Last month, the California Department of Education released the spring 2018 test results for the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress in English Language arts and mathematics.
Idyllwild School students exceeded both the statewide and Hemet Unified School District results in both English and mathematics.
Statewide, in all tested grades, 49.9 percent of students met or exceeded the English Language Arts/Literacy standards, a 1.3-percentage point increase from 2017 and a 5.9-percentage point increase from 2015. In mathematics, 38.7 percent of students met or exceeded standards, a 1.1-percentage point increase from 2017 and a 5.7-percentage point increase from 2015.
Within HUSD, 36 percent of students tested met or exceeded the English Language Arts/Literacy standard. For mathematics, 22.4 percent of HUSD students tested met or exceeded the standards.
However, at Idyllwild School, 61.6 percent of the students met or exceeded the English and literacy standards. In mathematics, nearly half (47.9 percent) met or exceeded the standards.
Students at Idyllwild School performed well in the latest tests but also have demonstrated improvement over time. For example, 58.1 percent of last year’s eighth-grade students met or exceeded the English and literacy standards. In 2016, when this cohort was in sixth grade, 45 percent accomplished the same levels. Two years ago, one-third of the class did not meet the standards. In 2018, the percentage of students still not meeting the standard fell to 21 percent.
Similar improvement can be seen in the results for the mathematics portion of the test. In 2016, while finishing sixth grade, 41 percent of the students met or exceeded the math standards and 31 percent did not meet the standard. But in 2018, finishing eighth grade, 35 percent scored in the top two levels, but only 23 percent failed to meet the standards.
While the Idyllwild School students collectively exceeded both the statewide and district results, Principal Matt Kraemer was still subdued in his comments and expressed some disappointment that the school’s results were below the 2017 results.
One of the reasons, he mentioned, was the adoption of a new mathematics curriculum. Typically, results fall in the first year of a new approach as both teachers and students adjust, he noted.