By Naomi Tsuang
Online News Editor
Last year’s Mira Costa juniors scored higher on the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium Exam, which they took on May 23-26, 2016, compared to scores the year prior.
The SBAC is based off of California’s Common Core standards that tests students in grades 3-8 and 11 on their knowledge of nationwide mathematics and English Language Arts content. The University of California schools and the California State University schools use the juniors’ results to determine if the juniors are ready for college level math and English or if they need to take remedial classes in college.
“[The SBAC is] important because it gives us an indication of how we are doing in the job of teaching students,” Manhattan Beach Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Michael Matthews said. “It reflects what kind of school Mira Costa is. When the scores are higher, the whole community benefits and especially Mira Costa benefits.”
Of the 95% of Costa juniors who participated, 44% exceeded California’s English Language Arts standards and 30% exceeded California’s mathematics standards. The year before, only 71% of juniors participated and 38% exceeded standards in English Language Arts and 24% exceeded standards in mathematics.
Link: View Mira Costa’s official 2015 SBAC results
“Clearly, we are pleased with the increase in both participation and results,” MBUSD Board of Trustees President Ellen Rosenberg said. “I think [this is because] it’s the second year of the new standards and testing. [So, there was] a degree of familiarity.”
Additionally, in the 2015-16 school year, 31% of juniors met standards in English Language Arts, 13% nearly met standards and 11% did not meet standards. In mathematics, 34% of juniors met standards, 22% nearly met standards and 14% did not meet standards.
“We saw a big jump in our math scores in particular,” Matthews said. “Part of us wondered if that was because more students were taking it, but the jump in language arts was not as big. I won’t be satisfied until our math scores are equal to our language arts scores. There is no reason why our students should not be performing equally in both.”
Link: View Mira Costa’s official 2016 SBAC results
Mira Costa is the only MBUSD school that receives Title I Funds, which means that since Costa received exactly 95% of the junior class’ participation, the minimum percentage to receive the funds, the school receives around $100,000 per year. Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale then creates a plan on how to spend the money the school receives from these funds.
“[We will continue] to provide professional development and resources for teachers to support their efforts in the classroom and [we hope for] continued improvement [of] our students’ learning experience,” Rosenberg said.
Matthews said that MBUSD hopes to eventually get off of Program Improvement, which makes it mandatory for school districts to set aside 20% of federal funding to improve SBAC scores, if the school does not reach certain Adequate Yearly Progress goals set up by the state. If MBUSD can continue to improve participation and SBAC scores, then the district can get off of Program Improvement, and more money will be available to improve Mira Costa programs.
“Our big focus this year will continue to be in the area of math and in particular secondary math,” Matthews said. “We want to see far more problem solving, and students being active in class. We want students arguing about how to solve problems and we hope to see more of that in the years to come.”
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