The William S. Hart Union High School District governing board is scheduled Wednesday to receive district staff presentations on the current enrollment numbers and the most recent round of state testing.
Also on the agenda for Wednesday’s regular meeting is a presentation from Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, D-Chatsworth, for the awarding of state funding. West Ranch High Principal Robert Fisher is also slated to report on the current successes at his campus.
Wednesday’s meeting is set to begin at 7 p.m. at the district’s administrative office, located at 21380 Centre Pointe Parkway. To view the meeting online, go to tinyurl.com/2tnkw7mp.
Enrollment
According to the presentation provided with the agenda, the district currently has a little under 20,500 students as of this year’s census day, typically the first Wednesday in October. That includes all seven comprehensive high schools and the six junior highs, as well as three alternative schools.
That number represents a decrease of 194 students since last year’s census day, with the majority of that decrease coming from the alternative schools. High schools overall lost 75 students, though junior highs actually increased overall by five.
Placerita and Rio Norte junior highs were the two junior high campuses to gain students, with gains of 20 and 29, respectively. Hart, Saugus and Valencia high schools all saw bumps in enrollment. Hart gained 10 students, Saugus 17 and Valencia 26.
West Ranch had the highest reported loss in enrollment at a comprehensive site at 64 students.
Bowman High School had the largest reported loss overall at 83 students.
Arroyo Seco, La Mesa and Rancho Pico junior highs had reported losses of less than 10 students.
Test scores
The district recently released its results from the latest round of state testing conducted in the spring, showing 63% of students at least meeting the state standard in English, while less than half of the students met the state standards for math and science: 47% did so in math and 44% did so in science.
Hart district students in grades seven, eight and 11 take the California Smarter Balanced Assessments in English and math. Students take the California Science Test once while in high school after previously taking it in fifth grade.
These tests, taken in the spring each year, are part of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress.
In English, all six junior highs saw increases in or maintained the number of students who met the standard. West Ranch, Bowman, Castaic High and Saugus High also met that mark.
In terms of a percentage of students, the district had 68.5% of students hit the state standard in 2023 compared to 69.24% in 2022. In 2019, the last year that state testing was held prior to the pandemic, that number was at 73.21%.
The full numbers for the 2024 testing period have yet to be released by the California Department of Education.
In math, three high schools — Castaic, Hart and West Ranch — saw increases or maintained in the number of students meeting or exceeding the standard. Five junior highs — Arroyo Seco, La Mesa, Placerita, Rio Norte and Rancho Pico — did the same.
In 2023, the results show 44.68% of students at least met the standard, a nearly three-point improvement from 2022’s number of 41.96%.
Compared to this year, the district had another three-point percentage increase in 2024, but still short of the nearly 53% of students who at least met the standard in 2019.
Looking at science, four high schools — Castaic, Hart, Saugus and Valencia — saw increases in the number of students at least meeting the standard. Three junior highs — Placerita, Rancho Pico and Sierra Vista — saw similar increases.
“We are pleased to see some promising improvements at many of our schools and several student subgroups in our statewide assessment data,” interim Superintendent Michael Vierra said in a news release. “While our English language arts and math scores generally maintained or saw some slight overall declines, the students of the Hart district continue to significantly outperform county and state averages. These assessment results continue to highlight the outstanding instruction and support provided to our students by our exceptional staff. Additionally, these results help to identify critical target areas for future instruction that will continue to increase student learning.”
