Turlock students are gaining ground on the rest of the students in Stanislaus County and the state on their California High School Exit Exam results, and in some cases, Turlock students are even passing them up. 

According to the 2009/2010 CAHSEE results released Tuesday, 80 percent of Turlock Unified School District high school students are passing the English Language Arts portion the first time in 10^th grade and 78 percent are passing the Mathematics portion the first time.

“(With TUSD) compared to the state and the county, there is no staggering discrepancy,” said Lacrisha Ferriera, TUSD assistant superintendent for educational services.

Compared to the 2008/2009 CAHSEE results, TUSD has jumped 4 percent as a whole in ELA and one percent in Mathematics.

The biggest improvement is in Pitman High’s students in the Special Education category, who jumped 14 percent in ELA with 41 percent of those students passing that section for the first time. Special education students in the entire district have also jumped 11 percent in the Mathematics section of the test with 36 percent of TUSD students in Special Education passing that section.

The biggest highlight for TUSD is their English learners who blew the county and state numbers out of the water in both ELA and Mathematics.

English learners ranked at 45 percent of students passing the ELA portion, which is 5 percent above the county’s numbers and 2 percent above the state’s numbers. They also ranked at 57 percent in Mathematics, which is 3 percent above the county’s numbers and 5 percent above the state’s numbers.

An increase in English learners passing the ELA portion of the CAHSEE was seen between 3 percent and 4 percent at Turlock High, Pitman High and as a whole for the district.

Throughout the district, the number of students in the Socioeconomic Disadvantaged category who passed the test either stayed at the same percentage as last year or increased in both the ELA and Mathematics portions of the test. The biggest increase was seen in the ELA portion with an increase between 3 percent and 8 percent.

But even with a great deal of advancement, there is always room for improvement.

One area of focus discovered from the 2009/2010 CAHSEE results, is students in Special Education at Turlock High and the district as a whole, Ferriera said.

Turlock High’s students in Special Education dropped 8 percent in the ELA portion of the test compared to last year. The district as a whole ranked at 29 percent passing in Special Education in the ELA portion, falling behind the county at 30 percent and the state at 37 percent.

Ferriera also noticed a smaller achievement gap in the Mathematics portion compared to a wider achievement gap in the ELA.

In the ELA portion within the district as a whole, 72 percent of socioeconomic disadvantaged students passed, 45 percent of English learners passed and 29 percent of students in Special Education passed. The gaps run from 16 percent to 27 percent.

In the Mathematics portion within the district as a whole, 71 percent of socioeconomic disadvantaged students passed, 57 percent of English learners passed and 36 percent of students in Special Education passed. The gaps run from 14 percent to 21 percent.

The CAHSEE results were reinforcement on how the district is fairing test-wise after TUSD saw district-wide improvement in the California Standardized Testing results released last week.

“This verifies and supports the trends we are seeing in the district,” she said. “We are seeing a system-wide improvement in instruction and student achievement.”

To contact Maegan Martens, e-mail mmartens@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2015.