Primer of SFUSD’s Proficiency (or # of Students at Grade Level) (edit this)
Under “No Child Left Behind,” each school district makes adequate yearly progress (AYP) to ensure that each child is at grade level (i.e. proficient) by 2013-14 in English Language Arts and Mathematics.
To get to this goal, each district must have a certain percentage of number of students tested and they must meet a specific Annual Measurable Objective (a certain percentage of students who are proficient or above proficient) for English Language Arts and Mathematics for every subpopulation. A subpopulation is an identificable group of students (i.e. African American, Asian American, Latino and students with disabilities).
San Francisco’s 2005-06’s Annual Measurable Objectives was 23% for English Language Arts (23% or more students had to score at the proficient/grade level or above) and 23.7% for mathematics. The overall SFUSD average in 2005-06 was 50.9% for English Language Arts and 56.9% for mathematics.
But as noted in earlier article, SFUSD failed to meet this goal for the second year in a row because its average proficiency levels for African American students and students for disabilities did not meet the Annual Measurable Objectives (AMO) for both English Language Arts and mathematics. Only 22.7% of African American students and 18.2% of students with disabilities tested proficient or above in English Language Arts. Only 21.2% of SFUSD’s African-American students and 21.3% of students with disabilities tested proficient or above in mathematics. Here is the URL: http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/APIBase2006/2006APR_Dst_AYP_Report.aspx?allcds=3868478
SFUSD’s test scores for its African American students is lower in mathematics than its test scores for students with disabilities and lower in English Language arts than the proficiency levels for SFUSD’s English Language Learners.
We will be doing a series on the proficiency levels for SFUSD’s elementary, middle school and high school students over the next two weeks.
By failing to meet the Annual Measurable Objective for African American students and students with disabilities for two years in a row, SFUSD is in “Program Improvement” and must work with state approved consultants in implementing efforts to reach the AMO for this year.
SFUSD’s test scores for its Pacific Islander students were only slightly above the Annual Measurable Objective. For Pacific Islanders, 26.9% tested proficient or above in English Language Arts, while 34.8% tested proficient or above in mathematics. SFUSD’s test scores for its Latino students showed that 30.3% tested proficient or above for English Language Arts and 33.3% tested proficient or above for mathematics.