REGION: Testing improvements attributed to teachers, increase of data:
"'We're moving forward,' said Jim Growth, a member of the California Teachers Association's board of directors and a teacher in Chula Vista. 'It's good news for everybody.'
Teaching strategies and curricula vary from district to district and from classroom to classroom, but local school officials said it's ultimately up to teachers and parents to boost student performance.
'Where the work takes place is in the classroom,' Growth said. 'California has thousands and thousands of very hardworking teachers who, in spite of all of the politics, continue to move forward and put their best foot forward.'
Teachers are becoming more familiar with what students are expected to know in each grade level, which has also helped to bring up test scores, said Sally Bennett-Schmidt, assessment coordinator with the San Diego County Office of Education. State education officials rewrote the tests in 2003 to align them closer to academic standards that were adopted a few years before."
"'We're moving forward,' said Jim Growth, a member of the California Teachers Association's board of directors and a teacher in Chula Vista. 'It's good news for everybody.'
Teaching strategies and curricula vary from district to district and from classroom to classroom, but local school officials said it's ultimately up to teachers and parents to boost student performance.
'Where the work takes place is in the classroom,' Growth said. 'California has thousands and thousands of very hardworking teachers who, in spite of all of the politics, continue to move forward and put their best foot forward.'
Teachers are becoming more familiar with what students are expected to know in each grade level, which has also helped to bring up test scores, said Sally Bennett-Schmidt, assessment coordinator with the San Diego County Office of Education. State education officials rewrote the tests in 2003 to align them closer to academic standards that were adopted a few years before."
