Struggling students in California have fallen further behind during the pandemic – San Bernardino Sun, according to state report
According to newly released state data, California’s public school students have struggled with online learning during the 2020-21 school year, with students who have been lagging behind.
Absenteeism also increased in 2020-21 and graduation rates fell slightly, the state reported Friday, Jan.
The California Department of Education has released data looking at how the state’s students perform on standardized tests, as well as graduation, absenteeism and student discipline rates. Here’s a first look at how students did during a school year dramatically disrupted by ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The status panel showed that less than half – 49.01% – of students in third through eighth and eleventh grades were tested to meet or exceed California’s standards for English Language Arts and more than a third – 33.76% – Do the same for math.
“The path ahead of us is clear – we must continue to focus our energies and resources on supporting our students, families and educators so that they not only recover from impacts of COVID-19 but also thrive in the coming days,” State Board of Education Chair Linda Darling-Hammond was quoted as saying in a Department of Education bulletin announcing the data release.
- In Los Angeles County, 48.02% of students met or exceeded the state ELA standard, and 30.98% met or exceeded the standard for math.
- In Orange County, 60.98% of students met or exceeded the ELA standard, and 42.9% met or exceeded the math standard.
- In Riverside County, 39% of students met or exceeded the ELA standard, and 20.65% met or exceeded the math standard.
- And in San Bernardino County, 42.41% of students met or exceeded the ELA standard, and 22.8% met or exceeded the math standard.
According to the education department, the achievement gap for Black and Hispanic or Latino students has also increased.
There are no tests for the 2019-20 school year, as the pandemic has disrupted testing, which usually takes place in the spring. However, in the 2018-19 school year, 51.1% of California students met or exceeded the ELA standard, and 39.73% met or exceeded the math standard. Pandemic is over 5 years of continuous improvement in statewide test scores.
State officials warned on Thursday that the latest numbers should be viewed as salt in the water, as only about a quarter of students in the grade levels assessed have taken standardized tests for the year. school 2020-21.
Graduation rate fell slightly during the pandemic, dropping 0.6 percentage points to 84.2% of students graduating after four years of high school. (The 5-year graduation rate increased at the same time, 0.3 percentage points to 87%.)
But the pandemic made things worse for groups with already lower graduation rates:
- 72.5% black students graduate in 4 years, down 4.3 percentage points
- 73% of American Indian and Native American students graduate in 4 years, down 2.8 percentage points
- 81.7% of Pacific Islanders graduate in 4 years, down 2.6 percentage points
- 55.7% of foster youth graduate in 4 years, down 2.3 percentage points
- 79.4% of the total migrant children (those who switch schools during the year, usually when their parents work in the agriculture, fishing, dairy or logging industries) graduate in 4 years, down 2.1 percentage points
- 67.1% of English learners graduated in 4 years, down 1.9 percentage points
- 80.5% Hispanic or Latino students graduate in four years, a drop of 1.6 percentage points
With most students attending school for at least some of the years by sitting in front of a computer, Chromebook or smartphone, chronic absenteeism also increased between 2020-21, with 14.3% of students absent at least 10% of instructional days. That’s a 2.2 percentage point increase in a year. And each group of students that already had high rates of chronic absenteeism made even bigger leaps over the previous school year, including an 8.8 percentage point increase in the chronic absenteeism rate among immigrant students.
But with so few students in the gyms before spring, as some school districts and schools reopened, suspension rates have plummeted, from 2.5% of students to 0.2%. Foster youth, 11.9% of whom were suspended during the 2019-20 school year, still have a higher rate of suspension, with 1.2% of them suspended in the 2020-school year. 21.
“Statewide performance data from last year confirm what we have heard from school districts and district offices throughout the year,” State Director of Public Education Tony Thurmond is quoted as saying. in a press release from the Ministry of Education. “The challenges facing students and educators during the pandemic are multidimensional and affect learning and mental health. Our goal now is to move all students forward.”
And potentially the most serious issue for the future is the loss of 159,681 students in California’s public schools, from 6.3 million enrollments in 2019-20 to 6.1 million in 2020. -21. The state has continued to fund school districts based on their 2019-20 enrollment and attendance figures, even as families pull their students out of school or students drop out during the pandemic. . But funding will again be tied to enrollment starting next fall, setting the stage for school districts to lose millions of dollars all at once. potentially setting the stage for mass layoffs.
https://www.sbsun.com/2022/01/07/struggling-california-students-fell-further-behind-during-pandemic-state-report-finds/ Struggling students in California have fallen further behind during the pandemic – San Bernardino Sun, according to state report
