Sacramento County schools fell further behind on state test scores after COVID closures
California students fell behind on English and math scores during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the state’s first release of testing data since the coronavirus interrupted two years of in-class education.
Sacramento school districts generally fared even worse, lagging behind the lackluster statewide averages.
Data released by the California Department of Education Monday showed that only two of 14 districts, Folsom Cordova Unified and Elk Grove Unified, outperformed the state.
The results in Sacramento County overall pointed to equity challenges: Districts with more English learners and more students from low-income families tended to fare worse on the tests.
There were glaring achievement gaps when the data was broken down by race. For example, while 57% of white 11th graders in Sacramento City Unified met or exceeded standards on their English language arts assessment, only 19% of Black 11th graders did the same.
Statewide, 47% of students met or exceeded English language arts standards in the 2021-2022 school year, while only 33% of students met or exceeded the math standards. The percentages were down 4 points for language and 6 points for math compared to 2019.
Overall, 30% of California’s students did not meet language standards, and 42% did not meet math standards.
The state counts students who almost meet the standards in a separate category.
Tony Albano, a UC Davis School of Education professor who studies testing, said that while pandemic disruptions have clearly reduced overall progress toward testing proficiency, this end-of-year test provides a snapshot of students’ skills in two areas — far from a perfect measure of achievement.
The test, Albano said, “can’t capture the many ways in which students and schools have adapted and grown over the past few years. I’m optimistic that we’ll see improvements going forward as we find our footing and implement new approaches to teaching, learning, and assessing.”
As Folsom Cordova Unified spokesperson Angela Griffin Ankhelyi pointed out, “for many students — every student in grades 3 to 5 — these results represent the first time ever taking a standardized test.”
Sacramento City Unified Trustee Lavinia Phillips said the results were disappointing but not surprising.
“We got our test scores: Yes they’re dismal,” she said, “but if anything, we should have expected it.”
Phillips said that while the pandemic created unprecedented challenges for school districts and student achievement on the test, she hasn’t seen innovative attempts to help Black, brown, and foster children improve their scores.
“We should have worked harder to maintain them because they couldn’t afford to lose any points,” she said.
Sacramento City Unified officials said teachers and administrators were working to mitigate the effects of the pandemic before campuses reopened.
“To help us turn around these disappointing results and create better outcomes for our students, Sac City Unified is strengthening our commitment to better identifying student needs and offering specific supports to accelerate their learning throughout the school year,” read a statement from the district. “For six years prior to the March 2020 shelter in place order, our students were on an upward trajectory. Sac City Unified has an obligation to put our students back on a path to success.”
Xanthi A. Soriano, executive director of communications for the Sacramento County Office of Education, said that while countywide “met or exceeded” results dropped 4 percentage points for language and 6 points for math compared to 2018-2019 scores, “The decline was anticipated and not surprising,” and districts are working to implement programs to address the problem. Soriano also praised “the resilience of our students.”
Two Sacramento districts outperformed state
In Folsom Cordova Unified School District — where 31.5% of students are considered economically disadvantaged and 12% are English learners — 60% of students were as good or better than their grade level expectation on the language test. In math, 49% met that threshold.
In Elk Grove Unified School District — where the state says 49% of students are economically disadvantaged and 15% are English learners — 53% of students at least met the standard on English tests, and 40% of students met or exceeded the standard for math.
Galt Joint Union High School District and Galt Joint Union Elementary School District did as well as the state in English language arts. The elementary district also outperformed the state on math tests, with 35% of students meeting or exceeding standards. In Arcohe Union School District, a small K-8 district in Herald, 39% of students met or exceeded math standards.
Ankhelyi, the director of communication and community engagement at Folsom Cordova, pointed out that the district, while outperforming all other districts in the county, still declined compared to its own prior results. Nonetheless, she said, “It’s important to remember that tests are only one measure, at one point in time, of student achievement.”
California spending on learning loss
The state has spent $23.8 billion on addressing the pandemic in schools, according to the governor’s office. In 2022, the state blocked out $7.9 billion in grants to help offset learning loss by, among other things, extending school years, adding tutoring hours and bringing more mental health services to schools.
Some Republicans slammed California leaders for the test results, including Lance Christensen, who is running against Tony Thurmond for State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Christensen and others on the right contended Democratic leaders kept classrooms closed for too long, arguing California schools reopened their campuses months after other states.
“Superintendent Tony Thurmond has failed students, parents, and teachers on every measure,” Christensen stated. “These test scores indicate what we knew all along; school lockdowns have resulted in decades of learning loss, robbing students of their constitutional right of an education.”
This story was originally published October 26, 2022 at 12:09 PM.
