California Standards Test Scores ~ 2003
English Language Arts Proficiency ~ By Grade Level
Statewide

Chart

Due to rounding error, percentages may not add up to 100. For a complete proficiency breakdown, see the Full Chart .

Accompanying Narrative to the Chart

The attached chart illustrates the English-language arts performance of all students and students with disabilities in California based on their test scores on the 2004 Englishlanguage Arts (ELA) California Standards Test (CST). Recognizing that California has set rigorous academic content standards, and the implementation of those standards is ongoing, performance levels will be tracked over the coming years to measure progress toward the goal of all students becoming proficient in the English-language arts.

The chart shows CST/ELA performance levels for students at the 4th, 7th, and 10th grade levels.

• Most students take the test based on the grade in which they are enrolled. Some students with disabilities in grades 5 through 11 may have taken tests one or two grades lower than the grade in which they were enrolled.

In the chart, there are two bars showing the levels of performance at the designated grade levels. The first bar shows all students (including students with disabilities). The second bar shows only students with disabilities as a subgroup.

• Since students with disabilities make up approximately 10% of all students in California, it follows that 10% of the test scores on the bars showing all students are those of students with disabilities. To ascertain how that 10% is broken down by level of performance, look to the bars showing the test scores of students with disabilities.
• For example, 9% of all 4th grade students performed at the Far Below Basic level. Looking at the bar for 4th grade students with disabilities, 35% performed at the Far Below Basic level. Shift the decimal point to find that 3.5% of all students who performed at the Far Below Basic level were students with disabilities. Thus, of the 9% of all students who performed at the Far Below Basic level, 5.5% were not students with disabilities.
• Following this same approach, one can see that among 4th graders, 2.7% of all students performing at the Below Basic level, 2.3% of all students performing at the Basic level, 1.0% of all students performing at the Proficient level, and 0.6% of all students performing at the Advanced level were students with disabilities.

Intensive efforts are underway to improve the academic achievement of all students. ELA performance levels for all students and students with disabilities are calculated and reported in accordance with the federal requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act and California's accountability plan.

The data shared in the chart doesn't tell us: the relationship of proficiency to specific disability categories, the connection with students being English language learners or socioeconomically disadvantaged, or even the percentage of students testing out of grade level. There is strong interest in delving into these questions in the coming year.

Full Chart