Guam - The island's public school students aren't making the grade when it comes to the Stanford Achievement Test.  Acting deputy superintendent for curriculum and instructional improvement Joe Sanchez told KUAM News, "Unfortunately, it seems we're still far behind in terms of our proficiency goals."
 
Sanchez says Guam's students were compared to a national norm of stateside testtakers from 2007 and that past SAT-10 results were compared to stateside testtakers from 2002. "We noticed that the rate of improvement for us is not as fast as that of the nation, and therefore when it comes to our performance levels and our proficiency levels were not catching up as quickly. So over time, that kind of builds up," he explained.
 
Results show that Guam schools rank below national standards, with the exception of Jose Rios Middle School's 7th grade science. As DOE officials continue to review the results, Sanchez says these scores will mirror the goals DOE will set for the present school year to ensure students are better prepared and equipped to take the test the next time around.
 
"I think it's really important for everyone to know that you can't really base the learning or achievement of a student or even the success of a school or a school system based off one type of test," said Sanchez. 
 
"We actually have a lot of stuff planned; it kind of seems that at times we just look at these scores and get depressed and don't really do anything with them, but there really are a lot of things that have been happening in the district to find ways to help make our curriculum a little more clear," he said.