Los Angeles Unified School District showed strong gains in newly released state metrics, reaching record graduation rates, but overall academic performance fell well short of state learning goals.
The latest state data release shows positive trends for the state’s largest school system, showing more improvement than the state as a whole.
But in absolute terms, LA Unified’s performance is middling, even as portrayed by a state accountability system that rarely shines a harsh light on school systems.
“While LAUSD’s scores are trending upward, our first goal must be to achieve results at or above LAUSD’s pre-pandemic levels,” said Michael W., former State Board of Education chairman and professor emeritus of education at Stanford University.・Mr. Karst said. business administration. “For example, there are some test score results that achieve this goal. I’m less interested in how the indicators on my dashboard compare to the rest of the state right now. It’s more important in the coming years. It will be.”
The district’s highest metric was its suspension rate, which earned it the state’s highest blue rating. This shows that LA Unified has been successful in significantly reducing the number of students sent home from school for disciplinary reasons.
This number, coupled with rising test scores, is truly positive news. That’s because it suggests that even more difficult students are improving and staying in class to take state tests, rather than hiding during testing periods due to suspensions.
The district also received a “Good” rating with an 87% graduation rate, a record for LA Unified.
The numbers are even harder to interpret because graduation rates are skyrocketing across the country even as other indicators of academic achievement have not kept up. Essentially, school systems across the country have finally found a way to get most students through to graduation. And this is important. Graduates are eligible for higher education and have better job prospects.
But experts question whether academic standards have been sacrificed in the process. And many students enter college with learning gaps that make it difficult for them to succeed there.
Still, LA Unified’s graduation rates are rising faster than the state as a whole, a consistent theme for LA Unified.
In the math and English language arts test score categories, Los Angeles Unified University received a yellow rating. This isn’t great, but it’s better than the state’s overall poor rating of orange.
When it comes to student absenteeism from school, both the state and Los Angeles Unified are in the yellow ranking.
LA Unified Agent Alberto Carvalho classified the result as “historic,” but the district’s announcement called it “unprecedented.”
Carvalho presented the latest data at Jefferson High School, where he alluded to former Jefferson student Etta James’ 1960 hit song.
“Today, finally, as Etta James would say, the story actually got better,” Carvalho said. “And finally, we can say that Los Angeles Unified has dominated and outperformed other urban districts in the state,” including those with lower poverty rates and fewer students learning English, he said. said.
Every school system tends to highlight data in the best possible way.
For example, San Diego Unified focused on overall achievement levels rather than improvement rates compared to other school systems. When viewed through this lens, San Diego Unified outperformed Los Angeles Unified in every major category except suspension rate.
Long Beach Unified may have improved its overall score in the most closely tracked categories of math and English, but it fell behind Los Angeles Unified in other areas.
A somber overall assessment of the state’s progress came from the Oakland-based advocacy group EdTrust-West.
“Some new data [indicate] “While sustained progress has been made, particularly the steady decline in chronic absenteeism, other improvements are progress in name only,” the group said in a statement. “We shouldn’t celebrate improvements of less than 1 percent because they don’t tell the truth. Another year has passed for California’s students of color and multilingual learners. But not enough change.”
For academic evaluations, states use a vague system called “distance from standards,” which averages all test scores and compares that number to a number that represents “meets standards.” .
So, mathematically, LA Unified is 60.4 points below par, but up 6.9 points from last year, which is considered a significant improvement in one year.
A more accessible measure, although also imperfect, is proficiency. This is the percentage of students who meet state academic standards in a particular area. These previously released numbers show LA Unified still has a long way to go.
43% of LA Unified students met grade-level standards in English, an increase of 1.8 points. Statewide, 47% of students were proficient in English, and in math, 32.8% of Los Angeles students met the standard, an increase of 2.3 points from the 2023 score. Statewide, 35.5% of students are proficient. LA’s unified academic proficiency rate reached 24%, an increase of 1.8 percentage points from 2023. Statewide, it’s 30.7%.
“LAUSD students are recovering from the learning loss caused by the pandemic,” said Bruce Fuller, an education professor at the University of California, Berkeley. “However, their recovery is progressing at a slower pace in reading and math.”
Fuller added, “This recovery renews the steady progress made in the two decades prior to COVID-19. Still, LA students’ reading proficiency levels are declining as early as fourth grade. , were at a lower grade level than the average student in California,” according to national testing.
Towards the end of the press conference, Carvalho admitted that the numbers were not very positive.
“Is there still more to do? Absolutely. Are we satisfied? Absolutely not,” Carvalho said. “Our static proficiency level is still low, but compared to others, our rate of improvement is staggering.”
Mr. Carvalho and his deputy. Karla Estrada pointed out several effective strategies. The superintendent said the graduation rate increased from 86% to 87% because summer school allowed upperclassmen to complete required coursework.
It was no coincidence that the press conference was held at Jefferson High School, south of downtown. On measures of distance from the norm, Jefferson made significant jumps of 20 points in math and 47 points in English, even though his overall score remained low.
Jefferson is one of more than 120 “priority schools” in the district that receive additional resources, monthly evaluations and data analysis.
In an interview, Principal Christine Puig described strategies such as adjusting the length of meetings by grade level and theme so teachers can plan together and compare results.
The district brought in experts to train teachers on strategies to support English language learners attending Jefferson. The school has about 100 new students coming to the United States.
The district also appointed a special executive of alternates at Jefferson so they could get to know the students there. These substitute teachers work as a second teacher in regular classrooms when they are not needed as substitutes.
Teachers also receive special training on how to analyze data and adjust lessons accordingly.
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