Assessment shows scores are improving in Valley

LANCASTER — The Antelope Valley Union High School District saw a nearly 4% drop in the number of students who met or exceeded state standards for mathematics, compared to pre-pandemic scores, according to data released, last month, by the California Department of Education.

However, more recent NWEA assessments show students’ scores are improving.

For the 2021-22 School Year, 8.54% of the District’s students met or exceeded the 2022 Smarter Balanced summative assessments for math, down 3.83 percentage points (from 12.37%) from the 2018-19 School Year when students took the test before the pandemic.

The Smarter Balanced summative assessments are part of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress system, also known as CAASPP.

Statewide, the percentage of students who met or exceeded math standards dropped seven percentage points, from 40% to 33%, when compared to students who took the tests before the pandemic.

For English language arts, 32.77% of the District’s students met or exceeded state standards, down from 38.62%, in 2018-19. Statewide, the percentage of students who met or exceeded state standards dropped four percentage points, from 51% to 47%.

“There was an expectation that everyone was going to go down a bit,” Assistant Superintendent Chris Grado said. “But we have a lot of work to do.”

The scores come from the Class of 2023. These students had their freshman year disrupted halfway through when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Students and teachers reverted to distance learning for the remainder of the year and for most of the students’ sophomore year.

“I have to commend our teaching staff,” Grado said. “They pivoted on a day’s notice and all of a sudden, were teaching online and did an amazing job at it.”

By the time they took state assessments last spring as juniors, it was clear that the pandemic impacted student achievement.

“We have a lot of things in place that we’re excited about,” Grado said.

The 2022-23 state budget included $7.9 billion in one-time funding for a Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant to help school districts create learning recovery initiatives through the 2027-28 school year.

“There’s a good chunk of change that we’re going to be able to put toward some programs that we’re excited about,” Grado said.

The District’s total allocation is about $31.29 million with the first apportionment at about $15.64 million, according to the California Department of Education.

This year, the District is focusing on the multi-tiered system of support, also known as MTSS. It’s framework that many schools and districts use to give targeted support to struggling students.

“I think it’s time that we really look at the whole child,” Grado said. “We’re not just going to put band-aid over some test scores; we really have to address the whole student.”

The District has another block grant to help students meet their A-G requirements, the minimum admission requirements for the University of California.

With the state-mandated later start time in effect, this year, several of the District’s schools offer tutoring before school.

“We have a lot of room to grow,” Grado said.

This is the first year students returned to the classroom without any restrictions due to the pandemic. Juniors took the NWEA assessment, in September, which mirrors the state assessment and the Preliminary SAT. Results show that juniors in the Class of 2024 have already improved over the previous class. At least 13% met or exceeded the math standard within a few weeks of school beginning.

“This is exciting already,” Grado said. “If that rings true, already we’re showing a great improvement. That was the first two weeks of school; by the time we get to CAASPP, I’m looking for another little bump as well.”