Imperial County improving bit by bit on CAHSEE

The results for the California High School Exit Exam are in and Imperial County has improved upon itself overall in both mathematics and English-language arts.

First-time CAHSEE test-takers in grade 10 have improved in mathematics from 78 percent passing in 2010 to 80 percent passing in 2011, according to a summary from the Imperial County Office of Education.

Tenth-graders have also improved in English-language arts from 74 percent in 2010 to 78 percent in 2011.

In addition, Imperial County has showed an improvement, further narrowing the achievement gap between the county and California passing rates by a rate of 4 percent in 2011 compared to 7 in 2010.

This year in California, 83 percent of all 10th-graders passed the CAHSEE in mathematics while 80 percent of students in Imperial County have passed in math.

Seventy-eight percent of 10th-grade students in Imperial County passed the CAHSEE in English-language arts while 82 percent passed ELA statewide in 2011.

While Imperial County Superintendent Anne Mallory was pleased to see the improvements in the overall results she also said work must still be done to meet state standards in certain subgroups.

“We’re not where we need to be until every ELA and special education student look at their overall pass rate (and match the state’s),” Mallory said.

Subgroups such as English learners, migrants and socio-economically disadvantaged students saw gains in both English and mathematics, according to the summary.

“The bottom line is the scores have increased,” she said.