2013 Scholastic STAR Test Results Published

Emery Unified's Scores Mostly the Same

Last Year's 4th Graders Excel

The California 2013 STAR test results were recently released by the California Department of Education showing Emery Unified largely continuing existing trends in this year's results. First, Anna Yates Elementary continues to perform better than the High School, also known as Emery Secondary School.  Second, both schools continue to under perform when compared with the State overall or with Alameda County overall. Many educators, however, doubt the usefulness of these tests for demonstrating much of anything beyond who lives in poverty and who does not, but since school districts can play fast and loose with academic performance braggadocio and because so many people nonetheless pay attention to test results, they become worthy of publishing and newsworthy.

The State's website makes it nearly impossible to compare results from one year to the next or to compare a particular District's results with the state or county overall, so the Tattler has taken a page from the School District's playbook and commissioned a consultant to produce a comparison chart.  The benefit of living in a city with a higher percentage of college graduates than even nearby Berkeley means, however, that the Tattler was able to secure these services for merely the promise to provide a few frosty treats of the liquid amber kind. (Volunteerism is alive and well in Emeryville; someone tell the District!)

The below chart shows Emery Unified's STAR test results from both 2012 (blue rows) and 2013 (yellow rows).  It also provides the overall statewide and Alameda County-wide scores for each test for both years for comparison. Some tests show scores going up year-to-year, some staying roughly the same, and some going down.  Overall it looks like sideways to slightly downward movement. The District is scheduled to review the results, among other things, this Friday morning at a Special "Retreat" meeting, beginning at 8:30 AM.

Perhaps the most notable scores are those of last year's 4th graders, where the English-Language Arts scores went from 45% at or above proficient in 2012 to 74% at or above proficient in 2013. Similarly, the 4th Grade Mathematics scores went from 42% at or above proficient in 2012 to 85% at or above proficient in 2013.  In both cases the 2013 scores exceeded both the statewide and Alameda County-wide averages.  Someone should give this Fall's 5th Graders a pizza party.

Follow the link or click on the rectangle in the bottom right corner for a larger version.

Emery Unified STAR Test Results Comparison 2012-2013 by Test

Note: Grade "13" summarizes the results for all students within the school, district, county, or the state who took each course- or discipline-specific test.