MVUSD Test Scores Show Increased Proficiency

More students in the Murrieta Valley Unified School District are proficient or above in math, English-language arts and history-social science, according to STAR testing results released Monday by the California Department of Education.

In English-language arts, 67.7 percent of students in second through 11th grades were proficient or above, a gain of 2 percentage points from the previous year.

In math, 57.2 percent of students in grades second through seventh were proficient or above an increase of .6 percent from 2010.

District officials received the results last week from the tests taken in the spring, and were impressed with the gains.

“I’m very pleased with our results and the kinds of things that are going on in our schools,” said Superintendent Stan Scheer.

Tactics used by teachers include response to intervention (RTI), learning centers and second doses of concepts during the day, Scheer said.

“When you create an expectation, it will not happen because somebody mandates it...it does not work that way...and I think that is shown in this district.”

The largest improvement was seen in history-social science, for which students in eighth and 11th grades and those exiting the course were 59.8 percent proficient or above--a gain of 3 percentage points.

Students exiting science were 54.9 percent proficient or above, an increase of .1 percent.

Those in fifth, eighth and 10th grades who tested in science were 69.6 percent proficient or above. This was a slight decrease from 2010 of .3 percentage points.

Statewide, 54 percent scored proficient or above in English-language arts and 50 percent scored at proficient or above in mathematics, the highest percentage since the program's inception in 2003.

In Riverside County, more than 53 percent scored either advanced or proficient in English-language arts, an increase of 2 points from the previous year.

Countywide, 61 percent of students in second through seventh grades scored advanced or proficient in math. That also marked a 2-percent gain, year over year. And in another math category, 48 percent of students in second through 11th grades scored advanced or proficient, a gain of 3 points over 2010.

Since 2003, when all state tests were completely aligned to state standards for the first time, the percentage of Riverside County students scoring advanced or proficient in English-language arts has grown by 22 points, said Rick Peoples, spokesperson for the Riverside County Office of Education.

Also since 2003, the percentage of students scoring proficient or above in math in second through seventh grades grew by 23 points. In math for second through 11th grades, the long-term gain is 17 points.

“The test results over the past decade show Riverside County’s educators have successfully created a culture of continual academic improvement within our public schools, and a generation of the county’s students and families have embraced that expectation,” said Riverside County Superintendent of Schools Kenneth M. Young. “That’s a formula for long-term success.”

State, county, district and school Academic Performance Index (API) scores are set to be released later in the month.