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The Daily News reports (see: LAUSD makes its best showing ever on STAR tests) that LAUSD students made significant improvement over last year in their performance on the state-required standardized test results, also known as the STAR tests: “48 percent of LAUSD students scored proficient or advanced in English, up from 44 percent last year. Math proficiency inched up from 43 to 45 percent.”

The piece quotes a pleased Superintendent John Deasy:

We’ve put a great deal of emphasis in this district on English-language arts, we’ve put a great deal of emphasis on reclassifying our English-learners (in language fluency) and we’ve put a great deal of emphasis in terms of algebra… When the district puts strong emphasis on something, and provides support and clear expectations, we are really delivering.

Deasy singled out schools with alternative models, such as Pilot Schools and Partnership for LA schools as having made even stronger gains: “[I]n many cases, gains are occurring faster in schools that have had different structures and sets of supports than `traditional’ schools.”

KPCC’s Tami Abdollah notes: “LAUSD math gains were flat or smaller than English improvements for the district in elementary and secondary education, respectively. In second grade, math scores dropped by 3  percentage points to 57 percent proficient or better.” (See: California test scores: LA Unified, state schools gain in English, math)

You can find a summary of LAUSD’s STAR Test results here, and a complete grade-by-grade breakdown here.