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Midpeninsula students’ standardized test scores were all over the map, shedding light on how schools and students are performing, according to California Department of Education data released last week.
The tests, administered in spring 2022, were the first California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) tests since 2019 when tests were put on hold through the pandemic. The hiatus has also challenged the state’s ability to compare student performance year-over-year. Students in grades three to 11 take the tests, which measure English and math skills.
In the Ravenswood City School District, which hosts the most socioeconomically disadvantaged students locally, test figures are starkly lower than neighboring districts, consistent with past years. Just 6% of students met or exceeded the math standards in 2022. Only around 12% met or exceeded the English language arts (ELA) standards. Neighboring districts’ scores hover in the 80% range.
Test scores were down in the Menlo Park City School District and Woodside Elementary School District, while Las Lomitas students saw gains. Math scores improved in the Portola Valley School District from 2019, while ELA test scores dipped.
San Mateo County students
Students across San Mateo County are performing 12% higher than the state average, despite a slight decrease in standardized test scores since before the pandemic, according to a new report from the state. Since 2019, the county has seen a 2.7 percentage point drop in the share of students meeting or exceeding standards in English language arts, dipping from 61.5% to 58.8%.
In math, the portion of students meeting or exceeding standards dropped 4.3 percentage points from 53.4% to 49.1%
“Our students have experienced an incredible upheaval in their short lives. As has been documented, the impact on their mental health and social-emotional development has been significant. However, our students have also shown tremendous resiliency throughout the pandemic,” said Nancy Magee, county superintendent of schools in a press release.
The assessment looks at student performance across district, grade and student groups. Specific student groups are examined closely to determine where additional support may be required.
Comparing across the student groups, Asian students showed a slight increase in performance, while math and ELA scores among students with disabilities remained roughly at 2019 levels. However, Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino students saw significant declines in performance, with the number meeting ELA standards decreasing about 3-5% and the number meeting math standards dropping roughly 6.5% in both groups.
For additional information or to review the CAASPP results in their entirety, go here.
Ravenswood City School District
The Ravenswood City School District, which has more socioeconomically disadvantaged students (86%) than neighboring districts, saw test scores lag behind other districts. Nearly 59% are emergent bilingual learners while 14% have IEPs (individual education program plans for special education students).
Students performed better in 2019, with 18% meeting state standards for English language arts and just under 12% meeting standards for math. In 2018, scores were higher, with 24% of students meeting English language arts standards and 15% meeting math standards.
Trustee Ana Maria Pulido said during a Sept. 8 board meeting in which the data was presented that she knows the information is sobering, but it’s needed to assess, address and improve.
We can not quantify the trauma and we cannot quantify what kids felt for parents not having work or parents going to work everyday because they were essential workers. We can not quantify how many of these kids were taking care of siblings or watching TV all day because no one was there to take care of them.
Jenny Varghese Bloom, Ravenswood Trustee
Trustee Jenny Varghese Bloom noted that East Palo Alto was the worst hit in the county during the pandemic. East Palo Alto has accounted for 11,753 of the total 171,912 cases the county has seen over the course of the pandemic, according to county data.
“We can not quantify the trauma and we cannot quantify what kids felt for parents not having work or parents going to work everyday because they were essential workers,” she said. “We can not quantify how many of these kids were taking care of siblings or watching TV all day because no one was there to take care of them.”
Ravenswood City School District Trustee Jenny Varghese Bloom explains how the pandemic affected student learning in East Palo Alto.
Board Vice President Tamara Sobomehin said she is not a fan of standardizing testing because it doesn’t match what is being taught in classrooms.
“This is a data point and I do understand that and appreciate it, but I don’t want to become alarmed because of these numbers,” she said. “I appreciate that our district is looking at assessment in a more holistic way.”
The district has said that it considers state testing scores to tell an important but incomplete story.
“Although it illuminates big performance trends, it does not tell the whole story
of the health of a student,” district staff wrote in a Sept. 8 board presentation.
The district is responded in the following ways, according to a staff report, such as:
• Restructured teacher evaluation
• Maintained and expanded school-level programming
• Extended the school day and the school year
• Addressed compensation disparities districtwide
Specifically for data assessment and curriculum changes, the district is:
• Creating a strong data and assessment system like iReady in grades TK-8 (an online assessment and instruction system that helps teachers provide students a path to proficiency and growth in reading and math)
• Leveraging the use of “street data” (parent surveys, shadowing students, student work and more)
• Systematic progress monitoring across the district
• Reviewing and adopting curriculum that meets the needs of students
The district noted that both research and anecdotal evidence from Cesar Chavez Ravenswood Middle School suggest that, in middle school and beyond, bilingual/multilingual students perform more strongly than students who only speak one language. In Ravenswood, this means that although students at the elementary schools may have lower state assessment scores in elementary school, they have increased learning growth as middle schoolers.
