Every year students of California in grades two through 11 take the standardized testing and reporting program, also known as the STAR testing. For many schools statewide this is a great opportunity to show how well the schools meet with standardized curriculum. Of all the schools in California, schools in the city of Santa Clarita have made some impressive rankings.

An example of a distinguished school is Stevenson Ranch Elementary, which placed 24th in math among 6,000 schools on state STAR testing charts.

As the Stevenson Ranch elementary school motto goes, “First in Excellence, First in Pride.” The staff there works hard to make sure the students meet state standards and provide the education so that the students are able to excel in all academic aspects.

Principal of Stevenson Ranch Elementary Principal Candace Fleece, said the teachers and staff are always trying to find ways to improve and strengthen the students’ math skills. She said the best teachers try to teach children conceptually with real circumstances, using a method that they refer to as kids’ discovery.

“In this method, the children are given a real life math problem and they have come up with their own formula or way to solve the problem,” Fleece said. “This method has helped the children make the connections through experiencing and manipulating the math problem.”

The kids’ discovery method includes clubs and incentives. Fleece described one example of a club — the flash card reader group. In this club, 6th grades students volunteer to help 3rd grade students with math. This group provides a benefit for both the 6th and 3rd graders because both grades are reinforcing and developing math skills.

The school’s STAR testing results show the hard work of the teachers, staff and students is paying off.

These STAR testing charts can be found at the SCV Chinese School website, which provides a list of all the schools in California and their scores.

The school’s principal Jinghong Li stated how he had found this information.

“I retrieved the data from the California Department of Education website, which is open to public each year when the STAR or API scores are released,” he said. “It took me a couple of days to analyze and produce the reports.”

The SCV Chinese school website provides grades two through 11 test scores not only for the Santa Clarita Valley, but also for the Antelope Valley.

“The ranking information is a result of analyzing all schools in each category and grouping them by grades as well as several other criteria,” Li said. “I have only posted the high-level list for our local schools. A lot more reports on subcategories and schools are available upon request.”

These reports are very helpful for parents who are living in the SCV so they can find the schools that help best meet state standards.

“Scores are not the only thing in judging a school, but can be a useful and objective measurement for parents, especially those who care.” Li said.

For more information on the Santa Clarita STAR Testing results visit scvchineseschool.com/star-api.