The Desert IndependentTM

Serving Blythe, California & the Desert Regions of the Southwest

Appleby Rocks!

The California Standards Test, That Is

By Robert E. Jensen
The Desert Independent

August 22, 2010

BLYTHE, Calif – After a five-year hiatus from not making the grade as far as the STAR (State Testing And Reporting) program goes, the teaching staff at Felix J. Appleby Elementary School stepped up to the mark and made significant gains in all areas and with all sub-groups. What made the difference? Many factors could be cited; such as (1) a new school for the displaced students and teachers that showed that they were indeed valued, (2) great teachers and smaller class sizes, (3) the much- disparaged Standards-Based Report Cards, (4) a Principal willing to lose all sense of dignity by doing the “Bumblebee Dance” in return for increased student effort as well as (5) constant, incessant CST-style testing.

A movie ought to be made of this accomplishment. Something like a cohort of “Jaime Escalante’s” enriching the students with “Ganas”. The kids are indeed children of poverty as it has the highest “Free and Reduced Lunch” count of all the schools and 70% of the population is Hispanic. Appleby’s scores faired the best of all sites. They came up across the grade levels, jumping 47 points over last year. 5th grade Language Arts came up over 20 pts. The math scores jumped from 10 points higher in the second grade, to 40 points higher in each the 3rd and 5th grades!

To view the results of the STAR tests for Blythe that were only released this past Monday, please click HERE.

Making “Honorable Mention” was Ruth Brown Elementary whose grades passed with flying colors but stumbled in both Math and Language Arts at the Fourth Grade level; however, 2nd Grade math came up by an admirable 20 points.

Margaret White’s scores were down. Down for 2-5th Grades in Language Arts and down for grades 3-4 in Math. 2nd grade Math was up, as was 5th. Both 6th grade language arts and math went up, but that’s based on the cumulative 6th grade scores from 2009 when all students were at BMS.

Blythe Middle School made gains in several areas – reportedly 9 points as a whole, but was held back as some sub-groups tests did not make the grade.

The High School advanced as well but there was both good news and bad news. All of the Physics students scored at the Proficient and Advanced levels but the World History students saw 42% scoring at Far Below Basic in that course. United States History fared hardly better.

As is, these are only the raw scores and percentages. The all-important API and AYP designations will not be issued from the state for at least another month. However, some good teaching on the part of a very professional and dedicated teaching staff may well have staved off yet another year of PVUSD being designated as “Persistently Non-Performing District.”

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