Here’s how COVID learning loss affected test scores at Sacramento-area schools
Student test scores in the Sacramento region dropped after pandemic lock downs — and they haven’t recovered, the latest state data show.
This “learning loss” has also taken place across the state and nation. Pandemic distance learning was followed by a drop in math and English proficiency to levels not seen in decades. The drops cut across income and demographic groups, but were often most severe among low-performing and economically disadvantaged students. Many students in impoverished areas lacked the resources necessary to make distance learning successful, causing them to fall behind.
California school officials earlier this month agreed to spend $2 billion of remaining COVID relief funds on efforts to alleviate learning loss. The agreement came after students, parents and community groups around Oakland and Los Angeles filed a lawsuit against the state for failing to provide an adequate, equitable education to all students.
Big drops around Sacramento
In the four-county Sacramento region, the proportion of students meeting math standards fell from about 42% in 2018-19 to about 37% in 2022-23. The proportion of students meeting English standards fell from about 53% in 2018-19 to about 48% in 2022-23. Those declines are similar to test score drops seen statewide.
The steepest declines on math tests took place in El Dorado and Sacramento counties. All four counties saw roughly similar drops in English scores.
Center Joint Unified, El Dorado Union High see largest declines
Every large school district in the Sacramento region saw fewer students meet English standards. The biggest drop was at Center Joint Unified near Antelope, where about 35% of students met English standards in 2022-23, compared to 49% in 2018-19.
All large school districts in the Sacramento region also saw fewer students meet math standards. The biggest drop was at El Dorado Union High School District, where about 42% of students met math standards in 2022-23, compared to 55% in 2018-19.
El Dorado Union High had the smallest drop in English scores, however, while Eureka Union near Granite Bay had the smallest drop in math scores.
Big disparities by grade
English-Language Arts learning loss was most pronounced in the region’s elementary schools. The proportion of students in third, fourth and sixth grade meeting English standards fell by more than five percentage points across the region during the last four years.
By contrast, math learning loss was most pronounced in the region’s middle and high schools. The proportion of students in 11th grade meeting English standards fell by six percentage points, while the proportion meeting standards in eighth grade fell by seven percentage points across the region.
Schools in low-income areas tend to see bigger dips
Schools with a high proportion of students living at or near poverty — as measured by the proportion of students on free or reduced lunch — often saw larger declines in test scores than schools in wealthier areas.
The biggest decline in students meeting English standards occurred at Futures High, a charter school in the Robla area of north Sacramento, where 32% of students met English standards in 2022-23, compared to 69% in 2018-19. Futures High serves a large population of children whose parents are recent immigrants from Russia or Ukraine, and about 92% of the students at the school take free or reduced lunch.
The biggest decline in students meeting math standards occurred at Walnut Grove Elementary, a rural school in the Sacramento Delta, where 16% of students met math standards in 2022-23, compared to 54% in 2018-19. About one in five households around the Walnut Grove community lacked broadband internet during the pandemic, compared to about one in fifteen households statewide, the latest census data show.
This story was originally published February 22, 2024 at 5:00 AM.