Walnut Valley posts highest scores on STAR

Despite growing budget cuts, school districts across the state, county and
the San Gabriel Valley saw incremental gains and improvements in student math
and English-language arts tests scores for the ninth consecutive year, state
education officials announced Friday.

Still, while scores may have improved, some local school districts reported
scores far below the state average.

Known as STAR, or Standardized Testing and Reporting, the results are
measured in five categories: advanced, proficient, basic, below basic and far
below basic.

Statewide, the number of students proficient in English increased by 2.8
percent compared to last year – from 54.4 percent to 57.2 percent, according to
the 2012 results released Friday.

And in math, test scores showed California students improved by 1.1 percent,
up to 51.5 percent.

While the year-over-year increases were small, they mark a large improvement
in the past decade. In 2003, 35 percent of students statewide were proficient in
both English and math.

Districts that posted the highest scores in the region were Glendora Unified,
with 74 percent proficiency in English and 68.3 percent in math, and Walnut
Valley Unified, with 80.1 percent in English and 77.1 percent in math.

Read more in STAR.