The Santa Barbara Unified
School District put a positive spin on recent data that revealed student math
and English proficiency scores have remained relatively flat compared to
previous years — igniting outrage among parents who called the scores “damning”
and “a disgrace to this town.”
The state test score
report, called the California
Assessment of Student Performance and Progress Report (CAASPP) , measures achievement in
English language arts/literacy and mathematics for students in grades 3-8 and
11. The CAASPP testing, now in its fifth year, replaced the previously used
STAR testing system. The new program has been called significantly more
rigorous than STAR.
“This report is a disgrace
to our town. It’s false and misleading,” said James Fenkner, a father of four
and co-chair of Fair Education, a local group that has challenged the district
in the past. “If you look at these numbers right here, 54 percent of students
are not at grade level … if we do the math that’s over 6,000 students. If you
look at the numbers which the district was highlighting as positive, it’s
absolutely not.”
The district tested 6,572
students in English language/literacy and 6,584 in math. English showed a 1
percent decrease, and math showed 2 percent increase district-wide. Although
the staff report called the data “discouraging,” it also pointed to the No
Child Left Behind era — when it took 5-10 years for standardized test results
to reflect successful school reform — as a source of hope that the stagnant
CAASPP scores will eventually catch up, too.
“Overall, although we are
not seeing the gains we would like to see, yet, we are glad to see that we are
maintaining progress that’s been made in previous years,” said Shawn Carey,
assistant superintendent of secondary education. “If you’re maintaining
progress, then effectively that is growth because the targets shift every year,
year over year the bar gets raised. We see a slight dip in English Literacy
overall, but all of that isn’t considered statistically significant.”
Board Member Laura Capps
questioned Carey, however, as it was still unclear what “bar” is being raised.
“Are 11th graders this year being tested higher than the 11th graders last
year? Or are they being tested on a more difficult level than when they were in
10th grade?” Capps asked. Carey confirmed she meant the threshold for meeting
standard is elevated each year for every student that advances to the next
grade level, making it an apparently futile point.
Equity is at the heart of
improving CAASPP scores, and the district said it’s “in a transitional phase in
which adults across our district are learning to ‘see the system’ that produces
inequitable results.” “Let me be clear," said Assistant Superintendent of
Education Raul Ramirez. "None of us are satisfied with the outcomes or
results.”
In some historically
disadvantaged groups, the test scores improved compared to overall district
scores. For example, Latinx students increased by four points above grade-level
in math, and disabled students increased by seven points in English literacy
and math. What wasn’t mentioned, though, is the low level at which Latinx and
disabled student scores started. With more than half of all students testing
below grade-level standard, slight improvements were not seen as something to
celebrate.
“This report is damning,”
said Sheridan Rosenberg, a mother and member of Fair Education. “These numbers
don't lie. You have kids that cannot read or do math; this is what bigotry
looks like. The first thing we need to do is abandon what isn’t working.
Bucketing money to your buddies in AHA and Just Communities is not the answer.”
A breakdown of the scores
by grade level, school, demographic, and more can be found here.