After the Diamond Bar High School administration took action due to the overall decrease in scores on the annual Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium test by the class of 2019, the class of 2020 saw significant overall improvements.

For the English Language Arts test, DBHS scores increased by over six percent—80.4 percent of seniors met or exceeded state standards, compared to the previous class where 74.2 percent of students did. The percentage of this year’s seniors that did not meet the standard decreased by over six percent—19.6 percent compared to 25.8 percent of last year’s graduating class.

For the mathematics test, DBHS scores increased by over four percent—72.9 percent of this year’s seniors met or exceeded state standards, compared to 68.9 percent last year. The percentage of the class of 2020’s students that did not meet the standard decreased by over four percent—27.1 percent compared to 31.1 percent of the class of 2019.

The SBAC is a California assessment system taken digitally by students in third to eighth grade and again as juniors in high school. The English and math based exam is aligned to the Common Core State Standards, which tests students on their English and math skills while using a computer adaptive format where questions become more difficult when students answer correctly and become easier when students answer incorrectly.

In comparison with Walnut High School, DBHS’s English scores that met or exceeded state standards were below by about two percent, with about two percent more of the students not meeting the standard. However, the Brahmas’ math scores that met or exceeded state standards were above the Mustangs by about two percent, with about three percent more of WHS’s students not meeting the standard.

This year’s seniors scored dramatically above the state average. DBHS English and math scores that met or exceeded standards were 29.5 percent and 33.2 percent, respectively, above the state averages.