While a large majority of San Gabriel Valley
school districts posted gains in the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) results, four districts bucked the trend and
experienced small declines in one or more categories. They were Charter
Oak Unified, Valle Lindo, Bassett Unified and Rowland Unified.

Maria Ott, superintendent of Rowland Unified, disputed the
accuracy of the state’s online database, which indicated that her
district declined half a percentage point in English proficiency and 1.9 points in
math.

Ott said the numbers the district received directly from the state actually show small improvements in both areas.

“When you look at what’s statistically significant, we’ve
probably had one of those years where we’ve been climbing, and now we’ve
been flat this year,” Ott said.

Ott said she believes the reason for that is the closure last year of three schools due to budget cuts and declining enrollment

“In some ways we feel our baseline has changed,” she said.

See how other school districts stacked up in J.D. Velasco’s story STAR.