In what’s become something of an annual ritual, the state school chief praised California’s public school students for doing better on standardized tests than the year before, lamented the achievement gap that leaves black and Latino students scoring worse than their white and Asian peers, and warned that budget cuts imperil future progress.
“In less than a decade, California has gone from having only one student in three score proficient to better than one student in two,” Tom Torlakson said. "As pleased as I am by the great progress many students are making, the deep school budget cuts of recent years make it ever less likely these gains will continue.
The results released Friday marked the ninth straight year that student performance improved on standardized tests in math and language arts.
From the press release: Approximately 4.7 million students participated in the 2012 STAR program, with 57 percent scoring proficient or above in English-language arts and 51 percent scoring at proficient or above in mathematics, the highest percentage since the tests were fully aligned in 2003 to California’s content standards, which describe what students should know for each grade and subject tested.
Below are scores for students. Go to the California Department of Education's website for results for individual BUSD schools.
California Standardized Test: English-Language Arts, Berkeley Unified
Grade
234567891011 Students Tested 688 669 610 545 560 616 616 726 761 772 % of Enrollment 98.3 % 93.4 % 89.8 % 91.1 % 91.5 % 92.5 % 91.8 % 96.4 % 96.0 % 95.9 % Students with Scores 681 668 609 545 559 615 614 721 761 765 Mean Scale Score 387.9 373.6 397.5 390.7 382.3 391.8 385.5 376.5 350.0 339.9 % Advanced 44 % 34 % 52 % 48 % 42 % 46 % 47 % 44 % 34 % 31 % % Proficient 28 % 32 % 24 % 26 % 27 % 30 % 24 % 20 % 20 % 18 % % Basic 15 % 22 % 16 % 17 % 22 % 15 % 18 % 17 % 21 % 16 % % Below Basic 9 % 9 % 5 % 7 % 7 % 6 % 8 % 10 % 12 % 13 % % Far Below Basic 4 % 4 % 1 % 2 % 2 % 3 % 3 % 9 % 13 % 23 %California Standardized Test: Math, Berkeley Unified
Grade234567 Students Tested 687 674 615 545 563 514 % of Enrollment 98.1 % 94.1 % 90.6 % 91.1 % 92.0 % 77.2 % Students with Scores 683 674 614 545 563 513 Mean Scale Score 418.7 422.2 417.3 436.0 388.8 388.0 % Advanced 54 % 52 % 53 % 51 % 34 % 35 % % Proficient 23 % 27 % 26 % 27 % 31 % 33 % % Basic 13 % 13 % 13 % 14 % 21 % 21 % % Below Basic 8 % 6 % 7 % 7 % 12 % 9 % % Far Below Basic 2 % 2 % 2 % 1 %3 %
3 %California Standardized Test: Summative HS Math, Berkeley Unified
Result Type1011EOC Students Tested 28 441 470 % of Enrollment 3.5 % 54.8 % Students with Scores 28 441 470 Mean Scale Score 403.0 313.6 319.3 % Advanced 36 % 12 % 14 % % Proficient 46 % 20 % 21 % % Basic 7 % 19 % 19 % % Below Basic 7 % 29 % 28 % % Far Below Basic 4 % 19 % 18 %