Overall, 70 percent of all students are scoring at or above grade level in reading, mathematics and language. The State Board of Education has determined that the 50th percentile is considered grade level by state standards. Percentile scores mean that our students scored better than 70 percent of the students nationwide. (The score does not indicate the percentage right on the test).

English-only students in second grade ranged from 70-79th percentile in the three academic areas, while the exiting sixth graders ranged from 78-85th percentile. These scores reflect a stronger acquisition of skills as students move through the grades acquiring more knowledge. This is a pattern that is desirable.

Mathematics is definitely a strength for the students in our district. Second graders in English-only instruction scored at the 79th percentile, fifth graders at the 78th percentile and 6th graders at the 85th percentile. Over the past three years the district has provided intensive mathematics training for all of our teachers. Also, it has been a priority of the Board of Trustees to give teachers the materials and textbooks needed to do an outstanding job. Our teachers are to be congratulated on the excellent teaching and learning that is occurring in the classrooms in our district.

The district will be strategically analyzing the spelling scores. While still showing scores above grade level and still one of the top 5 in the county, spelling scores are not as high as the reading, mathematics and language scores. Second graders for example scored at the 56th percentile, third at the 51st, fourth at 62nd, fifth at 58th and the highest percentile achieved by the exiting sixth graders with a 66th percentile. In this test students are not asked to spell words. Rather, they are asked to look at a passage and select misspelled words.

2nd grade: Decide which underlined word in misspelled.
O That is a true story
O The clothes are drying.
O Bring the paper here.
O Let's bild a boat.
O Can you mach the colors?
O My boots are in the closet.
O Bill can spin the top.
O Thank you for helping.

Also, students are given a list of three words and asked to select the correctly spelled word, these are editing skills that are different from traditional spelling instruction. Spelling, therefore, will definitely be a target area in all classrooms for the 1998-99 school year. The spelling scores of English-only students and the LEP students were not far apart indicating this is a need for all students.

Our district board and staff are proud of its scores and its students' achievement. Fifteen percent of the students are limited English proficient and are primarily enrolled in Spanish language classes through third grade. Overall the district has a 23 percent minority population and 20 percent of the students are from low-income families. The district is close to the county average with 8 percent special education students.

Given these statistics the high scores are indeed reflective of the strong academic program that is implemented in all district schools. As we believe in continuous improvement we want the community to see the scores and to know that our students score higher than almost three quarters of all students in the state. You can be assured that we expect the students to reach our rigorous standards as we plan curriculum. You may access these scores on our Web page at www.eusd.k12.ca.us.

Teacher Cristi Cunningham using Mathland techniques at Paul Ecke Central. SAT-9 math test scores were strong in our district.