Comments on: 2012 STAR test scores for California

By: OUSD Parent

OUSD Parent — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 15:33:42 +0000

I thought they were going to scrap the STAR testing altogether.

By: makeitgoaway

makeitgoaway — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 02:42:21 +0000

No, in 2013, the State announced that we will get the test results in 10 days to 2 weeks, which will be a game changer, as teachers will be immediately accountable (and should be immediately rewarded or chastised), and the kids who didn’t try should have their grades immediately lowered, as well. This will finally make it a high stakes test.

By: Nontcair

Nontcair — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 21:57:31 +0000

The government delays release of its education test score results for the same reason that it delays release of its election results.

By: AC Mom

AC Mom — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 20:46:23 +0000

Thank you both for the info. I just don’t understand why the scores take so long to process, year after year…Students should have their results by or before the end of the school year that they were taken. My $0.02…

By: Katy Murphy

Katy Murphy — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 19:50:43 +0000

Here’s the story my colleague Theresa Harrington wrote about the security breach: http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_21106543/security-breach-delays-star-test-results-two-weeks

By: Calimama

Calimama — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 19:33:02 +0000

AC Mom,

We only received ours last week–maybe Wed or Thurs? They were especially late this year because there was some kind of breach in the system and they wanted to make sure everything was in order (sorry my details are so sketchy).

By: AC Mom

AC Mom — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 19:13:31 +0000

The best part of this is that I an OUSD parent have yet to see my child’s test results…Good job State and OUSD! Katy, do you know why student’s individual results are so late?

By: Katy Murphy

Katy Murphy — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 16:25:26 +0000

There’ll be a presentation to the school board about the test results — probably later this month. I’ll post a link to the video and any analysis that’s posted on the site.

Thanks for the middle school math tip. Sounds interesting. I’ll check it out. Anyone here know what promising new teaching methods Hugh might be referring to?

By: Hugh

Hugh — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 15:54:02 +0000

That’s what I was thinking. 1. I’d like to know from OUSD Administrators & Board Members: what is OUSD doing to improve academics at these points of big drops in scores?

2. Also, I heard in passing from an OUSD Middle School Math teacher that OUSD is using some innovative and promising teaching methods in Middle School. Anybody know more about this?

Katy, can you get more info from OUSD on both points?

By: anon

anon — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 13:40:14 +0000

Likely reason for drop in Algebra scores from grade 7 to 8 is that these days, the policy is to take Alg in 8th grade, ready or not. The students who take Alg in 7th grade have “tested in” to the class, and show high math skills overall, so they have a propensity toward math and will test better in general.