Districts that saw losses
Test scores were overall down in the Menlo Park City School District last spring. Some 81% of students met or exceeded English language arts standards in 2022, compared to 84% in 2019. Some 77% of students met or exceeded math standards, down from 83% in 2019.
The district noted that there was a COVID-19 surge when tests were administered in May, an unusual circumstance that led to more student absences and few students taking the tests this time around.
This test was unlike any previous state tests since, because of the pandemic, parts of the assessment were dramatically shortened by 50% to decrease testing time to increase instruction time with the teacher.
“The district’s performance overall, may look slightly different when measured against pre-COVID data,” district staff said in an Oct. 13 report.
The district noted it also uses local assessments and mini-assessments throughout the year.
“Many of our local measures are much more reflective of MPCSD’s teaching and learning than the state tests,” staff said.
Looking at individual district schools, Laurel School actually saw gains in their test scores since 2019, while Oak Knoll School saw 6% losses in English language arts scores and a 5% dip in math scores. Hillview Middle School saw a 9% dip in math scores and a 5% drop in English language arts scores.
The district noted that socioeconomically disadvantaged students’ test scores continue to improve. They saw a 22% increase from 2017 testing to 2022 in ELA and a 12% increase during the same timeframe in math.
The two-school Woodside Elementary School District’s test scores dropped significantly from 2019 to 2022.
Nearly 74% of students met or exceeded math standards in 2022, compared to nearly 85% in 2019.
Some 82% met or exceeded English language arts standards in 2022, compared to almost 88% in 2019.
Outlier: Las Lomitas Elementary School District sees gains
The Las Lomitas Elementary School District actually saw gains from 2019 to 2022.
Some 86% Las Lomitas students met or exceeded English language arts standards, the same number as in 2019. Math scores increased from 82% in 2019 to 84% in 2022.
“It was really nice to see that 2% growth over 2018 in math because we think about the 2019 to 2022 and the lack of instruction, or lack of access for students, and we still improved, which is something really to be really, really proud of,” said Superintendent Beth Polito during a Sept. 7 district governing board meeting. “The effort of the teachers, the parents, the community, the students, I think it really paid off.”
Mixed results
The Portola Valley School District administered the tests in 2021 because it wanted to use them as a point of reference for monitoring student progress over time, and to use the results to inform instruction and provide support for students in the 2021-22 school year, according to Superintendent Roberta Zarea.
Some 83% of PVSD students met or exceeded English language arts standards — an increase of 2% from 2021, and 84% of students met or exceeded math standards, a 5% increase from 2021. These numbers are still not where they were in 2019 when nearly 87% met or exceeded ELA standards. Math scores did improve from 83% in 2019.
The Sequoia Union High School District did not see significantly different results before and after the pandemic. Of the district’s roughly 10,000 students, 71% met or exceeded ELA standards, a slight increase from 2019’s results. Just under 50% met or exceeded math standards, a slight decrease from 2019.
Achievement gaps within districts
Students identified as economically disadvantaged and English learners performed worse than other students, showing a significant achievement gap in student performance this year.
In the Los Lomitas district, for example, 45% of economically disadvantaged students met English language arts standards, compared to the nearly 89% of students who are not economically disadvantaged. This was a dip from nearly 61% among economically disadvantaged students meeting these standards in 2019.
“While our virtual programs were robust and expertly implemented by our teachers it was still very different and likely had a large impact on a critical year of literacy instruction,” Polito said in an email. “Over the last two years we have focused our attention on each and every student who did not meet standard and was adversely affected by our COVID years. Our learning recovery program is developmentally appropriate, robust and taking full advantage of extended day programs.”
About 58% of English learners met math standards, an improvement from 2019, when 52% of English learners met math standards in the Las Lomitas district.
Economically disadvantaged students saw gains in both subject areas from 2019 in the Menlo Park district.
English learners’ math scores dropped 9% since 2019, but improved by 4% in English language arts. Students with disabilities saw a 7% drop in scores in both subjects.
“When looking at our students with disabilities, we recognize the past two years of the pandemic continues to have an impact on their learning,” said Katherine Strach, coordinator of data, assessment and English learner services for the Menlo Park district, during a presentation to MPCSD governing board’s earlier this month. She noted that at Encinal School, for example, students with disabilities and English learners make up fewer than 30 students, so caution should be used when interpreting the results of these groups.
Despite outpacing the state and county overall, the Sequoia district had significant achievement gaps across different demographic groups. Looking at math results for 2022, success among Asian and white students exceeded that of county averages, with 87% and 67% meeting or exceeding standards, respectively. However, Hispanic/Latino students are on par with the county, while only 11% of Black students in SUHSD met or exceeded math standards, compared to 17% countywide.
The district has created a Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) to “measure our progress in closing the racial gap and improve the performance of students across each of these subgroups,” according to a district statement. The goals of this plan include improving attendance and engagement for all students, addressing equity issues in instructional and employment practices, and implementing new multi-tiered systems of support across the district.
You can review statewide results here.
