By Ariana Gevov
Staff Writer
Recently, there have been discussions of putting STAR Test results on California’s high school students’ transcripts for colleges to look at. As scores would only be useful to a small number of California universities, mandating them on transcripts would be unnecessary and illogical.
Having another score on a student’s transcript is unnecessary because the students are required to take the SAT or ACT for admission to most universities anyway.
The STAR testing scores, which evaluate how well schools are teaching students, directly effect the Academic Performance Index total. Costa’s score is 911 out of 1000, which makes them the 3rd highest-ranking high school in the state of California.
According to College and Career Center Counselor Gail Currey, if STAR test scores were put on transcripts, the only colleges that would be considering scores would be California State University schools.
California’s state standardized testing system is one of fifty different exams, unlike nationally-recognized tests like the SAT, ACT and AP exams. This uniformity is what validates these scores in admissions officers’ eyes, and a single state test would only represent an arbitrary number to a majority of universities.
Mira Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale and other proponents believe that the scores should be on the transcript because they are part of the students’ academic performance. But, there are already numerous benchmarks for standardized testing, and requiring another exam is not needed. State standardized tests are meant to evaluate schools and their performance, not individual students.
Costa does add the API score to students transcripts to show the high performance level that the school possesses. Since Costa’s API score is so high, that should be enough to convince colleges that Costa students are getting a good education.
The best option would be to allow students to add a supplement to their application with state standardized testing scores. This way, students could include scores that would benefit them and prevent unimpressive reports from being sent to prospective universities. Many universities don’t require applicants to submit all SAT or ACT scores, and STAR scores should be treated similarly.
Furthermore, since the STAR scores are relevant only to California public schools, the test scores for individual students would be an irrelevant and potentially harmful addition to transcripts sent out of state.
Costa administrators must take the “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it” approach to this issue. Costa prides itself on consistently high API scores, high university matriculation rates and successful graduates, which results not from an increased stress on test scores, but rather from the exemplary education environment at Costa.
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