HART STUDENTS SCORE WELL NINTH-GRADERS BEAT STATE AVERAGE ON EXIT EXAM.Byline: Amy Raisin raisin, in botany and cooking raisin, dried fruit of certain varieties of grapevines bearing grapes with a high content of sugar and solid flesh. Although the fruit is sometimes artificially dehydrated, it is usually sun-dried. Staff Writer SANTA CLARITA Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, - More than 80 percent of Hart school district freshmen passed the language portion of the first-ever high school exit exam administered last spring, but, echoing the state average, passing math scores were harder to come by. Compared with statewide averages - 64 percent of ninth-graders statewide passed the English language English language, member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages). Spoken by about 470 million people throughout the world, English is the official language of about 45 nations. arts test, 44 percent passed mathematics - local students maintained their consistent edge over peers across California California (kăl'ĭfôr`nyə), most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W). in 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] . ``I think we did a really nice job here. And now that we've seen the tests, the teachers have a better idea of the questions,'' said Gary Wexler, director of curriculum for the William S William, crown prince of Germany William or Frederick William, 1882–1951, crown prince of Germany, son of William II. In World War I he commanded (1914) an army on the Western Front and was nominal commander in the German attack . Hart Union High School District. ``I expect that the number of students passing will go up.'' A state law passed in 1999 states that, in order to earn a diploma DIPLOMA. An instrument of writing, executed by, a corporation or society, certifying that a certain person therein named is entitled to a certain distinction therein mentioned. 2. , all California public school students must pass the high school exit exam, starting with the class of 2004. About 370,000 ninth-graders in the state, or 78 percent, voluntarily took the test last spring - 34 percent passed both portions, satisfying the new 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 on their first try. In the Hart district, students at school the days the tests were given took them. Students must score at least 60 percent on the language portion to pass, 55 percent on the math exam. They can retake re·take tr.v. re·took , re·tak·en , re·tak·ing, re·takes 1. To take back or again. 2. To recapture. 3. To photograph, film, or record again. n. 1. it through their senior year. A closer look at the high school exit exam numbers and how they break down illustrates a slight edge for a campus such as Saugus High, which reports a smaller enrollment of English-language learners than other district schools. Saugus, which hosts eight English-language-learning students, fared the best of the four comprehensive Hart district high schools on the exit exam: 87 percent passed the language portion, 73 percent passed in math. Compare that with Canyon High, which boasted an 81 percent pass rate in language and 63 percent in math - with 54 English-language-learner students enrolled. On the language portion of the exam, 87 percent of the district's English-only students passed, while just 35 percent of ELL students enjoyed the same success. In math, 23 percent of ELL students passed, compared with 71 percent of English-only students. ``For those students just learning English, I think it's a great score for those kids,'' Wexler said. ``When they take a test in English - imagine if you had to take a math and language test in Russian, but you speak English - it's pretty hard for them.'' The district's math score - of the 2,777 students who took the test, 66 percent passed - likely will improve, Wexler said, due to a curriculum change implemented in August. ``We've beefed up the (math) curriculum even more,'' Wexler said. ``Most of the ninth-graders who took the (exit exam) had taken or were taking algebra algebra, branch of mathematics concerned with operations on sets of numbers or other elements that are often represented by symbols. Algebra is a generalization of arithmetic and gains much of its power from dealing symbolically with elements and operations (such as . Now, most eighth-graders will already have taken algebra when they take the exit exam.'' The mathematics portion of the exam addressed subject standards up to Algebra I. The language portion included content up to 10th grade. The majority of Hart district students now take pre-algebra in seventh grade, enrolling in algebra the following year. Those who did not pass or take the exam will have more chances in March, July and November 2002. The test will be administered many times during a student's four-year high school career. Because the test content remains the same, many believe that the scores will improve as the first crop of test-takers - last year's freshmen - move to the higher grades. CAPTION(S): chart Chart: SCORE BY DISTRICT |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion