Instead of improving on the campus closure of the Pandemie era, mathematics and English test results from fourth and eighth graders decreased largely or nationwide, which were roughly the same in Los Angeles and California.
Not only a few students are scored as advanced or competently a goal, but less achieve a “basic” ranking, the next stage according to the overall results from the national assessment of the educational progress, which is generally referred to as the state's approval card.
The percentage of reading the eighth graders under “Naep Basic” was the largest in the history of the evaluation, and the percentage of fourth graders who undercut under NAEP Basic was the largest in 20 years.
Experts characterized the results as a sober call for action. Although the Los Angeles Unified School District was better off in some metrics, the results dampened the recent characterization of its academic progress in the district as unprecedented and historical.
In the whole nation, “the performance of the students has not returned to the pre-pandemy performance,” said Peggy G. Carr, Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics. “Where there are signs of recovery, they are mostly in mathematics and are largely powered by students with higher performance. The students fight with lower performance, especially reading. “
The tests are a regular snapshot of the student performance by examining a sample of students from all over the country. Although the tests do not correlate directly with the learning standards in California, the NAEP results offer a rare opportunity to compare the progress of the students in the school districts and states as well as across the country.
The ratings also reflected a deterioration in the performance gap.
In the eighth grade, the higher performers were regained and their lower colleagues continued to decrease or showed no remarkable progress.
In the mathematics of the eighth grade, this expanded gap is most pronounced. The students of lower performance went off while higher students improved. As a result of this divergence, the average score in 2024 was not significantly different than in 2022.
When reading, the lower students fought the most with the scores, which were less than the first NAEP reading in 1992.
The Covid 19-Pandemie era of distance learning in 2020 and 2021, when many locations were closed, cannot be held responsible for all problems.
“We are deeply concerned about our low -performance students,” said Carr. “These students have been in decline for a decade. You need our urgent attention and our best effort. “
Carr also referred to a disturbing trend from a linked survey among students: Fewer students read for pleasure. She also said that chronic absenteeism was associated with lower results.
But Carr was determined to write down an optimism: “Progress was possible beforehand and it is possible again.”
The researcher Dan Goldhaber pointed out a ongoing separation between test results and notes.
“I think analysis of longitudinal data in educational research, which is part of the American research institute.
“And of course I'm not interested in the tests myself,” he added, “but what you predict what you predict for the future results of the college and labor market of students.”
A bright note for Lausd
In Los Angeles-how in fourth grade nation bot mathematics a ray of hope, the results of 2022 were significantly displayed. In this metric, La Unified improved more than the state and the nation. But the total number of points from La remained lower.
The percentage of LA students who became competent in fourth grade mathematics rose from 20% to 27%. For California, the increase was 30% to 35%; in the nation from 35% to 39%.
The mathematics values of the eighth grade from La Unified were somewhat higher, but this increase was not statistically significant.
In the fourth grade, 25% of the LA students from 2022 were unchanged. Nationally, 30% were competent, 2 percentage points compared to 2022. California also decreased by 2 percentage points to 29%.
The reading of the eighth grade in LA has a fall from a competence rate from 28% to 22%. This national number was unchanged at 29%; California was 28%to attribute 2 points.
The collapse of the reading values of the eighth grade was a puzzle for La Unified Schools Sup. Alberto Carvalho, who celebrated a large increase in this class two years ago. These students would now be in the high school. He found that, despite the best efforts by the National Center for Education Statistics, sample methods can lead to anomalies, on the board of which he was a long -time member.
He found that in 2022 it discussed whether the test sample included more students in schools with higher performance.
Carvalho returned to pandemic until 2019 to get a silver strip. La Unified was one of four among a group of the country's largest school systems that seemed to have obtained the pre-pandemic values, he said.
“We won't celebrate this, because at some point my expectation is that we lead to increases in climbs all over the line,” said Carvalho.
The President of the State Board of Education, Linda Darling-Hammond, said that La Unified does well with other large school systems compared to trends.
The picture in La and California looks better after the state test system – this evaluates what the students in California should learn, but does not allow national comparisons.
In a state with greater poverty and growing homelessness, “state values rose a little and steadily in Naep,” said Darling-Hammond. “We are making small progress against many opportunities.”
She attributed a higher state education financing and strategic investments in areas such as mental health, teacher training and schools with expanded community services.
In the state tests, La Unified showed strong profits and achieved a record degree, although the academic performance still remained well behind the learning learning objectives. Since these improvements were over all grades, Carvalho had marked them as historical and unprecedented and at the same time recognized that a further improvement was necessary to follow.