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Schools

Putting Mira Costa Students to the (STAR) Test

The state-mandated exam is an opportunity to show what's been learned, not a time to nap.

The STAR test begins with an all too familiar robotic introduction from the instructor. I have heard "some questions will be easy, and others will be more difficult…" for more than seven years now. After staring at the test for about a minute, I dive in and easily glide through 10 problems. Then I hit my first roadblock—a question requiring some thinking—and I realize that I have another 60 questions to go before finishing this section.

Hours later, despite quick glances at the clock every five minutes, the first half of the test is finally completed. This is the process most Mira Costa students went through on Wednesday and Thursday as they worked to answer the approximately 200 questions on the government-mandated test.

Students were warned to take these tests seriously. Last Friday, in preparation for this week's standardized testing at Mira Costa, Principal Ruisinger talked to students about the importance of the STAR exams during a homeroom period television broadcast. Ruisinger explained how our standardized testing scores represent what kind of school Mira Costa is academically and are also an important factor in deciding which campuses are awarded the much-sought-after distinction of being called a California Distinguished School.

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Ruisinger jokingly ended the broadcast with a warning: If we wanted our teachers to be able to feed their families next year, we needed to put our best foot forward on the STAR test. Although slightly scary, these admonitions are made for a reason: Despite the intelligence of the student body, some kids don't apply themselves fully when taking the STAR exams.

Some students use the STAR testing time to take a nap. They disregard the warnings about the importance of the exams, and feel they're a waste of their time. STAR tests don't affect GPA and are therefore deemed insignificant by some Costa students. Fortunately, most students understand the value of the STAR tests and the resulting Academic Performance Index (API). Colleges use API scores to help determine the difficulty of a certain school's classes. Mira Costa's API Score in 2009 was 872, placing it in the top 10th percentile of all high schools in California. Check out Mira Costa's API score here.

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STAR tests are an important measurement of growth and success for every school, not just Mira Costa. Because of that, all students should come to school ready to show what they've learned each year. Sleep after the test, not during.

Adam Gerard is a freshman at Mira Costa High School. His student columns appear semi-regularly at Manhattan Beach Patch.

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