RANCHO SANTA FE — Results from the statewide Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) are in. According to Rancho Santa Fe School District Superintendent David Jaffe, R. Roger Rowe Middle School was actually the top scoring middle school in the county.
Jaffe shared that the information gleaned from the test was the ability to look at the students’ growth from one year to the next.
In the areas of math scores, 90 percent of the sixth grade students met or exceeded the standards. For the category of English Language Arts, 97 percent of the sixth grade met or exceeded those standards.
“Those numbers are amazing,” Jaffe said. “They really are.”
For seventh grade, 92 percent of the students met or exceeded standards in math and 88 percent of the students met or exceeded this in English Language Arts.
One class higher, Jaffe cited that in the eighth grade 86 percent of the students met or exceeded in math, and 90 percent of the students met or exceeded in English Language Arts.
Jaffe explained that based on the test scores last year, the district implemented “enrichment times” three days a week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
“So there were programs put in place to support the higher academic level of students and also the students that needed support,” he said. “Because of the class sizes and the teachers’ relationship and connection to each of the students, they really can do individualized, one-on-one type work with them.”
Jaffe noted that the elementary school also had wonderful numbers in their testing, as well.
“For third grade, we had 92 percent in math and 93 percent in English; in fourth grade, we had 85 percent in math and 75 percent in English; and, in fifth grade we had 80 percent in math and 83 percent in English,” he said.
Jaffe pointed out from the data general conclusions were made.
“But to really look at how individual programs are affecting the students, we need to look at individual student growth in each of the subject areas and then within each of the subjects areas, each of the claims,” he said.
At a recent school board meeting, Jaffe said how they presented the overall data and then provided highlights of the disaggregated data. He believed this demonstrated the depth to which the data was being looked into in tandem with what to do moving forward.
“It’s important to also note that this is but one assessment in an overall school. The other measures that we look at are our own testing that we do,” he said. Jaffe continued, “So looking at that in totality gives you a real picture of what’s happening in the school.”
Jaffe said in terms of the SBAC results the district is extremely happy with the scores and the growth of students. He also described the SBAC as a good snapshot.
“It gives you an indication of the schools’ progress, and when you go deep into it, you can see students’ progress — it’s just one measure — but we’re pretty darn excited,” Jaffe said.
