‘State standards rule’

The first results for the state exit exams that will be required

for high school students to graduate beginning in 2004 came out last

week. Students will have a total seven opportunities to pass the

test, comprised of English/language arts and math, during their

sophomore, junior and senior years.

Newport-Mesa Unified School District students performed well on

the tests overall, and City Editor James Meier caught up with Peggy

Anatol, the district’s director of assessment, on Wednesday to

discuss the results of those and other tests.

The exit exam results came out earlier this week. How important

are those results to you?

Well, they’re very important to us as a district. Our district has

always had what you call exit criteria -- types of graduation

proficiencies or an exit test -- good assessment for what you know as

a high school student. Those results mean a lot to us since they

measure how well the students are mastering those proficiencies that

we need for graduation. We monitor them, we’re attentive to them,

we’re ever hopeful after every testing period.

Are these taken by both freshmen and sophomores?

Just sophomores. The first time you get to take it is as a

10th-grader.

And they are tested on ninth-and 10th-grade standards for English,

and sixth and seventh grades for math, right?

Sixth, seventh and eighth, because there’s some algebra. It

doesn’t go up to geometry but it has some algebra questions on it.

The first time they take it is in the spring of the 10th-grade

year.

Does it surprise you at all that more students pass the English

than the math?

I think I was surprised at first because I’m an English teacher.

When we first gave it, 75% of the students who took it passed English

and 55% passed math. And it was at that point, I think, I realized

that they’re skill-based questions, that if you don’t understand the

pre-algebra and the algebra, then you’re not going to exhibit

success.

English is two writing exercises and a lot of multiple choice. So

I think the only surprise I had was when we first got the results was

that it was as high as it was in terms of overall population. We gave

it to 1,548 students -- and they were ninth graders, so they hadn’t

experienced some of the 10th-grade standards. I think it speaks well

to the intermediate education -- the middle school education --

because you took it in March of your freshman year coming straight

out of eighth grade.

Why were they giving the test to the freshmen?

That year, it was a voluntary test and it was going to be given to

all freshmen -- that was their intent -- but then they realized the

expense. I think the reason they changed was, I think there was a

phrase “opportunity to learn.” You really must provide all of the

information before you access it. That’s why they changed it. Now

your first time is in March. We’ll give it again now in November to

all of those current 11th graders who have not been successful.

What percentage of seniors do you expect won’t be able to pass

that test?

We’re sitting pretty well right now. I think 86% have passed the

English and 71% have passed the math. And they’re just beginning

their junior years, so they’ll have three chances their junior year

and three in their senior year. So six more chances, and we

anticipate quite a bit of intervention and remediation.

So, we’re hopeful that, for example, 100% of Corona del Mar’s

student currently have a pass rate in English -- we’re pretty sure

because we’ve had experience with the high school graduation

proficiencies -- that it’s a very, very small amount of students, if

any, that don’t get a diploma because of that one item. We have other

concerns in terms of grad requirements -- units. There’s a lot on the

students’ plates right now.

So obviously if they pass the exit exams, they’re not guaranteed

graduation?

No, we got a couple of calls from freshmen who passed asking

“Where can I pick up my diploma?” We had to explain you still need

230 units, algebra, 40 hours of community service, computer

technology, senior project. There’s still things to do. Those are new

requirements for the senior class. Ten of the 20 units must be in

algebra. The board increased the requirements three years ago to take

place in 2003.

So which of those were not required previously?

They didn’t have to have algebra. The community service wasn’t

required as a district. Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor had some

requirements for it. Computer technology is new and the senior

project was part of Corona del Mar and Estancia, but we’ve just kind

of grandfathered the other schools into the fold. We’ve been coming

along at it for the last three years, but it’s now come to fruition.

So certainly no surprise to these students?

Hopefully not. We’ve been informing them and telling parents via

letters and counselors have been holding parent meetings. Newport

Harbor has put things on their Web site. And we’ve been informing

parents all along that it’s coming, but sometimes, kids will forget.

Now, what do you concentrate on since the students have so many

state tests to take?

The Stanford 9 was given every spring, but it’s over now. Now, we

will be giving the CAT-6, so that’s the state-required testing for

all students grades 2 to 11. That’s one test we’re concentrating on.

A second test that’s very important to us is the CELDT -- the

California English Language Development Test. All 6,000 English

Language students in the district take that test. It’s an intense

one-on-one for the listening and speaking and then it’s reading and

writing. That’s given by many, many people throughout the district at

every site and through the summer. So that’s a big test.

We give Advanced Placement, Golden States, many district tests --

a district writing test and a district math for elementary.

About every month, there is another aspect of assessment. Our

concentration is on standardized testing preparation and where we

want to go next down the line is classroom-based assessment -- an

end-of-course exam, or are you assessing what the state’s content

standards are. That’s another area we’ll explore this year.

And those end of course exams would be that much different than

finals?

