Test scores gain, but achievement gap persists
Fewer than half of students statewide — 49 percent in English and just 37 percent in math — scored proficient
California students’ scores in English and math rose from last year to this spring, with gains spanning gender, race, language and socioeconomic differences, test results released Wednesday show.
However, the encouraging news in the annual state test scores was tempered by a harsh reality: Overall, fewer than half of students statewide — 49 percent in English and just 37 percent in math — scored proficient.
And alarmingly, the wide gap in performance between Asian and white students on one hand and black and Latino students on the other remains unrelenting, despite years of focused efforts and a recent infusion of state funds to close it.
Scores remained dismal for black and Latino children, even in otherwise high-achieving districts. In Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, only about onequarter of Latinos met math standards. Among African-Americans, the figure was only 16 percent in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, 21 percent in San Mateo County and 31 percent in Santa Clara County.
“We’d like to see more of a sense of urgency and more rapid progress for English language learners, low-income and African-American students in particular,” said Carrie Hahnel of the Oakland advocacy group Education Trust-West.
The picture in the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress report was much brighter for children from middleclass families in the South Bay and East Bay and on the Peninsula. Roughly fourfifths of Asians met standards in math and English. White students in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties scored only a few percentage points lower than that in English, and were about 10 percentage points below in math.
Overall, this year’s scores improved from 2015, the first year of the state’s new version of standardized tests, when just 44 percent of students met English standards and 33 percent met math standards.
Educators hailed the gain, with state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson calling it progress toward upgrading the state’s education system. But critics said the progress is welcome but dismayingly slow, and pointed out the achievement gap separating the races.
Torlakson called the achievement gap “pernicious and persistent.”
The gulf widened marginally in math because gains by white students outpaced gains by black and Latino students. White students’ proficiency scores grew 4 percentage points, while black students’ rates grew by 2 percentage points and Latino students’ rates increased by 3 percentage points. Students meeting or exceeding math standards included 72 percent of Asians, 53 percent of whites, 24 percent of Latinos and 18 percent of African-Americans.
In English, Latino students who met standards increased from 32 percent to 37 percent — a 5 percentage point jump that helped narrow the gap slightly with Asian and white students, whose proficiency percentages grew by 4 and 3 percentage points, respectively.
In San Jose Unified, Latino students posted stronger gains than white students did in nearly all grades tested. “This represents a promising step toward fulfilling our mission, but we still have a long way to go,” Superintendent Nancy Albarrán said.
The latest state scores were compiled from computerized, adaptive exams administered last spring to students in grades 3 through 8 and in grade 11. Scores from statewide science exams will be released later.
School districts either have sent, or will send, individual student score reports to parents.
Donetha Prince, who has a grandson at Oakland’s McClymonds High School, said she was thrilled to see the school’s improvement, even if small — 15 percentage points in English and 2 in math. “Any improvement at all is great for our students,” she said. “I feel that things are definitely going to improve, especially with new principals and new students.”
About 3.2 million California students took the exams. Unlike elsewhere in the country, the new exams that are aligned with the Common Core State Standards have not generated great controversy. Only 0.7 percent of students received exemptions at their parents’ requests, the state Department of Education reported..
The exams replace the old STAR tests, which were paper-and-pencil exams that were suspended in 2013.
School districts map out teaching plans based on what they learn from annual test results. In San MateoFoster City School District, just 31 percent of Latinos met English goals, 6 points below the state and county. “We recognize,” Assistant Superintendent Heather Olsen said, “that an additional focus is needed to accelerate learning of low-income and English learner students.”
In Richmond’s West Contra Costa Unified, new Superintendent Matthew Duffy said in a statement that “our gains are coming too slowly” and that the district needs to identify and refine effective approaches.
As they dissected scores this week, educators found some encouragement. In the high-scoring Cupertino Union School District, the portion of low-income students meeting English standards grew 10 percentage points and special-education students improved by 6 points. The district had targeted both groups for improvement, Superintendent Wendy Gudalewicz said.
Yet despite schools’ positive spin on results, the numbers speak of huge challenges.
Even if Latinos’ scores continue to climb by 5 percentage points annually, it would take eight years for them to reach current Asian levels of success on English tests — 72 percent of students. And, at the current rate of improvement in black students’ scores, it would be 16 years until half of black students tested meet state standards in math.
As a whole, the results are troubling, said Matt Hammer of the San Jose nonprofit Innovate Public Schools, which pushes for improved education and opportunities for low-income children.
“I’m just really worried about all these kids who aren’t at grade level in reading and math,” he said, “and how incredibly difficult it will be for them to get a college degree and be able to survive in this valley.”