THE CURRENT
Local schools enjoy boost on spring DC-CAS scores
Jessica Gould
August 19, 2009
D.C. Public Schools and public
charter school students increased
their overall test scores by three
points in math and six points in
reading, according to the 2009 DC
Comprehensive Assessment System
results that the Office of the State
Superintendent of Education
released last week. The D.C. Public
Schools central office had released a
preliminary version of the citywide
data in July.
For D.C. Public Schools students,
the biggest jump came in elementary
school math, where 49 percent of
students tested proficient,
compared with 40 percent last year.
Forty-nine percent of elementary
school students are proficient in
reading, up from 46 percent last
year.
Test scores for secondary school
students also increased, but less dramatically.
Forty-one percent of secondary
school students are proficient
in reading, a slight increase
over last year’s 39 percent. And 40
percent of secondary school students
are proficient in math, compared
with 37 percent last year.
Charter schools, on the other
hand, showed the largest gains in
secondary school, where 53 percent
of students were proficient in reading,
up from 47 percent in 2008.
Fifty-seven percent were proficient
in math, compared with 48 percent
the year before.
Elementary-level charter school
students advanced slightly in reading,
from 45 percent in 2008 to 46
percent this year, and stayed about
the same, at 42 percent proficiency
in math, from 2008 to 2009.
The newly released numbers also
give insight into individual schools’
performances — showing dramatic
gains among a handful of Northwest
schools.
Specifically, Barnard, Eaton,
Marie Reed, Ross, Shepherd and
Stoddert elementary schools
showed double-digit increases in
reading and math proficiency over
last year’s scores. Wilson High
School’s scores also increased significantly.
According to Ross Elementary
principal Amanda Alexander, the
test scores are the highest they have
ever been at the Dupont Circle
school, where 77 percent of students
tested proficient in reading and 70
percent tested proficient in math.
She said an infusion of “time and
attention” into teaching practices
and student achievement led to the
improvements. In addition to making
frequent visits to classrooms,
Alexander said she also circulated
articles and books about pedagogy
to teachers.
At Cleveland Park’s Eaton
Elementary, 64 percent of the students
were proficient in math in
2008. This year, 80 percent tested
proficient. Reading scores also
increased, from 74 percent in 2008
to 86 percent in 2009.
Eaton principal Jacqueline
Gartrell said she is “thrilled” with
the scores and met with teachers on
Monday to discuss them.
Gartrell said weekly meetings for
teachers in each grade, ongoing professional
development and scrutiny
of data throughout the year contributed
to the gains.“I think it was a joint effort,” she
said. Gartrell commended Eaton’s
“really committed” staff and dedicated
“instructional supervisor” for
their efforts.
In Tenleytown, Wilson High
School principal Pete Cahall
emphasized that he is “pleased but
not satisfied” with the test scores.
In 2009, 72 percent of Wilson
students hit the proficiency target in
reading, more than the 62 percent
who met the mark last year. Sixtyseven
percent scored proficient in
math, compared with 60 percent in
2008.
Cahall said teachers worked hard
to prepare students for the kinds of
responses required for the test and
monitored test scores throughout the
year to keep tabs on their progress.
In addition, Cahall said, he
strongly encouraged teachers to
strengthen their relationships with
students, and he did the same. “I
wrote five personal notes to kids
every day,” he said. “Anything I
could grab on to, to give feedback.”
On Monday, he met with teachers
and ticked off a list of “celebrations,”
such as the results showing
that all “subgroups” advanced their
scores in reading.
Asian students showed a 25-
point increase, Hispanic students
showed a 14-point increase, English
language learners showed a 30-
point increase, and special education
students showed a 12-point
increase.
In math, African-American and
Hispanic students increased their
proficiency rates by 10 percent,
while students who qualify for a free
and reduced lunch increased their
proficiency by 4 percent.
But Cahall said Wilson still has
plenty of room for improvement, so
that all students are achieving, and
achieving equally.
For example, only 58 percent of
African-American students are proficient
in reading, and 53 percent in
math. Seventy percent of Hispanic
students are proficient in reading,
and 64 percent in math. Sixty-nine
percent of Asian students are proficient
in reading, and 77 percent in
math. Meanwhile, 94 percent of
white students are proficient in reading,
and 85 percent in math.
Cahall said he plans to use the
test scores as a launching pad for a
wide array of improvements. “What
we need to do is drill down to the
individual student,” he said. But
“eventually it all goes back to the
DC-CAS.”
For Oyster-Adams Bilingual
School principal Monica Liang-
Aguirre, the 2009 scores were also a
mixed bag.
For years, the school — with
campuses in Woodley Park and
Adams Morgan — has been a jewel
of the D.C. Public Schools system.
And the 2009 scores remain strong,
with 77 percent proficiency in reading
and 73 in math.
But for the past two years,
Oyster-Adams has failed to make
adequate yearly progress under No
Child Left Behind.
Last year, the school failed to
meet the benchmark because it did
not show adequate results among
two subgroups: English language
learners and students from lowerincome
families.
So, Liang-Aguirre said, teachers
worked hard to improve those
scores, and succeeded. Both subgroups
made adequate yearly
progress this year. “We were very,
very happy,” she said.
But this year, the school did not
meet adequate yearly progress for
special education students. Of the
25 students tested, only 16 percent
were proficient in reading, and 20
percent were proficient in math.
“They did not do well at all,”
Liang-Aguirre said.
This is the first year the school
has identified enough special-education
students for their scores to be
disaggregated separately, she said.
And with no baseline data from previous
tests for comparison, the
school was unable to make “safe
harbor” — an alternative to adequate
yearly progress for schools
that show a 10 percent reduction in
the number of students who are not
proficient.
Liang-Aguirre tried to appeal the
decision to the Office of the State
Superintendent of Education, but
upon closer review of the data, the
agency determined that the school
still did not make adequate progress.
Therefore, the school is now in
its first year of mandatory improvement
under No Child Left Behind.
According to Jennie Niles,
“there’s no magic bullet” when it
comes to enhancing student
achievement. Niles is the founder of
E.L. Haynes, a charter school in
Petworth where 80 percent of elementary
school students scored proficient
in math, and 66 percent
scored proficient in reading. The
school is in the second year of
mandatory improvement, having
missed the proficiency threshold in
reading among its special education
students.
“There’s nothing we do that any
school couldn’t do,” Niles said.