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Beach Schools Raise Scores on Fall 2003 Stanford 9 Tests Virginia Beach City Public Schools’ performance on the fall 2003 Stanford 9 tests shows marked improvement across the board over previous scores. Increases range from two to ten percentile points in all subtest and content area totals over those scores of fall 2002 Stanford 9 tests. Although the State Board of Education did not mandate the Stanford 9 tests this year, Virginia Beach City Public Schools elected to have students in grades four and six take these nationally norm-referenced tests as another means by which to measure student academic progress. According to Diane Jones, assistant superintendent of Accountability, “A high point of this year’s Stanford results was the growth in the partial battery scores, which measure student knowledge in three core subjects - reading, mathematics, and language.” Grade six scores increased by three (3) percentile points while grade four scores increased by six (6) percentile points. In addition, the partial battery scores for grades four and six were above the 60th percentile, with scores of 62 percent and 64 percent respectively. Of the twenty division subtest and content area total scores, nineteen (95 percent) were above the 50th percentile, with ten of the nineteen scores at or above the 60th percentile. Jones notes that the division’s growth in the Stanford 9 scores is not unexpected. “Our students have shown increased academic achievement annually on the SOL (Standards of Learning) test. The growth in Stanford 9 scores is further confirmation, in this case with a national comparison, of the progress we have made in increasing overall student achievement in Virginia Beach schools.” Parents of fourth
and sixth grade students have been sent a letter and report from the school
principal explaining and interpreting the results of their child’s
Stanford 9 tests. Jones expects that the scores will be used in tandem
with the SOL test results for discussing student achievement during parent-teacher
conferences. The scores will also be used by the principal and teachers
in developing their school’s continuous improvement plan, identifying
students who may excel in more rigorous program For further information
on the fall Stanford 9 test results, please call the Department of Accountability
at (757) 427-4383.
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