TEST Scores
The Academic Performance of OUR Students is Terrific!
The 2023 Update
There is a perception that Bullis Charter School (BCS) offers an elite academic education not available in LASD schools. However, a closer look at these scores tells another story.
We have conducted significant research into how LASD students are performing as compared to BCS. Our latest research shows that, while some individual schools in LASD have higher test scores than BCS, LASD test scores are lower on average than BCS, especially in the early grades. This seems to be related to the fact that BCS significantly under-enrolls a range of traditionally “academically low achieving” groups of students, including economically disadvantaged, English Learners, and others.
However, the research also shows that LASD students on average achieve greater improvement in their scores over time than do BCS students, significantly narrowing the differential by 6th grade.
PAST FINDINGS ON The Academic Performance of OUR Students
There seems to be a perception that Bullis Charter School (BCS) offers an elite academic education which is not available in the Los Altos School District (LASD). The independent, public, California Board of Education (CBE) data indicates that the students in the LASD schools and BCS are achieving comparable academic scores.
This is great news for our students, a terrific accomplishment by their teachers and a tribute to the continuous care provided by their parents.
Before discussing the graphs, which illustrate the English and Math scores for each our schools, it is useful to step back and look at the test scores from other high-scoring neighboring school districts. As the graphs below illustrates, LASD student academic success is impressive and viewed as a benchmark for other districts. (*Note: Click on the charts and graphs below to enlarge them.)
The graphs below showcase the English & Math test scores for the current 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade students at LASD neighborhood schools and Bullis Charter School. The academic achievement of each class, in each school improves each year. Particular attention is focused on the 6th grade results, in the assumption that the student’s progression through the grades prepares the students for the next step. The 6th grade (and sometimes the 5th grade) is a point of transition to middle school (junior high school). Independent of how a student scored when they were younger, have they made steady progress and are they ready for the transition to middle school?
The next graphs illustrate the change in scores from 3rd to 6th grade for this snapshot of the current enrollment. Since some years, and some schools may have enrolled a high scoring 3rd grade class, the school staff may have fewer challenges in helping the student score well at the 6th grade. While the 6th grade test scores displayed above show that BCS are among the top three schools, the magnitude of the improvement for BCS students from 3rd to 6th grade is among the two lowest.
Since these last two graphs were snapshots of the 3rd to 6th grade academic test score improvement of the current population, it is also informative to see the results of a recent effort by the CBE to track the performance improvement of the same “cohort” or group of students. Collecting this information began several years ago and now 4th to 6th grade, same cohort, test results are available. BCS’s same cohort test scores are in the middle of the pack.
Naturally, there are a number of factors which influence test scores. For example:
· The economic status of the student’s household
· The ethnicity of the student
· The number of languages and number of students who are English Learners
· The proportion of special education students
The economic status of the student’s household is probably the single best predictor of how a student will test. In addition, the ethnicity of a student is also a key factor. Other sections of this site will present the detailed history of the evolution of ethnicity and race at BCS. There will also be information on the relative economic difference between the LASD students and the BCS students.
For now, it is enough to say that relative to LASD, the BCS student population is over-weighted toward Asians and underweighted with respect to both Latios and whites. Similarly, there a number of factors that suggest the BCS families are better off financially than LASD families.
The following two vertical graphs are one way to visualize the impact of these two factors. The two visualizations below were prepared by Innovate Public Schools.
Future articles and website postings will present this data.