Sobering NAEP scores
Achievement gap grows sharply in San Diego
Fresno Unified Superintendent Michael Hanson chose to have his district join San Diego, Los Angeles and other urban districts participating in the biannual analysis of scores in the nation’s report card, the National Assessment of Education Progress. The results for 2011, released this week, were unsettling.
In both reading and math, Fresno ranked among the lowest scoring of 21 urban districts, along with Detroit, Cleveland, and Washington, D.C. In one measure, reading scores of fourth grade Hispanic students, who comprise two-thirds of district students, Fresno was at the bottom.
Hanson doesn’t have second thoughts about his decision, nor does he distance himself from NAEP, as other superintendents and leaders in California sometimes do. They often claim that NAEP scores are unimportant, because the national test isn’t aligned with California’s academic standards – or with any particular state’s, for that matter.
“I put us in so that we would have a national benchmark independent of what we do in California,” he said yesterday. “It’s a sobering reminder of how far we have to go.”
NAEP 8th grade math scores for 21 urban districts in 2011. Click to enlarge.
Fresno Unified certainly has company. California ranked between 46th and 49th among the states this year in reading and math. And Los Angeles Unified’s scores are in the bottom third to half of the urban districts. Only San Diego Unified, the state’s second largest district, with fewer low-income children, was in the top third of urban districts.
What Fresno also has in common with Cleveland, Detroit and Washington, D.C., is poverty. Ninety-three percent of its students qualify for subsidized lunches, and, according to the latest Census figures, 44 percent of its children are in poverty – the highest rate among California’s districts with at least 25,000 students; Stockton is next with 37 percent. Nearly one in six adults in Fresno is unemployed.
Grinding poverty is not an excuse – it’s a reality. Between budget cuts to the district of nearly $100 million over the past few years and state cuts to mental health and other social supports, “it’s a pretty stiff wind we are sailing into,” Hanson said.
NAEP asked eighth graders how often they read for fun outside of school. The 40 percent of Fresno students who responded very seldom or never was highest among children in urban districts (29 percent on average); 10 percent said they read daily, compared with the 16 percent average – in itself alarming.
Fresno joined the Trial Urban District Assessment group for the 2009 tests. Fresno showed no significant improvement in either math or reading in 2011, as was the case with most urban districts. Only Charlotte’s scores rose in reading, and only four cites rose in 4th grade math (Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, and Philadelphia) and six in 8th grade math (Atlanta, Chicago, Charlotte, Detroit, Washington, and Jefferson County, KY). However, Hanson, who’s president of the California Office to Reform Education – the nonprofit collaborative of the seven Race to the Top districts – says there have been encouraging measures of progress not detected by NAEP. The district’s graduation rate has increased 3 percentage points in three years; dropout numbers fell 9 percent, and the 46 point rise in API scores – a state measure – in three years was fifth out of a dozen high-poverty districts, according a comparison group that the district measured.
San Diego and Los Angeles, which have been in the urban assessment group since 2003, well exceeded the average increase for the nation and for large cities during that period in math (14 points for San Diego and 16 points for Los Angeles, on a 500-point scale in eighth grade, compared with seven points for the nation and 12 for large cities). But some of that growth came at the expense of the achievement gap, as higher income and white students excelled at a faster rate. The difference in scores in San Diego between white and black students grew by a third in 4th grade math to 36 points on a 500-point scale and by a third between higher and lower income students. In eighth grade reading, the gap between higher and lower income students in Los Angeles grew from 17 to 30 points from 2003 to 2009.
Here are the math results for the three districts from the 2011 NAEP. Proficiency rates on NAEP and California’s standardized tests can’t be compared, because definitions differ (proficiency on NAEP is more rigorous, and to be categorized as advanced on NAEP is exceedingly difficult.)
Demographics
Nationwide: 24% Hispanic, 52% White, 16% Black, 5% Asian, 52% low income, 22% English learners
Fresno: 66% Hispanic, White 12%, 9% Black, 12% Asian, 93% low-income, 30% English learners;
Los Angeles: 75% Hispanic, 9% white, 10% black, 5% Asian, 83% low-income, 34% English learners
San Diego: 44% Hispanic, 23% white, 12% black, 15% Asian, 65% low-income, 36% English learners.
