grades 2-8 and 10

Schools	Elementary School Number	Elementary School Percent	Middle School Number	Middle School Percent	High School Number	High School Percent	All Schools Number	All Schools Percent
Made AMOs and Participation Rates	3,332	66.1	381	32.5	213	22.8	3,926	54.9
Failed Only Participation Rates	408	8.1	56	4.8	608	65.0	1,072	15.0
Below AMOs Only	1,170	23.2	585	50.0	17	1.8	1,772	24.8
Below AMO and Participation Rates	128	2.5	149	12.7	98	10.5	375	5.2
All Schools	5,038	100.0	1,171	100.0	936	100.0	7,145	100.0

Title I Only Schools With 100 or More Enrolled in Grades 2-8 and 10

Schools	Elementary School Number	Elementary School Percent	Middle School Number	Middle School Percent	High School Number	High School Percent	All Schools Number	All Schools Percent
Made AMOs and Participation Rates	1,945	57.8	150	21.7	65	18.7	2,160	49.0
Failed Only Participation Rates	227	6.7	27	3.9	216	62.1	470	10.7
Below AMOs Only	1,085	32.3	408	59.0	12	3.4	1,505	34.2
Below AMO and Participation Rates	107	3.2	107	15.5	55	15.8	269	6.1
All Schools	3,364	100.0	692	100.0	348	100.0	4,404	100.0

2003 Title I Public Schools
Schools Not In Program Improvement

Type	Number
Title I Schools Exiting from Program Improvement in 2003	208
Title I Schools Not in Program Improvement in 2002 or 2003	4,078
Total	4,286

2003 Title I Public Schools
Schools In Program Improvement

Type	Number
Title I Schools New to Program Improvement Year 1	345
Title I Schools Advancing to Year 2	183
Title I Schools Advancing to Year 3	332
Title I Schools Advancing to Year 4	23
Title I Schools Remaining in Same Year	42
Total	925
Total Title I Public Schools	5,211

California Standards Test Results 2001-2003
Percent of all Students Scoring at or Above Proficient
English Language Arts Tests

Grade	2001	2002	2003	Change 2001-2003
2	32	32	36	4
3	30	34	33	3
4	31	36	39	8
5	28	31	36	8
6	31	31	36	5
7	34	33	36	2
8	32	32	31	-1
9	28	33	38	10
10	31	33	33	2
11	29	31	32	3

California Standards Test Results 2001-2003
Percent of all Students Scoring at or Above Proficient
Mathematics Tests

Grade/Test	2001	2002	2003	Change 2001-2003
2	40	43	53	13
3	38	38	46	8
4	33	38	45	12
5	30	29	35	5
6	31	32	34	3
7	29	30	30	1
Algebra I	21	22	21	0
Geometry	30	29	26	-4
Algebra II	28	26	29	1
1st Year Integrated	10	7	7	-3
2nd Year Integrated	18	25	28	10
3rd Year Integrated	20	21	21	1
General Mathematics	NA	16	20	—
High School Summative Math	37	40	43	6

California Standards Test Results 2001-2003
Mathematics Tests
Number of Students Tested

Grade/Test	2001	2002	2003	CHANGE 2001-2003
Algebra I	366,633	422,194	491,579	124,946
Geometry	213,795	240,500	263,104	49,309
Algebra II	126,997	148,309	158,619	31,622
1st Year Integrated	42,732	24,056	13,919	-28,813
2nd Year Integrated	28,446	24,746	9,440	-19,006
3rd Year Integrated	17,909	15,387	9,693	-8,216
General Mathematics	NA	448,150	435,695
High School Summative Math	51,792	70,577	74,010	22,218
Total	848,304	1,393,919	1,456,059	607,755

California Standards Test Results 2001-2003
Percent of all Students Scoring at or Above Proficient
History-Social Science Tests

Grade	2001	2002	2003	CHANGE 2001-2003
8	NA	NA	28
10	24	24	27	3
11	31	31	34	3

California Standards Test Results 2001-2003
Percent of all Students Scoring at or Above Proficient
Science Tests

Test	2001	2002	2003	Change 2001-2003
Earth Science	20	21	22	2
Biology	34	37	37	3
Chemistry	28	29	31	3
Physics	30	28	29	-1
Int. 1	NA	NA	7
Int. 2	NA	NA	8
Int. 3	NA	NA	7
Int. 4	NA	NA	12

California Standards Test Results 2001-2003
Science Tests
Number of Students Tested

Discipline	2001	2002	2003	Change 2001-2003
Earth Science	69,255	80,018	86,209	16,954
Biology	269,602	288,452	322,705	53,103
Chemistry	132,908	144,930	149,463	16,555
Physics	33,123	41,759	44,452	11,329
Int. 1	25,142	16,459	59,300	34,158
Int. 2	49,455	38,988	25,842	-23,613
Int. 3	39,714	57,086	10,608	-29,106
Int. 4	24,808	25,468	1,513	-23,295
Total	644,007	693,160	700,092	56,085

Percent of California Students Scoring at or Above the 50th National Percentile
on the California Achievement Tests,
Sixth Edition Survey (CAT/6), Spring 2003

Grade	Reading	Language	Spelling	Mathematics	Science
2	46	41	53	57	NA
3	34	42	53	52	NA
4	35	43	56	48	NA
5	41	44	50	49	NA
6	45	40	49	51	NA
7	45	41	53	46	NA
8	41	43	49	48	NA
9	50	49	NA	46	47
10	49	49	NA	52	47
11	47	47	NA	47	49