Dear CNMT Community,

I am happy to be able to share some good news. The results of the March CAHSEE are in, and we have improved our passing rate for first-time test takers. We had 113 10th grade students take both math and English, and 58 of those passed both, which is 51.3%.

Using the same parameters with last year’s results, we had 107 students take both math and English for the first time, and 44 passed. This was 41.1%.

In other words, we had a 10% improvement in our overall passing rate for first-time test takers.

Although we have a long way to go, it is great to see some improvement this year. I do think that our efforts are paying off, and I am confident that we will continue to see improvement as we develop our focus on preparing students to pass and earn proficient on the CAHSEE the first time.

We also saw a significant jump in the percentage of English Learners who passed both sections. This went up from 8.2% (4/49) to 21.7% (10/46).

We have also focused on preparing our students who are behind in credits. According to LAUSD policy, which I am challenging, grade level is based on credits, not year of graduation. Because of this, many students who are behind in credits don’t take the CAHSEE until their third year of high school. This year we put some of those students in support classes to help them prepare for the test, if the classes fit their schedule. And results did improve. This year 39.4% (13/33) of 10th grade demotes passed both sections of the CAHSEE, compared to 23.3% (7/30) last year. Clearly this is not good enough, and we want these students to be on track with credits, but it is progress that we should be proud of.

In other testing-related news, we administered the Spanish Equivalency Exam to almost all of our true 9th graders on Tuesday, when most students were taking the history CST.

The Spanish Equivalency Exam was created by the UC to determine students’ proficiency in Spanish. Students can take the test only once in high school, and if they pass the reading and writing portion, they can earn 10 semester credits and 2 years of “e” Language Other than English credit for UC/CSU admission.

Students must pass the reading in order to take the writing portion. If they only pass the reading portion, they still receive the 10 semester credits, and they get 1 year of “e” Language Other than English credit for UC/CSU admission.

Since most 9th graders do not take a history class, this was a good time to give the test. Of those who took exam, 18/86 (21%) scored 17 or better on the reading portion of the exam. These students will take the writing portion on Thursday while the 10th graders are taking the NCLB Life Sciences exam. Good luck!

Educators of the Week:

On Friday Mr. Pedregosa invited me to the annual calculus Super Quiz in the Student Cafeteria. He was nice enough to get me a t-shirt that has AB 2012 on the front and the Rough Rider with “Nerd” on it on the back.

When I arrived in the cafeteria, I saw many tables full of students in different colored t-shirts. Each small school had their own color, but the students were sitting in mixed groups. There was a math problem projected on the wall, and students were working feverishly to answer it. When they did, someone in the group held up a card with the answer, and the BC calculus students were looking at the cards to decide who got the problem right.

Honestly, I couldn’t really figure out what was going on, but the students knew what they were doing. The competition was serious and intense, but they were having fun too.

At the end, the BC students presented Mr. Quezada with a plaque, since he will be retiring this year. Our own Jaime Escalante has left a pretty remarkable legacy here at Roosevelt. We have gone from one AB calculus class per track to one per small school, which means that we have over double the students in calculus that we did a few years ago.

Mr. Quezada mentored each AB calculus teacher last year, teaching one class per small school while an apprentice teacher observed the master at work. I know that Mr. Pedregosa was ready to take the leap, and by the enthusiasm and confidence of our CNMT students, I’d say he’s doing a fine job carrying the torch.

For their efforts to push our students to high levels and beyond, I want to recognize Mr. Quezada and Mr. Pedregosa this week, and all the calculus teachers at Roosevelt High School.

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