Data released this month from the California Department of Education reveal a large gap between humanities scores and math and science scores at Palisades Charter High School. While students often scored above the state average in English language arts and history, few showed more than a basic understanding of math and science. Each spring, students between the second and eleventh grades in California public schools take the California Standards Test, or CST. And school boards use the results of the test to assess the performance of teachers and students. All students are tested for math and English, and students take history and science tests corresponding to their grade level’s curriculum. Test scores are divided into five levels (listed in decreasing order): advanced, proficient, basic, below basic and far below basic. A score of proficient or better is the target for all California schools set by the State Board of Education. Fewer students at PaliHi were proficient in math and science than at the average California public high school. Pali outperformed the average school in the Los Angeles Unified School District in math and science. But Pali was outperformed in math and science by Santa Monica High and Malibu High, two schools with similar demographics. While 44 percent of students in the ninth grade statewide showed more than a basic understanding of biology/life science, only 7 percent of PaliHi students did. Chemistry was also a challenge to Pali students: 14 percent of eleventh-grade students were proficient in the subject, compared with 22 percent statewide. Algebra and geometry were consistent stumbling blocks for PaliHi. Students tested for geometry repeatedly scored below state averages. Only 13 percent of tenth-grade students tested for geometry demonstrated proficiency. In some cases, large variations in proficiency existed across grade levels. For example, 23 percent of ninth-grade students taking Algebra I at Pali were proficient. But only 7 percent of eleventh-grade students taking Algebra I were proficient. The Palisadian-Post attempted to speak with the chairs of the math and science departments as well as school data analysts to explain these recent results and discuss strategies to increase proficiency. But Principal Gloria Martinez said that the Post did not have permission to speak with these faculty members. As a result of an apparent new school policy, all faculty and staff need the permission of the administration to speak to the media. In a brief interview Tuesday morning, Gloria Martinez and Amy Held, the school’s new executive director, attributed the school’s low math and science performance to a national shortage of teachers in those fields. When PaliHi was accredited last year by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, Martinez said that its algebra performance was criticized. In fact, the percentage of students proficient in algebra and algebra II significantly decreased from last school year. For example, the percentage of tenth-grade students proficient in algebra II fell from 40 percent in 2005 to 23 percent in 2006. Held also cited the impact of overcrowding at PaliHi. The specific student-teacher ratio at Pali was not received by this week’s deadline. It is also unknown whether that ratio differs by subject. Some education experts promote having lower student-teacher ratios for math and science. Held said that the arrival of nine new portable classrooms this school year will help to ease overcrowding and raise student performance. Students’ weakness in math was also revealed in the results of the last school year’s high school exit exam, with dramatic implications. State law requires that graduating seniors must pass an English and math test in order to receive their diplomas. The math test is based on seventh- and eighth-grade standards. According to Department of Education data, last school year 39 seniors at PaliHi did not pass the math section of the test and did not receive their high school diplomas. Twenty-nine seniors did not pass the English portion of the test. Despite PaliHi’s low math and science scores, the school’s overall performance, as measured by the Academic Performance Index, or API, has placed it among the top 10 percent of all California public schools. Above-average humanities test scores have likely offset the impact of low math and science scores on the API in the past. The exact impact of these most recent scores will not be known until March 2007, when the next API is released. PaliHi students scored well above average when tested in English language arts, world history and U.S. history. A majority of ninth-, tenth- and eleventh-grade students received a score of proficient or advanced on these tests. Teachers met this week in groups called Professional Learning Communities, or PLCs, to study the recently released data and to develop plans to increase student achievement. Groups of teachers are organized by subject and PaliHi’s administration has high expectations from the approach. ‘It’s a team-oriented approach,’ Held said. ‘To me, it’s a revolutionary way of learning’It pulls teachers out of isolation. Everyone is working together to create common, realistic goals.’ Classes at PaliHi begin September 6.
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