Last year, in 2010-2011, about twenty students made the list for the top California Standards Test (CST) performers at Langston Hughes Academy.
     The people who scored the highest in the math CST are as follows: McKenzie Westland, Ngozi Elobuike, Fong Her, Carly Davis, Zahria Hendrix, Agustin Guerrero, Jacob Gomez-Enriquez, Keyla Smith, Alexis Watterson, Holly Xiong, Evelyn Fierro, Daniel Mendoza, Anisah Zarif, Daraja McDonald, Darius Battle, Bryant Ortiz-Rubio, and Tyree Strickland. The students with the highest CST scores in English Language Arts (ELA) are as follows: Ngozi Elobuike and Fong Her, who were both taught by Humanities teacher Mrs. Trejo. Last but not least, Hannah Fathi and Travis Kirby both scored high on the CST in science. The students’ names are in order from the highest to the lowest scores.
     Anisah Zarif, an eighth grade student, is glad she made it to the list. She was a seventh grade student who was learning eighth grade math.
 “It feels good because I know I worked hard and studied, and I know that all of my hard work paid off,” said Zarif.    
     Mr. Hodges, a math teacher, taught about eight of the above students on the list for math.
     “I looked at student data from homework, exams, and class assignments. Based upon that data, I pulled small groups either before school, after school, during class, or during Saturday classes. The main strategy was helping them believe that they can be successful,” shared Mr. Hodges.
   Each spring, students in grades two through eleven are required to take the Standardized Testing and Report (STAR) test. The STAR Program looks at how well the schools and students are performing. Students take tests in math, reading, writing, science, and history. Schools, teachers, and parents use the test results to improve student learning.
    Overall, Aspire Public Schools had 901 students score at least 95% on one or more CSTs in 10-11.  In ELA, there were a total of 221 (approximately 3% of students tested) that scored 95% or higher with five perfect scores.  In math a total of 746 students (approximately 10% of our students who tested) scored 95% or higher and 78 students had perfect scores.    
     Teachers do not just recognize and reward students who score high on the CST. What is also important are the students who show improvement in their scores. Improvement in a student’s scores helps raise the school’s Academic Performance Index (API) score and also gives recognition to the school.