Salt Lake City high school students show marked improvement on UBSCT

James Andersen, the principal at Salt Lake City’s Horizonte Instruction and Training Center, immediately saw a difference when his students walked out of the testing center after taking the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test (UBSCT).

“In previous years,” Andersen said, “it was like a morgue. They looked like they were beat up.”

This year was different, though, and Andersen could see it in the students’ demeanor as they walked out.

“The kids came out of the test very, very confident. The comments they made, their body language; they looked like they knew what they were doing. They walked out with their heads up, smiles on their faces,” said Andersen. “I asked them how they did, and they said, ‘I passed it. I know I did great.’”

Andersen says that the improvement in his students’ attitudes toward the test, and their learning overall at Horizonte can be traced to the implementation of Classworks a little more than a year ago.

Horizonte, located in downtown Salt Lake City, has a typical urban high school population: its student body is 75 percent minority – the largest group being Hispanic – and has a 90 percent free/reduced lunch population.

However, Horizonte does not follow the typical high school model; as many of its students struggle academically, a high emphasis is placed on providing interventions during the seven-period day that focuses on reading, writing and mathematics. As a result, many graduating Horizonte seniors go on to college.

Classworks has been introduced into Horizonte’s computer labs and into individual classrooms for whole class and small group instruction.

“We know that if we get kids in here we can be successful with them,” said Andersen. “We have kids who have logged many hours on Classworks, and some who are newer, and have less time invested. But it’s clear that the longer the students spend on Classworks, the bigger the increase in the test scoring.”

Based on preliminary numbers, Horizonte improved on the most recent UBSCT, conducted last October. The biggest gain was on the Math portion, which was up by 44.4 percent, which has Andersen understandably excited.

“This is the largest number of students we have ever had pass the test. Last year we had an 18-percent pass rate in math and a 26-percent this year. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s a huge gain. Math is where the majority of kids struggle in our state,” Andersen said. “That’s a 44.4 percent gain in the number of students who passed the test in math this year. That’s pretty nice.”

And for Horizonte’s students who were taking the UBSCT for the second time or more (those who scored at the “minimal mastery” level on the subject the previous time), they are passing the retake at twice the rate of the district average.

“These kids can learn, and by creating the right instruction delivering that information in the right way, you can be successful with these students,” Andersen said. “Together with Classworks, we are demonstrating that.”