Student scores drop in Clovis and Fresno schools. Here’s a look at the latest results
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Good morning! It’s Tuesday, Oct. 25. This is Julianna, filling in this week for Lasherica for Test Score Week.
You may have already heard or seen a headline or two with the word “plummet” and are bracing yourselves to hear about local ones, too. While I do have to be the bearer of some bad news, I also want to share a tweet from a Detroit Free Press reporter Lily Altavena before getting into the nitty-gritty:
“Test scores like these are not reflections of students,” she said, “they are a reflection of the school systems, state and federal agencies serving them.”
With that, I can tell you that two of the Central Valley’s largest school districts took almost identical dives in students’ math and reading test scores this year.
In the statewide Smarter Balanced assessments, the percentage of Fresno Unified students at or above English and language arts standards dropped almost 6% from before the pandemic. The drop in FUSD students’ math proficiency was even steeper at about 9%.
The drops in Clovis Unified’s English and math results were also just over 6% and 9%, respectively. These were slightly sharper declines than across California, where English scores dipped by about 4% and math closer to 6%.
But where Fresno and Clovis Unified differ is in where proficiency levels were at three years ago.
In Clovis, almost three-quarters of students – about 73% – were at or above state standards for English language arts in 2019. The percentage dropped to just under two-thirds in 2022, still representing over half of the student body.
Meanwhile, only about 38% of Fresno Unified’s students were at or above the standard for English in 2019. Now, that percentage is at a little under one-third or about 32%.
As for math, fewer – but still an almost 60% majority – of Clovis Unified’s students were at or above state standards in 2019. Now, the district is down to a little less than half at about 49%.
Fresno Unified’s results in math were even poorer. The district went from less than 3 in 10 or about 30% of students at or above the standard in 2019 to roughly 2 in 10 or about 21%.
District spokesperson Kelly Avants said Clovis Unified is coming up with “new strategies” to address the academic challenges of the pandemic in an email to The Bee’s Education Lab.
“We are extremely proud of the fact that our teachers are accessing professional development at a greatly increased rate,” or as many as 500 teachers in summer training sessions, she said, “to learn new strategies of instruction that, in turn, translate to our students’ growing academically.”
Avants added that the district’s i-Ready assessment scores, which track individual students’ performance each school year, suggest students are rebounding now that they’re back in classrooms, with 80% of the district’s elementary students showing growth in math and reading.
Fresno Unified spokesperson Diana Diaz also highlighted newer academic supports the district has put in place this year to help students recover, including 77 additional academic coaches at the district’s elementary schools and a full-time regional instructional manager for every high school.
The Smarter Balanced assessments test almost all students in grades three through eight and grade eleven on English language arts and math Common Core standards, according to the California Department of Education.
Exceptions include students with cognitive disabilities, who can take an alternate assessment, and English learners who are within their first 12 months of attending school in the United States.
To see how other districts or individual school sites fared, visit EdSource’s searchable database at caaspp.edsource.org.
The local and statewide trends in test scores are on par with the national test scores released this week from the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Nicknamed the “Nation’s Report Card,” the assessment also offers breakdowns at the state and local level for select school districts, including Fresno Unified, in the past. The district didn’t participate in the 2022 assessment.
HERE’S THE LATEST FROM THE EDUCATION LAB
Major cuts in the works at Fresno university ahead of projected multi-million dollar deficit
Fresno Pacific University expects to cut about 4% of its full-time employees as part of a cost-cutting strategy ahead of a projected multi-million budget deficit.
Gentrification fears loom over Fresno City College’s forthcoming $86.5M West Campus
Fresno City College’s West Campus comes with big promises to the people of southwest Fresno, but talk of these promises incited a tense back-and-forth between west Fresno residents at a community meeting.
Conservative student group wins injunction over ‘discriminatory treatment’ at Clovis college
A group of politically conservative students at Clovis Community College filed a lawsuit alleging the college leaders violated their First Amendment rights to freedom of expression when they banned their flyers from college bulletin boards in late 2021.
Ex-Fresno principal charged with striking student shows ‘white privilege,’ critics say
Vollhardt’s ability to move from one Fresno County school district to another following the June 7 incident is evidence of “white privilege” and a “broken system.”
Here’s the video: Watch mother speak out at protest against former Wolters principal Brian Vollhardt
MORE FRESNO-AREA EDUCATION NEWS
UC Merced campus is expanding its Upward Bound program to Gustine Unified School District, making GUSD the second Central Valley district the program will serve, a media release announced.
The program’s goal is to increase the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds who pursue a post-secondary education. Upward Bound at UC Merced provides academic prep in multiple subjects, after school tutoring, Saturday sessions each month, college visits and a six-week summer program.
A five-year $1.4 million grant adds a cohort of 60 high schoolers from Gustine Unified to do the program alongside Fresno Unified students from Hoover and Sunnyside High Schools. Over $4 million in all allows the program to serve three high schools for the next five years.
“The award of three Upward Bound grants allows UC Merced to expand its footprint in the Valley and support schools’ preparation of students for postsecondary education,” said Orquidea Largo, interim associate vice chancellor for student affairs at the Center for Educational Partnerships. “Projects like Upward Bound are essential to providing students with intensive services that increase their academic and postsecondary readiness and foster a college-going culture.”
This past weekend, about 40 students participated in the Civic Education Center Youth Summit, where they learned about civic engagement and found ways to solve real problems in their schools and communities.
The Civic Education Center, a nonprofit organization in Fresno that creates opportunities for youth to learn and practice civic values, empowers youth to solve real problems, practice democracy and serve their community, a media release detailed.
The Office of the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools, Fresno Unified School District, Valley Children’s Health, Fresno Chaffee Zoo and the Bonner Family Foundation sponsored the summit.
STILL WANT MORE EDUCATION NEWS? HERE’S WHAT WE’VE BEEN READING
PROOF POINTS: Black and white teachers from HBCUs are better math instructors, study finds
A graduate student who conducted the study speculates that “HBCU-trained teachers experienced a different culture and climate in college that they replicate in their own classrooms.” | The Hechinger Report
The Danger With Giving Students Feedback
Feedback works best when it’s just one step in a learning process | EducationWeek
Governor vetoes full-day and mandatory kindergarten bills
“Any teacher who has been in the classroom as long as I have can describe to you in detail the long-term, devastating effects to a child who misses kindergarten.” | EdSource
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