Superintendent's Message

Kenneth M. Young, Riverside County Superintendent of Schools

Each year, students across California participate in what are often referred to as “high stakes testing.” These are a series of standardized tests intended to assess each student’s academic level and progress in school. The results of the tests are released by the state at different times during the year. In this edition of the Report to the Community, I would like to highlight the outstanding assessment results of Riverside County’s students for the 2008-2009 school year.

California’s high stakes tests are made up of four assessments: the California Standards Test (CST), the California Modified Assessment (CMA), the California Alternate Performance Assessment (CAPA) — these three are referred to as Standardized Testing And Reporting (STAR) — and the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). All of these scores are converted statistically to produce a school’s Academic Performance Index (API). The API is used to rank all the public schools in the state on a scale of 200 to 1000.

For the 2008-09 school year, the average API score for all public schools within Riverside County was 757, the 7th highest score of any county in the State of California with at least 70,000 student enrollment (Riverside County’s student enrollment was over 424,000 — the 4th largest in California.) This is a 17 point increase over the prior year—the highest increase of any comparison county in the state, and a 166 point increase since the API was introduced in 1999 — the 2nd highest increase of comparison counties.

Of special note, this year, Riverside County had 17 schools with an API score of over 900!

The United States Department of Education’s high stakes tests are essentially comprised of using each state’s adopted reading (English Language Arts in California) and mathematics standards and assessments, and then establishing a “proficiency” measurement at the state level to determine the percentage of student proficient in these two subjects. Additionally, every state is required to establish student proficiency goals each year, also known as Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) targets, with the USDE’s mandate that all students in all schools be 100% proficient in both ELA and Math by the year 2014.

For the 2008-09 school year, the AYP percent proficient rate in ELA for all public schools within Riverside County was 52.0%. This is a 5.4% increase over the prior year — the highest increase of comparison counties and a 24% increase since the AYP was introduced in 2002 — the highest increase of comparison counties statewide.

For the 2008-09 school year, the percent proficient rate in mathematics for all public schools within Riverside County was 53.9%. This is a 4.0% increase over the prior year — the 6th highest increase of comparison counties and a 23.1% increase since the AYP was introduced in 2002 — the 3rd highest increase of comparison counties statewide.

Another area of major interest related to educational outcomes is Riverside County’s high school graduation rate. For the 2008-09 school year, Riverside County’s high school graduation rate was 80.5%, the 8th highest of comparison counties statewide. From these highlights of our county’s 2008-2009 high stakes testing results, we can clearly see that in Riverside County, we are continuing our quest of working together to create a culture of education to ensure the success of all students.

To receive the Superintendent’s E-Bulletin, visit www.rcoe.us. Watch for the Superintendent's “Focus on Education” on Channel 96 Charter Communications and Channel 99 AT&T U-verse.