Class of 2017 scores slip
September 15, 2016
Diamond Bar High School’s Class of 2017 scored well above the state standards on the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium test but slightly lower than the DBHS Class of 2016.
While 77 percent of last year’s class passed the English and 72 percent passed the math section, only 69 percent of this year’s class passed the English section and 70 percent passed the math section, according to the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress.
This slight decrease in score is an anomaly from the overall improvement of scores in other high schools throughout California.
Last year’s test had a 44% pass rate in English and 37% pass rate in math overall, which increased to a 48 percent pass rate in English and 37 percent pass rate in math this year.
The SBAC test is a state standardized test revolving around Common Core principles designed to test a student’s readiness for college.
The test is split into two parts—an English literary section and a math section.
Unlike most standardized tests, the SBAC test is taken on a computer and is not multiple-choice.
The English section includes a listening portion in which each student listens to a recording and then answers free-response questions based on the information that they heard.
The section also requires students to write a full-length essay.
The math section focuses mainly on word problems and functions, and like the English section, is composed of mainly free-response questions designed to test a student’s readiness for college courses.
According to smarterbalanced.org, the official site of the test, over 250 colleges and universities throughout 10 states are using the SBAC test as a measure of a student’s readiness.
