California State Test Scores Aligned to Common Core Released Today

Palo Alto Unified School District students took the new computer-adaptive Smarter Balanced Assessments in the spring, following a trial run in 2014 for which the scores did not count nor were shared with districts.

“This is a big day for all in California in education, bringing in a new era in testing and dramatic changes in the education system”, said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson.

To the editor: Results from our new state test based on the Common Core standards do not define our students’ abilities or potential.

Statewide, 44% of all grade levels tested met or exceeded the standard in English Language Arts/Literacy, and 33 percent met or exceeded the standard in math.

In English, 72 percent of Asian students and 61 percent of white students statewide met or exceeded standards, but only 32 percent of Latino students and 28 percent of African-American students matched that achievement.

“We must have standards for New York’s students”, the governor said in a prepared statement on September 3, “but those standards will only work if people-especially parents-have faith in them and their ability to educate our children”.

The assessments are also fundamentally different in how they evaluate student knowledge. Associated Press reported that among states giving their students the Smarter Balanced test, Idaho saw about 50 percent of students testing proficient or above in English language arts and less than 40 percent in math.

“These are the starting points for our new baseline, and how do we move forward from here are the conversations happening now”, said James Feffer, director of assessment and data analysis at PSUSD.

Individual student score reports will be mailed to parents by the end of September or early October. Many of San Jose Unified’s students have learned English as a second language.

By the 11th grade, students should be college ready, but the LAUSD scores show only 48 percent met or exceeded the English standards and just 20 percent showed proficiency or above in math. The 11th graders appear to have the most difficulty applying mathematical concepts and procedures.

Researchers say that’s important data because low test scores might cause more families to opt out of these state-backed education reforms. “Use your child’s assessment scores as an opportunity to get engaged and chart the course for student success this school year”.

State rules, she said, require that committees of Arkansas public school teachers in kindergarten through 12th grade develop proposed standards with advice from representatives of higher education and workforce education.

That’s far removed from the multiple-choice tests from two years ago. “There will be periodic updates to the state Board of Education as we work through this timeline”. “We’re asking quite a bit from our college students that we haven’t up to now”. Is it just that the tests are getting harder, or are the youth of California getting dumber, or is it some unquantifiable combination of the two?

In all, about $634 billion will be spent in the 2015-2016 school year for public elementary and secondary schools.

For months, school officials have stressed that the new test results need to be considered in context. The $275,000 audit will be used to figure out what performance problems the schools, and the district office, have that are holding back student achievement. “In the High Desert, we’re all doing similar things, and whatever differences there are, will start disappearing over time, and we’ll be closer aligned”.

Despite widespread misinformation on the Common Core, the standards tilt heavily toward conservative pedagogical traditions in their rigor, their call for content-rich curriculum, their emphasis on the development of literacy in history, civics, and foundational documents of American democracy, and their expectation that students will use evidence from readings in persuasive writing and class discussions.