They’d be more dipsticks, mid-year checks. How well are you doing

in these algebra standards or how well are you doing on chemistry?

Can we see how well you’re doing on the standards? Can you exhibit

proficiency? So that that way, it can help teachers diagnose how to

change their lesson. We’ve had many teachers already doing this,

gearing tests toward state standards, having kids do self

assessments.

And this year, for the first time, the state released the

California Standards Test numbers so you can see how well your school

did. And that’s going to be part of your Academic Performance Index,

your API.

So if the kids aren’t getting it, it’s time to reassess in another

direction. Let’s say in U.S. history, you’ve spent too much time on

the Civil War to the detriment of something else and when the child

goes to take that standardized test, maybe their knowledge depth

isn’t enough to exhibit proficient or advanced.

So the California Standards Test, if you had to ask what one

assessment, is where we’re really, really concentrating because

that’s going to carry the most weight for the API in the future. It’s

going to look real small for the CAT-6. It’s been 36%; it’s going to

shrink down to 29%. Then the next important will be the pass rate on

the California high school exit. It’s going to be 15% of your API.

So you’re teaching to the standards in math and English these next

two years and then down the line in science and social science.

Is there ever a point where kids will be over-tested?

There are a lot of tests, but how does one know if they understand

the information unless one assesses. I think what people are asking

now is: Is it possible to fold anything into anything? Is it possible

that this would count for this. I know the county office is working

with the state. So if you’re taking the Stanford 9 and you have a

standards test in algebra, to extend it one day, tack on the Golden

State to that testing window and let your score count for both. So we

need to meld something. It is a lot of testing.

Some of the high schools did the standardized testing in three

minimum days as opposed to dragging it out over two weeks. Elementary

schools don’t like to test on Mondays and Fridays, so they put their

testing a little bit Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. One benefit to

that, to us, is the parents have said they love it because there’s

not usually homework, so they can have some family time during that

testing window where they can dinner together and go to the library

and walk down to the beach. There are a few benefits to the

standardized testing.

More and more parents are calling looking for the results as soon

as the paper says they’re going to be available. So I think parents

are very attuned to the assessment even though it’s just one test one

day.

Why don’t the elementary students take those tests on Mondays or

Fridays?

I think Mondays seem to be “Remember where we were? Let’s review”

and Fridays are not as productive. It can be assemblies and fun

times. Another thing is I think teachers need that time to get

organized. The testing window is driven by the state. But your window

within that window within that window is up to you as a school and,

sometimes, the PTA and the principal sit down and work around field

trips and other events. But they know their window a year in

advanced.

Does that flexible window throw off the curve at all?

No, because the window from the state is constant. You go the

153rd day of instruction and then you count 10 days on either side of

that and it’s normed to that. So whether you go Monday or Friday

doesn’t usually seem to have an effect. Newport Harbor tried the

minimum-day schedule two years ago and had good success.

So what do you think the district needs to work on as a whole?

When we look at all of the numbers and chart them all up, I think

one of our major areas to look at is reading, comprehension and

reading/vocabulary across the grade levels 2 to 11. That’s been an

area that we continue to focus on.

And it’s interesting, a couple of years ago, we had a grant (AB

1086) that helped teachers teach reading better. And the next year,

our math scores went up, which is I guess a common result because

students can now read those word problems better. They still may not

be able to tackle that whole passage as well, but they can read short

and work the problems better, which I thought was interesting.

We’ve seen our math scores grow by leaps and bounds in the

district.

We continue to be above the county and state averages at all grade

levels. This year, I think we had one dip in seventh grade, but other

than that, we have continued to outperform the county and the state

and have stayed well above the norm, which is the 50th percentile.

We had no schools that were in the lowest deciles, which for the

API go 1 to 10. We had none in the lowest, but we always look at how

we can improve.

I think introspection is important. We’ve all met together already

to look at our scores. We’ve turned the corner in terms of asking

effective questions. We’re now asking “What is working? Why is it

working?” As opposed to “Why did our reading go down?” It’s kind of a

different spin, a different mind-set. Well, “Math is working and it’s

working because of these reasons.” We’re moving into “What can we do

about it? Why does this happen, to the best of our knowledge?” Why

things happen, who knows? It could be that group of kids. It could be

a new book. It could be that teacher.

But what can we do about it? If our reading is low at 10th grade,

what are some things we can do? We can look at a new series. We can

group kids differently for reading. We can look at something called

Electronic Bookshelf. Maybe kids love to go online as opposed to

sitting down with a book. We explore the why and then some solutions.

We’re doing some creative brainstorming together as a district,

getting out of the “what is” and moving into the “what should be.”

We’re all working on collaboration and working together as a team.

Any final thoughts?

We feel we’ve really worked hard over the past years and I think

the strategic plan our Board of Education and superintendent crafted

has given us a direction. We all know where we’re going. I think

that’s the beauty.