Pajaro Valley Schools Show Improvements in California Standards Testing

The California Department of Education has released the California Standards Testing (CTS) test results, and Pajaro Valley Unified School district is showing some modest improvements. 

“As a district, we see improvement across all content areas,” stated Superintendent Dorma Baker in a press release she sent out on Friday with a breakdown of the test improvements.

“We’ve continued to focus on delivering a sound, fundamental education with an emphasis on reading, writing, math and hands-on science, even with the challenge that we have faced with the decrease in educational funding from the State over the past three years,” said Baker. "We’re proud of our students, teachers, parents, and school leadership.”

Specifically, 90% of all grade levels have showed "modest gains" in the English Language Arts. In mathematics, scores remained stable in 67 percent of grades 2 - 7. Scores in Algebra One on the high school level showed "moderate improvement." The district's scores in high school Biology and Physics showed "significant growth," as well as in World History.

Here is a break down of several grade levels which have seen significant improvement over a five year period: 

English Language Arts: 

2nd grade up 7% points
4th grade up 9% points
5th grade up 14% points
6th grade up 10% points
7th grade up 9% points
8th grade up 8% points
9th grade up 10% points
10th grade up 16% points
11th grade up 14% points

Mathematics:

3rd grade up 11% points
4th grade up 10% points
5th grade up 19% points
6th grade up 8% points
7th grade up 7% points
10th grade Algebra Two up 11% points

Several high school courses have seen significant improvement over a 5-year period, here is the breakdown:

Biology:

9th grade up 20% points
10th grade up 14% points (with 63% increase in enrollment over this 5-year period)
11th grade up 40%

Physics:

10th grade up 32% points
11th grade up 26% points

World History:

10th grade up 13% points
11th grade up 13% points 

Way to go Watsonville teachers and students!