4th grade math
National average: 240 pts, 18% below basic, 39% proficient and advanced
Large cities: 233 pts, 26% below basic, 30% proficient and advanced
Fresno Unifed: average 218 pts was 21st percentile for nation, 19th out of 21 urban districts; 44% below basic, 14% proficient and advanced
Los Angeles Unified: average 223 pts was 27th percentile for nation, 15th among urban districts; 37% below basic, 20% proficient and advanced
San Diego Unified: 239 was 46th percentile for nation, 3rd among urban districts; 20% below basic, 39% proficient and advanced
White-Black gap: 25 pts for nation, 29 for large cities, 24 pts Fresno, 28 pts Los Angeles, 36 pts San Diego
White-Hispanic gap: 20 pts for nation, 23 for large cities, 25 pts Fresno, 24 pts Los Angeles, 29 pts San Diego
8th grade math
National average: 283 pts, 28% below basic, 34% proficient and advanced
Large cities: 274 pts, 37% below basic, 26% proficient and advanced
Fresno Unifed: average 256 pts was 23rd percentile for nation, tied for 17th out of 21 urban districts; 57% below basic, 13% proficient and advanced;
Los Angeles Unified: average 261 pts was 27th percentile for nation, tied for 16th among urban districts; 51% below basic, 16% proficient and advanced;
San Diego Unified: 278 was 44th percentile for nation; 6th among urban districts; 34% below basic, 32% proficient and advanced;
White-Black gap: 31 pts for nation, 34 for large cities, 37 pts Fresno, 45 pts Los Angeles, 46 pts San Diego (third largest except for Washington and Atlanta among urban districts);
White-Hispanic gap: 23 pts for nation, 27 for large cities, 29 pts Fresno, 36 pts Los Angeles, 39 pts San Diego
Thank you for following this news John. I followed the San Diego reporting on VOSD. The increased gap in test scores is tragic, and perhaps suggests that the debate about solutions needs to be opened up across all participants in communities. My experience in San Diego showed (I used data at all times) that reading and writing scores across the very groups highlighted in this article could be raised significantly (statistically, that is) using a variety of strategies, but many that I used (I was educated elsewhere) were outside of the CA way of doing things. That had its own consequences because administrators like success, but not success that shows the teacher was doing something different! The bureaucracy of California education – including the teacher preparation programs – needs to be torn up and started again. Frankly, the adults have completely failed the children. It’s not about money – it’s about cognition, it’s about care, it’s about acknowledging the responsibility that should be borne for the policies throughout generations that have led to this. Who can account for the money has been spent in billions? Who did that benefit mainly? Look at the QEIA money – how much on how few students – with results that take years to report? Where is California’s data tracking system when we need it to show what worked, to determine the variables involved, to talk to the students and their families and ask them why they were successful? Ooops – forgot – politics trumps everything.
Report this comment for abusive language, hate speech and profanity
Sue: For readers who want to read more in Voice of San Diego about the Black-White gap in San Diego, you can follow it here. I agree with you about the Quality Education Investment Act, which lowered class sizes and provided professional development for teachers in those schools fortunate enough to receive the money (billions in the aggregate). There may be clear benefits, but there is no funding for thorough, objective research to determine which factors worked and why.
Report this comment for abusive language, hate speech and profanity
Someone needs to address the differences between NAEP results and California’s accountability system. Has anyone actually studied how students approach these tests?
Report this comment for abusive language, hate speech and profanity
The sobering news isn’t limited to Fresno. California’s statewide NAEP scores have largely stalled-out during the past decade or so after a modest bump in the prior decade. Math scores went up a bit while reading scores are essentially flat. All this after years of hooplah over systematic reading instruction, phonics, revised textbook adoptions, standards, and high-stakes testing.
Despite the fact that these policy efforts have had little apparent positive impact, California is now gearing-up to do it all over again.
The Governor, State Board, Legislature, and State Superintendent need to pause and fundamentally rethink–especially given the grave financial challenges.
Report this comment for abusive language, hate speech and profanity
I am sure that the best way to address these declining scores is to cut the school year back to 168 days from the original 180. With the cuts we’ve been making – cutting resource teachers, librarians, extra tutoring, aides, arts, music, vocational classes, pull out programs, field trips, supplies, raising class sizes, and shortening the school year – why on earth would we expect scores to go up?
And all the issues that confound out of school learning – stressed out parents, frequent moves, unemployed parents, lack of health care – all of those have been escalating in the past few years too. What happened to library hours and book acquisitions in Fresno?
I don’t say this to say that low achievement is okay with me – but I think educators are not only sailing into a stiff wind, they’re being asked to do so while pieces of the boat are being dismantled for firewood.
Report this comment for abusive language, hate speech and profanity
well, a bit of a sanity check here. fresno’s 4th grade ethnic subgroup math scores all went up except for the hispanic subgroup. in 8th all subgroups declined, but note that both the asian and white enrollment numbers declined (as a percentage of enrollment) since the previous test each by 2 percentage points, while the hispanic subgroup increased as a percent of enrollment by 3 percentage points. that is not to excuse the overall scores (or the fact that any increases are minimal), rather to point out that sometimes demographic shift can play a role in part of changing performance metrics. (on a side note, los angeles increased in every subgroup in both math and reading, with the exception of african american subgroup in math declining by 1 point and white reading by 2 points since the last sample.)
it is also helpful to look at the long-term trends, which are almost always upward, even when there is a single-sample dip.
its also interesting that we are quick to blame failed educational policy for poor low-performance of some subgroups, but not give it credit for higher performance of other subgroups. the fact that gaps appear to be increasing might tell us more about our society than our schools.
