Statement from CSBA CEO & Executive Director Vernon M. Billy on 2023–24 California test scores

Statement from CSBA CEO & Executive Director Vernon M. Billy on 2023-24 California test scores<_sc3a_dot _xmlns3a_sc="http://www.sitecore.net/sc">

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Oct. 10, 2024) - "Despite incremental improvement of less than half a percentage point in English Language Arts (ELA) and less than one percentage point in Mathematics, overall student performance remains below pre-pandemic levels - which were already unacceptable. While we continue to study the data, our initial review of the 2023-24 state assessment results provides some evidence that the leadership of local governing boards and superintendents produced pockets of positive results - but the rate of growth is simply not enough to achieve our goals for the public education system. Nor is it sufficient to provide all current students with the skills needed for academic success.

Less than half of all California students met grade-level standards in English and just over a third cleared that bar in Mathematics. Scores were essentially flat across the board for ELA, accompanied by progress in Math for historically challenged groups such as African American students, Latino students, low-income students and Native American students. Yet, when working from extremely low proficiency baselines, gains of two percentage points, one percentage point, eight-tenths of a point and six-tenths of a point, respectively, represent a glacial pace of change in comparison to the size of the achievement gap. At this rate, it will take several generations to bring these student groups up to speed with their higher-performing peers.

We are also troubled by the question of whether schools can maintain their most effective interventions once one-time, COVID relief funds expire in January 2025. It's worth noting that California students made progress between the launch of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) and the onset of the pandemic, a period where school districts and county boards of education received increased, ongoing funding as well as the autonomy required to direct those resources in a way that best addressed local student needs. To that end, we celebrate the notable student growth achieved in Benicia USD, Compton USD, Fallbrook Union ESD, Los Angeles USD, Santa Maria Union HSD, Tulare Joint Union High School District and elsewhere - and we must also elevate and replicate, where appropriate, the strategies these districts used to accelerate student performance.

It's essential that the state provide local educational agencies with the resources and flexibility to serve their unique populations and identify trends and promising practices local governance teams can use to accelerate student achievement, particularly for low-performing student groups. It's high time the state's investment and focus match our rhetoric, so California schools can prepare all students, regardless of background, for success in college, career and civic life. This is why, in part, CSBA continues to fight in the courts and the halls of the State Legislature to maintain the integrity of the voter-approved Proposition 98 funding formula for TK-14 education and for policies that support students."