Test results for Arcadia High School seniors showed a small drop in reading scores and a slight gain in math scores for this year's California Assessment Program.
District-wide test scores show Arcadia remains high in test results, though some Board of Education members are concerned about a drop in spelling scores for the 6th and 12th grades.
Four area districts, Arcadia among them, scored above the state average, according to 1982 California Assessment Program test results. CAP test scores are given for Arcadia Unified and surrounding school districts for 1981 and 1982.
Test scores of Arcadia Unified School District's seniors rose this year. The reading score was 294 (up 19 points) while math score was 333 (up 20 points). Since 1987-88, students moved from the 77th to the 85th percentile in reading and from the 89th to the 96th percentile in math statewide.
Scholastic Aptitude Test scores show Arcadia students taking the test have scored above the national average for several years. The SAT, used by many colleges in admissions, is a measure of verbal and mathematical skills.
In Arcadia, 8 schools increased their Academic Performance Index (API) scores and two declined. Dana Middle School and First Avenue Middle School were the schools that showed declines in API scores.
Results of statewide achievement scores for students in grades 3, 6 and 12 indicate that among area schools, only Arcadia Unified School District students scored above the state average in every area examined.
Results of the 1985-86 California Assessment Program show test scores that were "the highest since these current tests have been administered" in Arcadia's 3rd, 6th and 8th grades.
Although Arcadia students slipped in their 1983-84 California Assessment Program scores compared to their own performance last year, they still scored well above the average compared to schools statewide. According to figures released by the Arcadia School District and the State Department of Education, Arcadia students in grades 3, 6, 8 and 12 did well above average in all areas tested.
In the past 2 years, after 7 years of declining, Scholastic Aptitude Test verbal scores have begun to rise slightly nationwide. But in Arcadia they have continued their downward trend.
The Arcadia Unified School District again ranked among the top 10% of statewide districts in the latest California Assessment Program (CAP) results. CAP scores were based on tests given to 3rd and 6th grade students last May in math, reading, and writing as well as tests given to 8th-graders in reading, math, history and science.