Getting ready for STAR tests
MARK ARONOFF/PD
At Whited Elementary School in Santa Rosa, teacher Andree Moll works with Mateo Jimenez on math problems. The white board, rear, holds problems similar to those that the students will face in STAR testing.
By KERRY BENEFIELD
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Published: Monday, April 6, 2009 at 3:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, April 6, 2009 at 11:42 p.m.
It’s April, but Whited Elementary third-grader Clifton Thrasher has those first-day-of-school butterflies.
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That can only mean one thing. STAR — Standardized Testing and Reporting — is here.
“You feel that first day of school feeling,” Thrasher said of sitting down to a week’s worth of testing in language arts and math upon which so much in education today rests.
“It’s a big responsibility to know the answers facing you,” he said. “You’ve been taught them, but if you forget, then it’s your own fault.”
STAR testing begins this month for schools throughout Sonoma County and the anticipation — and anxiety — is palpable. The test is the basis for both the state Academic Performance Index and federal Adequate Yearly Progress for the No Child Left Behind law.
“From the federal mandate aspect, it’s hugely important,” said Don Russell, assistant superintendent of the Sonoma County Office of Education. “It’s the one primary measure that is our yardstick for success. It determines whether our schools go into (program improvement) or under some kind of mandate.”
Last year marked the first year of steadily increasing requirements in the federal programs to keep campuses and districts from facing sanctions.
Schools also are trying to perform well for parents who examine scores and data before enrolling their students at a particular campus.
So STAR tests carry a lot of weight — even for third graders.
“It’s bam! This is a huge thing coming at you,” said Whited third-grader Brianna Anderson.
At Whited Elementary, the “bam!” in recent years has been more a fist thrust in the air in victory than a sock to the stomach in pain.
The 350-pupil elementary school on Highway 12 in Santa Rosa’s Rincon Valley has climbed into the rarified air of 906 out of a maximum 1,000 on its API score — “a pretty elite group,” Russell said.
Only six elementary schools in Sonoma County notched a 900 or higher last year, and none of those campuses has anywhere near the diversity of economically disadvantaged or English language learners as does Whited.
Thirty-five percent of Whited’s students are considered economically disadvantaged, meaning a family of four earns less than $39,000 a year. And 16 percent of students on campus are English language learners.
That can mean fewer trips to the library or museums or summer camp. And some families struggle to assist with homework as their students progress through school.
“Not all homes are equal,” said fifth/sixth-grade teacher Jody Venard. “Some high-achieving schools, their students can go home and their parents can help them. Not all students have that.”
Principal Tom Castagnola credits long hours and teamwork from teachers, as well as the school site council’s intensifying its funding commitment to tutors and classroom aides.
“The site council looked at our test results and determined that our kids needed additional help,” he said.
The school hires retired teachers and Sonoma State University students to offer direct intervention when a student shows signs they aren’t understanding a concept.
It also pays for substitutes when teachers need to meet and confer on lesson plans and analyze data.
“There are so many different types of kids and families at this school,” said site council president D’Ann (cq)Giordano, the mother of a sixth-grader. “The range is from gifted to English as a second language, and the tutoring is what helps the kids who need to step it up a little bit. That has made all the difference in the world.”
Whited has been repeatedly honored for shining with its diverse population. A 2008 California Distinguished School flag flies over the front of the campus, the county Office of Education declared it a “Spotlight School” and it was named a California Business for Education Excellence/Just for the Kids-California Honor Roll School for 2008.
Rachelle Brooke-Edy, mother of three Whited students, said that when she first moved into her home nearby, neighbors warned her against enrolling her kids at the school.
“They said ‘Oh, no, they can’t go to Whited, they can’t go to Whited,’ so I tried to figure out why,” she said.
After some investigation — into the campus, the teachers, the students — Brooke-Edy abandoned her transfer request and enrolled her children.
“The integration is actually their strength,” she said. Children “don’t see color and economic background and stuff, they just see those kids they want to play with and those kids they don’t get along with, it’s just people to people.”
“There’s not that, ‘Oh, we have to go slow so that kid has to catch up,’” she said. “The teachers don’t approach it that way.”
Third-grade teacher Andree (cq)Moll said the school’s use of a teaching technique called Board Math and Board English allows her to pinpoint precisely when a student falters.
She poses questions from the front of the room, says “Boards up!” and students are expected to hold their small dry-erase boards high, displaying their answers.
Instead of spending time wandering between desks, head bowed to read each student’s answer, Moll can see whether the lesson was learned — immediately.
“It’s really great for teachers,” she said. “I don’t have to call them out on it, but I know, ‘OK, you don’t get this.’”
This week, students at Whited are reviewing lessons for the upcoming STAR test that, for them, begins April 27.
While anxiety runs high in some places and for some students, third-grader Mickenna (cq)Edy said this year, she’s looking forward to STAR testing.
“Because sometimes you want to see how smart you are.”
Staff Writer Kerry Benefield writes an education blog at extracredit.pressdemocrat.com. Shecan be reached at 526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com