When Principal James Lee learned that his students at Sylmar Charter High School had among the biggest jumps in state test scores in the local school district, he was thrilled but surprised, because they managed to pull it off despite a well-publicized lunchtime brawl that erupted on campus right in the middle of testing. He credits the...

Under pressure from the federal government, California is expanding a field test of computer-based assessments to test students in both math and English language arts, rather than just one subject area. A law recently signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, AB 484, (see story here) requires testing in only one subject. The change, announced yesterday by...

Los Angeles Unified made a marginal improvement on California standards tests while for the first time in at least a decade, the state score dropped, according to results released today by the state Department of Education (CDE). For LA Unified students, the annual Academic Performance Index (API) shows a three point increase over last year,...

People are still scratching their heads over what happened with California students’ test scores, which went down for the first time in a decade, as the state reported on Thursday. But the greater uncertainty could lie ahead. The plan is for all students to be tested on a new curriculum — the Common Core State...