Castaic students’ test scores revealed slight increases for Math and English/language arts.

However, nearly 60 percent of Castaic Union School District students tested below state math standards, according to the state’s recently released CAASPP results. English/language arts scores indicated 42 percent of students were below or nearly at the state standard.

This is a 2 percent increase in English/language arts over the previous year’s results, and a 3 percent increase for math.

The Castaic results mirrored a statewide trend of increasing scores for the CAASPP, which is only in its third year of being the state’s mandatory test, replacing the STAR test.

However, state instruction is still not producing the overall results on the state’s standardized tests: fewer than half the students tested, statewide, met or exceeded standards in English language arts, and less than 40 percent met or exceeded standards in mathematics.

Smarter Balanced tests consist of two parts. First, students take a computer adaptive assessment, which bases follow-up questions on a student’s answers in real time and gives a more accurate picture of a student’s progress than the paper and pencil test.

Here’s how it works: If a student answers a question correctly, she gets a more difficult question. If she answers it incorrectly, she gets an easier question.

Students also complete a performance task that challenges their ability to apply their knowledge and skills to problems in a real-world setting. The two parts measure depth of understanding, writing, research and problem-solving skills more thoroughly than the multiple-choice, paper-based tests they replaced.

Scores on the assessments fall into one of four achievement levels: standard exceeded, standard met, standard nearly met, and standard not met. The state also computes the average scores of all tested students, called mean scale scores, which reflects the progress of all students rather than only those who changed achievement levels from one year to the next.

This year average scale scores rose statewide. Statewide in all tested grades, 49 percent of students met or exceeded the English language arts/literacy standard, an increase of 5 percentage points from last year. In mathematics, 37 percent of students met or exceeded standards, also an increase of 4 percentage points from last year.

In English language arts/literacy, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards increased by at least 4 percentage points in all grades except grades eight and eleven, which increased by 3 points.

In mathematics, the largest gains were seen among third-graders, with 46 percent meeting or exceeding standards, an increase of 6 points from last year. Other grades posted gains of 2 or 3 percentage points.

Individual student scores are reported to parents by mail, according to the Department of Education.

In addition, California provides a dedicated Web site,http://caaspp.cde.ca.gov, where parents and the public can view and compare aggregated results among schools, districts, and counties along with statewide results.