How my students have performed on the physics CST

We get CST results each year. The STAR reports are not always useful or logically organized. I've been on a mission to get results that I could hammer into something meaningful. Each year, I have to volunteer some time, talent, and energy to tease out results that reflect on what's going on in my own classroom.

The state generates some very broad results that they publish August 15-ish each year following the Spring administration. School districts are then charged with providing individualized teacher reports.

With the additional effort I put in, here's a presentation of how my students have performed on the Physics CST over the years. (The file is a zipped QuickTime document.)

Interpreting those results is another matter. Given the data presented in that report, I'm hard-pressed to generate much analysis. My students generally fair well. They've got a number of advantages over the average California physics student. But as far as using the results to decide what to do different next year, the picture is not entirely clear. I've already surrendered a huge portion of the second semester to electricity and magnetism. And electricity and magnetism remains an area of relatively low performance.