S.J. County students make progress in CAASPP tests

STOCKTON — Five years after California converted to online tests that measured students on English language arts/literacy and mathematics, standards show that slow but steady progress has been made in San Joaquin County.

Statewide results of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress were released this week after millions of third- to eighth-grade and 11th-grade students took the computer–based tests in the spring.

The tests, which replace traditional standardized testing, evaluate how students fare in Common Core, the curriculum adopted statewide five years ago. Scores fall into one of four achievement levels: standard exceeded, standard met, standard nearly met and standard not met.

Statewide in all grades, 50 percent of students met or exceeded the English language arts/literacy standard, an increase of 6 percent when the assessment was in its first year in 2015. In mathematics, 39 percent of students met or exceeded standards, also an increase of 6 percentage points from 2015.

In San Joaquin County, 43 percent of students tested in all grades passed or exceeded the English language arts/literacy standard (compared to 41 percent last year) and 30 percent met or exceeded in math (from 29 percent last year).

Over five years, San Joaquin County has seen an increase of 7 percentage points in students who met or exceeded English language arts/literacy and 4 percent in math.

In Calaveras County, 42 percent of students tested passed or exceeded the English language arts/literacy standard and 30 percent met or exceeded in math with no change in percentage points over five years.

By comparison, in Stanislaus County, 42 percent of all students passed or exceeded the English language arts/literacy standard (an increase of 6 percentage points from 2015) and 29 percent met or exceeded in math (an increase of 6 percentage points).

Among the local school districts, Lincoln reached over the state average at 51 percent passing or exceeding the English language arts/literacy standard (compared to 49 percent last year), followed by Manteca (47 percent from 45 percent), Lodi (44 percent from 43 percent), Tracy (43 percent from 41 percent last year), Linden (39 percent from 41 percent) and Stockton (30 percent from 26 percent).

In math, Lincoln saw 37 percent of students pass or exceed from 34 percent last year, followed by Lodi (32 percent with no change), Linden (31 percent with no change), Tracy (31 percent from 29 percent last year), Manteca (28 percent from 27 percent) and Stockton (20 percent from 19 percent).

In Calaveras Unified, 36 percent of students passed the English language arts/literacy standard (no change last year) and 26 percent passed in math (28 percent last year). In the Bret Harte Union High School District, where only 11th-graders take the test, 66 percent passed the English language arts/literacy standard (63 percent last year) and 36 percent passed in math (29 percent from last year).

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said Wednesday that there is “deep concern” that improvement is less consistent across the score range for later grades of 7,8 and 11, along with persistent percentage of students of color not meeting standards.

“Disparities between students of color and their white and Asian peers continue from year to year and demonstrate the importance of our priority initiative of closing the achievement gap,” Thurmond said in a statement.

“Education equity should mean equity for all students and right now, we are not there. All students should have an equal opportunity to succeed academically and enter the workforce prepared with the needed skills to compete in the industries that drive our state forward.”

The CAASPP tests consist of two parts: an adaptive test done on the computer that provided students different followup questions based on how they answered, and why they decided on that answer. Answering correctly would move onto a tougher question. A wrong answer would be followed by easier questions.

Second was a performance task that challenged students to solve real-world problems and essentially was open-ended. The two parts, according to the California Department of Education, measure depth of understanding, writing, research and problem-solving skills.