DISTRICT SPENDING TO RAISE TEST SCORES.Byline: Karen Karen Any member of a variety of tribal peoples of southern Myanmar (Burma). Constituting the second largest minority in Myanmar, the Karen are not a unitary group in any ethnic sense, as they differ among themselves linguistically, religiously, and economically. Maeshiro Staff Writer MOJAVE - Mojave Unified School District A unified school district is a school district which includes both primary school (kindergarten through middle school or junior high) and high school (grades 9-12). In Illinois, these districts are called unit school districts. will spend nearly $14,000 to train teachers and buy materials aimed at boosting students' performance on the state's high school exit exam and other tests. Mojave students are passing the exam, a graduation Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the associated ceremony. The date of event is often called degree day. The event itself is also called commencement, convocation or invocation. requirement for the Class of 2006, at a rate slightly above the state's, but district officials want to increase those numbers. ``We want to continually con·tin·u·al adj. 1. Recurring regularly or frequently: the continual need to pay the mortgage. 2. improve,'' Superintendent Larry Phelps said. ``We have a diverse population, kids who learn quickly, kids who struggle and some in between.'' The board at Tuesday's meeting approved spending $13,880 to hire an Irvine-based company called The Princeton Review, which will help train Mojave High School teachers in how to improve students' test scores. The focus will be on the California High School Exit Exam The California High School Exit Exam (or CAHSEE) is a requirement for high school graduation in the state of California, created by the California Department of Education to improve the academic performance of California high school students, and especially of high school and standardized tests A standardized test is a test administered and scored in a standard manner. The tests are designed in such a way that the "questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent" [1] students take in the calculation of the school's Academic Performance Index ranking. ``It's how to prepare students for different areas of the test, what processes to use, what materials to use, how to help kids take tests,'' Phelps said. ``It's training and materials for staff on how to work with kids. We want to increase retention and preparation.'' There will be a large focus on the high school exit exam because students will need to pass that to graduate, Phelps said. The state Board of Education decided in July to postpone post·pone tr.v. post·poned, post·pon·ing, post·pones 1. To delay until a future time; put off. See Synonyms at defer1. 2. To place after in importance; subordinate. the exam requirement for two years, saying students statewide were inadequately prepared to meet the 2004 deadline. Students in the Class of 2006 will have the chance to take their first exit exam in February 2004. Exit-exam results released by the state last week showed that 67 percent of Mojave district's test-takers passed the English portion and 44 percent passed the math section. The state average was 66 percent passing the English-language portion and 43 percent passing the math section, records show. The results combined the results of six tests that were administered during the 2003-03 school year. Students who do not pass the test can take it several times in the school year, so the results can reflect the same students more than once. Karen Maeshiro, (661) 267-5744 karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com |
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