Schools
Sierra Madre Students Top District in Test Scores
Data released Monday show Sierra Madre School leading the pack among schools in the Pasadena Unified School District.
New standardized test results released Monday show Sierra Madre continuing to lead the Pasadena Unified School District in student achievement. With 79 percent of students scoring advanced and proficient in English Language Arts (ELA) and 83 percent scoring the same in math.
tops the list of schools in a district beset by budget cuts and teacher turnover, among other challenges. Pasadena's Don Benito Elementary was ranked second with student scoring 75 percent in ELA and 80 percent in math.
2011 Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) results are released each year by the California Department of Education in a program intended to assess public school students' knowledge of state academic content standards.
Overall districtwide scores improved year over year by one percentage point, to 46 percent in math, while remaining stagnant at 50 percent in ELA.
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However, the District did show a 10 and 11 percent increase over a five-year period in math and ELA, respectively.
Despite the lack of districtwide improvement, PUSD officials touted success in certain areas targeted for improvement and also pointed out challenges faced by the District in recent years that may have slowed improvement.
Find out what's happening in Sierra Madrewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
"The district has made progress in raising the overall academic achievement of its students in the last few years, particularly in areas that were specifically targeted for improvement," Gundry said Monday in a statement announcing the results. "Moving forward, our strategies will focus on making progress consistently at all schools, raising expectations for all students, and accelerating gains."
Gundry was appointed to the District's top position this summer following the departure of former Superintendent Edwin Diaz, who announced his retirement earlier this year.
Charts summarizing the improvement--or lack thereof--on a school-by-school basis were released by the District and are attached to this article in a PDF file at right.
The District also said that they were currently undertaking further analysis of the data and the results will be "used by the district and schools to guide instruction and target resources appropriately."