This year’s state test scores provided a bittersweet send-off to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s education legacy, with scores in English and math rising but results still below pre-pandemic achievement levels.
A clear sign of this mix was in English language arts: the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced increased 0.5 percentage points to 49.3%. But that’s nearly 2 percentage points lower than the pre-pandemic test in 2019. At this rate of improvement, it would take about four more years (or roughly a decade) to surpass pre-pandemic scores.
And, even before the pandemic, about half of the state’s students were not meeting the state’s learning goals.
Progress was better in math, which improved by 1.1 percentage points, but only 38.4% of students scored proficient or better. At the current pace, math scores will actually catch up to pre-pandemic levels by next year.
Science, a relatively new test, did better, with a strong 3.3 percentage point increase, but that left the student proficiency rate at just 36 percent.
Locally, Los Angeles Unified and Compton Unified remain bright spots, continuing to grow significantly and continuing to soar to pre-pandemic levels.
Newsom said in a statement that he was looking at a half-full situation in the ledger.
“These results provide important evidence that our continued investments are making a difference,” Newsom said. He listed some of those efforts as creating new school grades, transitional kindergarten for 4-year-olds; free school meals for all; and community schools to provide students and families with services beyond academics.
“California is working hard to ensure students have the resources they need to thrive,” Newsom said. “The continued progress we are seeing is a testament to the hard work of students, families and educators across the state.”
Newsom also delivered a record amount of state funding to school systems, though not as much as supporters said the law required him to provide. The issue is under litigation.
Leaders say more, faster progress is needed
Outgoing state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond offered a more cautious summary.
“California has made important progress in expanding student supports and opportunities, but the pace of academic progress reminds us that our work is far from done,” Thurmond said.
State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond also stressed the need for more progress, while calling attention to significant gains for African-American students, Latino students, low-income students and homeless students.
For example, black students made above-average gains in English, math, and science, with English scores improving in nearly every grade tested. But this leaves black students with an English proficiency rate of 33.7%, a math proficiency rate of 21.5%, and a science proficiency rate of 20.5%. The achievement gap between them and white and Asian students remains between 28 and 49 percentage points.
Another area of improvement is the proportion of pupils who are chronically absent, meaning they miss at least 10 per cent of school. The chronic absenteeism rate among students is 18.3%, nearly one in five, an increase of 1.1 percentage points. But the rate in 2016-17 was 10.8%.
Bragging Rights for Compton and Los Angeles Unified School Districts
Compton Unified and Los Angeles Unified’s scores outperformed the state’s, with higher proficiency in key categories.
In math, Compton’s student proficiency rate was 46.5 percent, an increase of 5.4 percentage points. Los Angeles Unified students’ proficiency level was 39.7%, an increase of 3 percentage points. Both are higher than the national proficiency rate of 38.4%.
In terms of English, 53.8% of Compton students’ English is proficient or above, an increase of 2.8 percentage points from last year. LAUSD is 48.3%. The national tax rate is 49.3%.
But for nearly every group of students, LAUSD’s scores were higher than the state average for the same group.
Black students at Compton and Los Angeles Unified also made gains and were significantly above state scores:
- English: Compton 48.7%, Los Angeles Unified School District 37.6%, state government 33.7%.
- Math: Compton 40.7%, LA USD 27.6%, State 21.5%.
This year, black students in Compton improved by 4.4 percentage points in English and 6.4 percentage points in math, compared with 0.9 and 1.5 percentage points for black students statewide.
The positive picture for Latino students is similar:
- English: Compton 54.8%, Los Angeles Unified School District 43%, state government 39.6%.
- Mathematics: Compton 47.6%, Los Angeles Unified School District 33.7%, state 27%.
How public school principal candidates are performing in their districts
This year, the candidate for state Superintendent of Public Instruction is the president of the local school board. Both of their constituencies have something to boast about.
Republican Sonja Shaw leads the Chino Valley Unified School District, which has about 26,000 students in San Bernardino County. The school system consistently scores above the state average and has experienced less learning loss due to the pandemic than many other school districts. Since Shaw joined the board in 2022, the district has continued to score above the state average.
Democrat Richard Barrera has served on the San Diego Unified board of directors since 2008 and currently serves as a senior adviser to Thurmond. San Diego compares favorably with other large urban school systems, although its competitors will point out that San Diego has fewer students from low-income families than many large urban systems. San Diego’s English scores fell this year after rising last year.