County student performance keeps improving

The marks in both fields show a 1 percent gain from the previous year, and a 5 percent improvement in English since 2015 with a 4 percent math jump over the same period of time.

County Superintendent Anne Campbell lauded the accomplishments of local students on the exam designed to gauge comprehension of Common Core curriculum, which focuses on critical thinking, writing, analysis and problem solving.

“The [California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress] results demonstrate that our county’s students continue to make progress in meeting state standards in English language arts and mathematics. That’s good news with most districts experiencing slow but steady growth,” said Campbell in a prepared statement.

At the state level, 49 percent of student met or exceeded the English standards, up 1 percent from the year prior, while 38 percent of students met those same marks in math. Students improved their scores by 5 percent in each field since 2015, which is when the computer-based tests were first introduced.

Similar to Campbell, state Superintendent Tom Torlakson expressed his admiration for the gains shown by students across California.

“We’re encouraged by what we see, especially since these tests are more rigorous than previous paper and pencil tests. However, we need to make sure all students continue to make progress,” he said in a prepared statement.

Locally, the ability of San Mateo County students to outperform their state counterparts is in keeping with the results shown since the new system was implemented to replace the former Standardized Testing and Reporting System.

For her part, Campbell took time to recognize the achievement of students in the Redwood City Elementary School District, where scores have jumped in both math and English by double digits in the past three years.

In the most recent round of testing, 52 percent of Redwood City students met or exceeded their expected English standards, up 5 percent from last year and 13 percent from 2015. Meeting or exceeding math expectations reached 44 percent of districts students, up 6 percent from the year prior and 12 percent overall.

Superintendent John Baker shared his appreciation for the hard work from students, teachers and the rest of the school community to make the gains possible.

“We are very proud of the significant gains our students, our teachers and our district as a whole made this last school year,” he said in an email. “As I look at the overall data, it is very obvious that our students are engaged in the content as our teachers make every minute count.”

To achieve the enhanced performance, Baker pointed to the district’s focus on building student reading skills, while also offering teachers professional development opportunities designed to advance problem solving and critical thinking abilities in their classes.

Meanwhile, in the San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District, students showed improved achievement in English, as 62 percent of students met or exceeded their standards, up 3 percent from 2017. Fifty-four percent of students achieved similarly in math, matching their marks from last year.

District spokeswoman Amber Farinha attributed a portion of the district’s improvement to the focus on enhancing the abilities of students still learning English.

“Supporting the academic achievement of our English learners has been another area of focus for the district and these scores improved in both [English language arts] and math,” she said in an email.

Consistent with high levels of achievement historically, the Hillsborough City Elementary School District set the local pace for public school systems in scoring as 83 percent of students met or exceeded their English scores and 84 achieved similarly in math. School systems in Burlingame, San Carlos, Belmont and Redwood Shores replicated their high levels of achievement as well, again hitting marks in the 70s for meeting and exceeding expectations in both fields.

Not all districts improved though, as local high school district scores showed signs of slipping. Seventy-one percent of San Mateo Union High School District students met or exceeded their English standards, down 6 percent from the year prior while 51 percent achieved similarly in math, down 4 percent from last year. In the Sequoia Union High School District, 62 percent met or exceeded the English standards, a 9 percent dip from last year, while the 46 percent who met or exceeded math standards marked a 5 percent drop from last year.

Ultimately though, as overall achievement rises, Campbell said more work remains ahead, as county officials should keep a close eye to assuring communities throughout the region are able to enjoy similar degrees of continued success.

“These results also indicate San Mateo County still has a significant achievement gap that remains deeply troubling,” Campbell said. “I hope this year’s [California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress] data will help us identify which instructional strategies are leading to rapid and significant results so educators can implement them throughout our county’s schools.”

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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