MUSD test scores demonstrate year over year student growth

At Milpitas Unified School District, our educators share a growth mindset when it comes to our student outcomes in the classroom as well as on state standardized tests. Simply, we want to see improvement over time for each student as they work to meet and then exceed the state standard.

While MUSD students consistently outscore their county and state peers on standardized tests, this is only a one-moment-in-time assessment of our student achievement. However, our cohort data proves that as students move through our MUSD system, they are exhibiting year over year, statistically significant growth in English Language Arts and Mathematics.

Example 1: One way to examine this is to follow a cohort of students from when they begin testing in third grade and as they continue through our schools over a five-year period. Let’s take our cohort of third graders district-wide from 2015 who were then 7th graders tested in 2019.

• 64 percent met or exceeded the State Standard in Math as third graders in 2015
• 65 percent met or exceeded the State Standard in Math as fourth graders in 2016
• 59 percent met or exceeded the State Standard in Math as fifth graders in 2017
• 70 percent met or exceeded the State Standard in Math as sixth graders in 2018
• 73 percent met or exceeded the State Standard in Math as seventh graders in 2019
  • A 9 percent increase of those students who met or exceeded the State Standard in Math over a period of five years.
  • This same cohort group jumped 19 percent from 58 to 77 percent met or exceeded the State Standard in ELA over the same five-year period.
    

Example 2: In this case, looking at all MUSD students, we can track how our students have performed on state assessments over a five-year period.

• In 2019, 71.22 percent of MUSD students met or exceeded the State Standard in English Language Arts and 64.71 percent of MUSD students met or exceeded the State Standard in Mathematics. Over the last five years, MUSD students as a whole have increased their scores by 6 percent in ELA and 8 percent in Math.
  • Compared to the State, 50.87 percent of students met or exceeded the State Standard in ELA and 39.73 percent in Math.
  • Compared to Santa Clara County, 63.03 percent of students met or exceeded the State Standard in ELA and 56.56 percent in Math.

Example 3: Now, let’s look at our 11th grade students at Milpitas High School over the last five years, again in ELA and Math. Over the last five years, MHS juniors have increased 4 percent from 75 to 79 percent met or exceeded the State Standard in ELA. Over the same time, MHS juniors have increased by 11 percent from 52 to 63 percent met or exceeded the State Standard in Math.