Mixed news for HUSD on annual test scores

Some positive signs and some concerns
At the Oct. 18 meeting of the Healdsburg Unified School District Board of Trustees, Director of Curriculum and Instruction Erin Fender presented the results of the 2016-2017 California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, or CAASPP tests. These standardized tests are given annually to students in third through eighth grades and again in 11^th grade.
“It gives us a bar to see how we’re doing, but I impress upon teachers and students that this is one measure,” Fender said. “It’s something that gets a lot of press, and we do pay attention, but its one piece of the overall picture we look at.”
At the elementary level, there appears to be a discrepancy between the performance of Healdsburg Elementary students and the Healdsburg Charter students, with 27 percent of HES students performing at or exceeding grade level in English Language Arts, compared with 59 percent of charter students. While the numbers are not ideal, the trends at HES, which improved by 4 percent over the last year, show some positive growth.
Mathematics shows a similar discrepancy between the two campuses, with 19 percent of HES students at or exceeding grade level versus 59 percent of those at the charter school.
In both subjects the charter school is performing above the county average, while HES is slightly below. However, when all elementary level students are averaged together, the district is above the county average and on an upward trend.
Fender stated that this discrepancy is likely due to the larger number of English Language Learners at HES and the fact that trends indicated that once a student is deemed English proficient, they often chose to move to the charter school at that time, thus adding to the skewed numbers.
“It would be a special student who is still deemed an English language learner who is still testing at or above grade level,” she said. “We know the majority of students at HES are (English learners).”
At the secondary school level (which is all junior high students and then the 11^th grade class at the high school), the numbers are more positive, with both campuses above the county average in English Language Arts. Fifty perfect of HJH students and 58 percent of HHS students scored at or above grade level. In math, HJH sits just above the county average, with 32 percent, while HHS sits just below with 30 percent, though both campuses showed improvements over previous years.
The trends between different subgroups show concerning discrepancies across the board, with white students far outpacing both Hispanic and socioeconomically disadvantaged students, who also fall below the schoolwide averages. Fender was clear in her concern and displeasure with this finding.
“Looking at (this data) is important for us, since 60 percent of our students receive free and reduced lunch,” she said. “I’m not happy. There’s work to be done. When I see this, speaking honestly, I know our teachers spend a lot of time with our English language learners focused on EL only, and that it’s only in the last year they have felt permission to focus on something other than language acquisition. So, some other subjects have suffered. Now that we have a good handle on our program and methodology, there’s an increasing amount of math happening.”
Even in areas where the numbers are not what Fender would like to see, there is an overall positive trend over the last three years across the board.
“I’m hoping we can see some improvement in these scores and we stay above county average, but I’ll take it, though there is more work to be done there,” she said. “At the secondary level, the math is not so bright, below the county average, but we are seeing some good trending, increasing in scores year over year. (With) the subgroups, I’m not happy and there is work to be done.”
Fender told the board that these numbers will be discussed school-by-school and teacher-by-teacher and she invited them to contact her with any questions or ideas going forward.