Crunching the Numbers: C.A.S.P.P. Test Scores Released

ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. – The results are in for the latest California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, or C.A.S.P.P. test. Many of the results for both the Lucia Mar School District and Santa Maria-Bonita Schools are showing upward growth.

“It doesn’t surprise me a bit – that’s one reason they live in the area, that’s one reason that their parents send them there,” says Helen Rhoades whose grandchildren go to Harlow School.

“I would hope we set the standard for the area because we have high aspirations in what we do for kids,” Asst. Superintendent of Curriculum for Lucia Mar Schools, Ron Walton says.

Only going on its third year, Walton says the C.A.S.P.P. test still has some growing pains, telling us: “We have a lot of work to do still in making sure our kids are prepared in all aspects of life and I think that’s the realization that the release of C.A.S.P.P. is doing statewide..it’s causing schools to go back, evaluate programs and make sure they are measuring their students.”

Across both Lucia Mar and Santa Maria-Bonita Schools, math scores were either stagnant or showed little improvement, something Public Information Officer for Santa Maria-Bonita Schools attributes partly to the design of the test; as more questions get answered correctly, the harder the questions get.

“That’s different in testing now than in days of old when we were bubbling in answers.. now they take information that’s presented and they use them to build an answer and write it out,” Walton explains.

While it may be easy to fixate on one negative score, Walton hopes parents look at more than just the C.A.S.P.P. test results. “You can look at any one of those and over scrutinize the story that really tells, but when you look at the combined multiple measure that we use to really know how kids are doing, it paints a really impressive picture of students in Lucia Mar,” Walton says.

If you’d like to see how your child’s school did, click here.