San Mateo Students Improve STAR Test Scores

Students in the last year performed better on math, science and history standardized tests than the year prior, according to a report released at the district board of trustees meeting Thursday.

But scores in language arts dropped incrementally, down 0.3 percent from the year prior, as 65.5% of district students in grades 2-8 scored at a level qualifying as proficient or advanced for their grade level.

Trustees and administration members addressed the district's performance on the Standardized Testing And Reporting (STAR) exam during the meeting Thursday night at the district office in Foster City.

In math, 63.1% of the district students in grades 2-7 achieved at or above their grade level. This is an increase of 0.8 percent from the previous year.

Science test scores of students in grades 5 and 8 increased from the year prior to over 70% of the population achieving at or above grade level. And 8th graders scored incrementally better than the year prior on the history test, as just over 60% of students performed at levels considered proficient or advanced.

The cumulative performance of students on these tests caused the district's Academic Performance Index (API) to increase by one point from the year prior, up to 840.

The district's API score this year is 24 points higher than the average of all other students in San Mateo County school districts, and is 62 points higher than students in other districts across California.

The state Board of Education generates API scores as a measurement of each school’s academic performance, based in part on the standardized test scores of students.

The district's high API score compared to other areas in San Mateo County has been identified by demographers as reasoning why families are attracted to move to Foster City and San Mateo.

This influx of families has also caused enrollment spikes at district schools, especially in Foster City, which is why there is an ongoing effort to build a fourth elementary school in Foster City, according to district reports.

Students identified as Hawaiian or Pacific Islander increased their API score by 13 points from the year prior, while students learning to speak English increased their scores by five API points, students identified as White increased their API score by four points and students with disabilities increased their API scores by three points.

Meanwhile, the scores of students identified as Asian dropped by 13 API points from the year prior, those identified as Black dropped by six API points, while students identifying with two or more races dropped their scores by four API points, students identified as Hispanic decreased their API score by three points and other students that are socioeconomically disadvantaged dropped their API score by one point.

District students identified as Asian are the district's top performers in terms of API scores, averaging 941 points, followed by students identified as white who averaged an API score of 899.

Trustee Julie Chan questioned the district's reasoning for breaking down scores along racial lines, and said that she would rather see a performance breakdown in terms of how students attending the district's year round schools fared opposed to those enrolled in traditional schools.

Chan said that students attending year round classes at Brewer Island Elementary traditionally score a little better than those attending school on a traditional calendar at Foster City Elementary.

She questioned the reasoning for why that is, since the demographics of the areas feeding into each school are nearly identical.

"Is it because Brewer Island is a year round school? Or it could be the teachers," said Chan. "But it could be that year round schools do better because they don't have those long breaks."

She noted that students in traditional schools often need time to readjust back into a school environment after a long summer break, and that students in a year round school do not experience such a hangover.

Chan's fellow board members agreed with her line of questioning. Board chairman Mark Hudak was absent from the meeting.

District staff said they would back the data comparing schools on a traditional calendar against a year round calendar at the board at a later meeting.