Report this comment for abusive language, hate speech and profanity
Not sure what you are reading, Naviglio, but the narrative accompanying the breakdown for math scores for Fresno, pages 72-73, clearly says that there have been no significant gains for any ethnic or income group between 2009-2011 in Fresno. The swings in numbers for a few groups may reflect a small sample size (900 students overall took the test; when 93 percent of the students are low-income, the increase in high income students in fourth grade apparently was not determined significant). In 8th grade math, every subgroup’s scores declined slightly since 2009,, but again, the analysts determined it was not statistically significant.
Report this comment for abusive language, hate speech and profanity
Yes, there is no funding for such analysis, however, one of the roles of school site council in our state is to do exactly this kind of analysis. Unfortunately, very few actually do.
Report this comment for abusive language, hate speech and profanity
Sorry, the above comment was in response to John’s response to Sue. Not sure why it never shows up in a threaded manner.
Anyway, John, the comment you responded to of mine was merely to counter other comments that talked about declining scores. While its true that the changes were not statistically significant (in either direction), it is much too easy to look at the overall district change from ‘09 and assume thats the whole story. The disaggregated tests tell a different story for 4th grade math, and the demographic shift and economic impact of Sacramento add additional context.
I did not mean to attack your post. You in fact pointed out that there is more to the results than meets the eye. Especially the comparisons with other states. Thanks for that.
Report this comment for abusive language, hate speech and profanity
If the relentless chewing on data and downright manic rhetoric of the “reformers” had any chance of improving NAEP scores CA’s kids would have blown the rest of the nation out of the water by now. CA did get a head start of almost a decade on the whole standards, testing, and accountability charade. And, obviously, a charade it has been.
When faced with a massive failure of policy design and implementation the only assurance of success is to double down on all of the same policy designs and implementation strategies and wait for all of the different outcomes.
Compound the whole kabuki exercise with massive cuts in funding just to make it all interesting.
When all is done blame the teacher’s and their unions when-gasp!-things don’t improve.
Report this comment for abusive language, hate speech and profanity
Navigio is on point to write that school site councils bear responsibility for analysis of each school’s test scores. These elected representatives are delegated responsibility to become data experts and to track the results for the schools they represent. Why do media members not demand interviews with local parents and teachers or even attend some school site councils to discover if these folks are well-performing their volunteer efforts.
I serve as a School Site Council member and was an SSC President at a different school. Sure, there can be concern from some corners when SSC members ask to review data. But the system depends on this kind of work. It’s all about mutual accountability – school board members, administrators, teachers, classified staff, parents, community leaders and, especially, students. These efforts aren’t simple, but successful public education is key to the success of our whole society. Books don’t read themselves; math problems don’t self-calculate. And, since California’s government has kept cutting and cutting and cutting, society will have to motivate students to study even harder. Some students will step up to the extra work and some students will not respond to the new challenges.
The new austerity model may not be “fair” or “wise,” but it’s certainly real. And, since a child only gets one opportunity to be young, we’ve all got to encourage today’s students to work diligently even amid reduced school hours and funding.
Report this comment for abusive language, hate speech and profanity
Gary: California did not have a decade of head start over NCLB. California is not one of the early adopters and our efforts only started in 1998, 4-5 years prior to NCLB.
Further, much of California reform efforts were consistently undermined by teacher organizations and SPIs that disliked — and sometimes even hated — the standards. Delaine Eastin actively sabotaged many efforts to introduce and promote the standards; Jack O’Connel was mildly hostile and mostly indifferent. CMC was hostile from day one and keeps agitating against our own standards even today; so did the bilingual education lobby; so did the Latino caucus.
To make things worse, around 2003-4 the State Board was filled with people that had barely any grasp of curricular issues and were singularly focused — you’ll like me for this — charter schools. I like charter schools, but the un-serious treatment of curriculum at the SBE level is hugely disappointing. So everything was left to CDE bureaucrats, some which which did their best while others doing their best to undermine the standards.
Finally, our student populations has changed. Over the last 10-15 years we have moved from about 1/3 Latino students to more than one half. This did not help either. Yet despite this massive demographic change California did make progress on NAEP (and on our own standards). Not as much as it could have been but much better that what we saw in the 1990s with Whole Language and Fuzzy Math.
Report this comment for abusive language, hate speech and profanity
John,
I think the Fresno superintendent should be complimented for his courage in exposing his district to criticism by participating. Having been a superintendent in a very low income district during the past decade, I know how hard the teachers work, how hard the students work, how the NCLB ironically pushed schools teaching low income and second language students to focus on the intellectually lowest skills and text-book learning – producing initial jumps in test scores but stealing from the children the rich educational experiences kids in affluent districts receive. This was made worse by the state board of education’s math wars – that pushed districts to use low level, memory-based math instruction. Then, because of this focus, when the kids are faced by the conceptually difficult tests like NAEP and courses like Algebra, they are poorly equiped.
Needless to say, the deterioration of funding has disproportionately hurt low income students who now face larger class sizes and extra resources. The situation is tragic and a preversion of the American dream of a meritricious public education. It is heartbreaking. Those superintendents who still struggle need everyone’s support.
Report this comment for abusive language, hate speech and profanity