City Students Best County, State in STAR Tests

Moorpark schools are back in session and students are in good hands, if the statewide STAR test is any indication. At each grade level, Moorpark Unified School District students scored higher in math and English language arts than their counterparts throughout the county and state, according to results released by the California Department of Education recently.

Following a statewide trend, most grades improved scores over the previous year as well. With approximately 4.7 million students particupating in the 2011 STAR program, 54 percent scored proficient or above in English language arts and 50 percent scored proficient or above in mathematics, the highest percent since the program's inception in 2003, according to the state Dept. of Education.

Moorpark Unified School District Superintendent Teresa Williams seemed pleased with the results.

"Moorpark Unified School District continues to show slow but steady growth in its STAR test results and API score," she said, adding the district continued to show gains in the growth of sub-groups, specifically English learners and students with disabilities.

"This is attributed to our teachers who worked hard at identifying specific areas of need and who provide appropriate targeted interventions,” Williams said.

State Superintendent of Public instruction Tom Torlakson also credited the adults working with students for the improvement.

"The significant and sustained improvements we've seen for nine consecutive years prove how hard teachers, school employees, administrators, and parents are working to help students achieve despite budget cuts that have affected our schools," Torlakson said in a statement. "Their heroic teamwork is paying off for California."

The STAR program consists of a number of exams. For a snap shot of the District's performance, Patch has created graphs including just the California Standards Tests in math (grades two through 11) and English-language arts (grades two through seven) below. To see full results of the entire battery of tests, visit the state's STAR results web page.

The STAR Program consists of the following exams:

• California Standards Tests (CSTs), standards-based tests that measure the achievement of state content standards for English–language arts, mathematics, science, and history–social science.
• California Modified Assessment (CMA), designed for students with disabilities whose individualized education program team determines that the CMA is appropriate and who meet State Board of Education-adopted eligibility criteria. The CMA is designed to provide students an accessible assessment of their achievement of the California content standards for English–language arts, mathematics, and science.
• California Alternate Performance Assessment (CAPA), for students who have significant cognitive disabilities and assesses them in the content areas of English–language arts, mathematics, and science.
• Standards-based Tests in Spanish (STS), for Spanish-speaking, English learner students who either receive instruction in Spanish or have been enrolled in a school in the United States for less than 12 months. The STS assesses these students in reading/language arts and mathematics. Students who complete the STS also complete the CST and/or CMA for their grade level.

Below, find the 2011 mean scores for English arts and math for MUSD, Ventura County and the state. For comparison's sake, we also have included MUSD's 2010 results. English scores in all grades reported have been included. Math scores only reflect scores at the elementary level because specific areas of math are tested at the high school level. Visit the California Department of Education website to see results for specific schools.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS

Moorpark Unified

Ventura County

California

MUSD 2010 results

Grade 2

368.1

355.6

359.5

364.6

Grade 3

358.1

342.0

345.4

358.9

Grade 4

388.1

374.1

371.7

389.7

Grade 5

382.0

365.6

362.0

383.8

Grade 6

376.1

363.4

358.4

385.2

Grade 7

389.0

366.0

360.3

386.0

Grade 8

389.9

368.0

361.8

388.8

Grade 9

384.6

367.0

357.7

381.2

Grade 10

367.6

355.8

346.4

357.8

Grade 11

363.5

350.8

341.7

370.9

MATHEMATICS

Moorpark Unified

Ventura County

California

MUSD 2010 results

Grade 2

387.7

376.0

382.2

381.3

Grade 3

419.8

391.4

400.6

418.0

Grade 4

417.5

387.3

392.2

415.7

Grade 5

417.7

386.5

392.6

407.4

Grade 6

371.0

366.3

364.6

378.2

Grade 7

368.6

360.6

354.9

365.3