By Brad Branan and Pablo Lopez / The Fresno Bee
08/15/07 11:14:22
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More than half of the students at the Valley's biggest school districts failed to reach proficiency in three key subjects — math, English and science — and performed worse than their counterparts across California, state test results released today show.

The exception was at Clovis Unified School District, where students surpassed statewide results in English, math and science, according the state's Standardized Testing and Reporting program. The result help districts determine how well students are being taught California’s content standards.

The results, released by the California Department of Education, showed Fresno, Madera, Visalia and Central unified school districts had a lower percentage of students achieving proficiency on the three key tests than students statewide.

The statewide average for student proficiency was 43% in English, 41% in math, and 38% in science. Fresno Unified's student proficiency was 29% in English, 28% in math and 24% in science — the lowest among the Valley four biggest school districts.

In comparison, Clovis Unified students were 18 percentage points or more above the state average in math, English and science.

Though student proficiency remains low, Fresno Unified Superintendent Michael Hanson said the district has made steady gains. Two years ago, one in four students was proficient in English and math. The current results show that nearly 1 in 3 students achieved that goal, Hanson said.

To attack the problem, Hanson wants to increase instructional minutes in the classroom by 30 minutes in grades 1, 2 and 3. That issue is being negotiation with the teachers union.

"Our success begins and ends in the classroom," Hanson said. "We will continue to focus our efforts on supporting teachers and students and dig deeper to get the breakthrough results that our community deserves."

http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/112912.html

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