State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson has announced that California students made significant progress in the second year of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) online tests, with the percentage of California students meeting or exceeding standards increasing at every grade and in every student group.
The assessments were given to more than 3.2 million California students, including more than 93,000 Kern students in grades 3-8 and 11 last spring. While Kern County continues to lag behind California as a whole, results show that fewer Kern County students failed to meet the standards in both English and math this year compared to last.
In English, 36 percent did not meet state standards this year, down from 40 percent in 2014-15. In math, 45 percent of students did not meet standards, down from 48 percent in 2014-15. In Kern, gains were also made in every grade level and in every student subgroup, including English Language Learners.
Because of the more rigorous nature of new California State Standards the new tests are assessing, it was understood that students would likely need to make significant progress to reach the new standards, which accompany college and career readiness, Frazier said.
“We are seeing this with these results, but the most important thing is that we are moving in the right direction as a county,” she said.
A number of factors may have helped scores rise this year, including an extra year of teaching to the California state standards in English and math and more familiarity for students taking the tests online (online tests replaced paper and pencil tests last year). Results from the previous year also allowed educators to more efficiently adjust instruction to meet student needs.
One concern that remains statewide is the continuing achievement gap, with significantly lower scores among students from low-income families and English learners, for which Kern County has a high concentration of. There are also disparities among some ethnic groups.
“The achievement gap is persistent and we all need to work together to find solutions that help all groups rise, while narrowing the gap,” said Torlakson, who has proposed an office within the California Department of Education devoted to coordinating and promoting efforts to address the achievement gap.
Individual student scores are reported to parents by mail. In addition, California provides a dedicated CAASPP Results website, where parents and the public can view and compare aggregated results among schools, districts, and counties along with statewide results.
