SMUSD Retains State Testing Crown

For the third straight year, San Marino Unified School District produced the highest percentage of students meeting or exceeding the state-administered CAASPP, the district announced this week.
With 90% of students meeting or exceeding standards in the English language arts tests and 86% doing so for the math tests, SMUSD’s average of 88% led all unified school districts in California this year. Immediately following were Piedmont Unified School District with an 85% average and La Cañada Unified School District, also with an 85% average.
Compared with last year’s data, SMUSD maintained its English language arts percentage and fell by 1% in its math scores.
CAASPP, which stands for California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, is an online standardized test given to students in grades 3-8 and 11 as a measure of student performance and also growth or regression year to year. It was launched in 2015 to replace the Academic Performance Index, which also ranked SMUSD with top grades for more than a decade.
Superintendent Alex Cherniss cited the district’s teachers for helping lead its hardworking students to this point.
“I think it shows the hard work that they put into their jobs on a daily basis produces extraordinary outcomes,” Cherniss said. “Our students are able to demonstrate their learning at the highest level of any school district in California. A lot of our parents made quite the sacrifice to move to San Marino, and they do it for the schools. This is our way of showing the community that they made the right decision to come and that we’re serving our students.”
C. Joseph Chang, president of SMUSD’s Board of Education, lauded the district’s students for continuing achievement through many years and different tests.
“Consistent achievement is a sign of truly rare greatness,” he said in a release. “This success is only possible by hardworking students, incredible parental support and the dedicated teachers and staff.”
The California Department of Education uploaded scoring breakdowns to the public Wednesday, after a computation error previously delayed release of the scores last month.