California’s education establishment continues to fail students and families

The recent release by the CA Department of Education of the 2018-19 statewide proficiency test scores reveals no surprises:  we’re still failing California’s 6.2 million public school students.

The test, given to students in grades 3-8 and 11, sets basic levels of proficiency for what every child should know to be on track for college and career readiness.

Overall, English Language Arts test data reveal still only half of all students perform at grade level while approximately 60 percent of students are actually underwater in grade level in math. If those numbers are alarming, consider the state average only increased by 1% in both ELA and math, marking the second year in a row for that paltry, pathetic, anemic growth.

Furthermore, little to no progress has been made in closing wide disparities among ethnic, racial and other student groups:

● Only 39% of low-income 7th graders are at grade level, compared to 71% of their more affluent peers.

● In 11th grade – the only grade tested in high school – barely one-fifth of low-income students are at grade level, compared to about half of their more affluent peers.

● Less than 13% of the state’s 511,000 tested English learners are at grade level in ELA or Math.

● The state’s African American students made absolutely no progress in closing the performance gap, with only 1 in 5 at grade level in math.

Not surprisingly, education “experts” are wringing their hands as they spin the data.  One policy analyst commented, “It’s hard to expect drastic changes from year to year” in a test taken by 3.2 million students, but “sustained improvement, even if slow, adds up over time.”

It’s great to know that, at the current pace, all of California’s youth will be mathematically prepared for college and career success in 2079!

We forcefully dissent from that “manana” syndrome, particularly when California expended over $90 billion on K-12 education this year alone—and then cry for more money to “invest in education” is on the way in the form of a supermassive education bond next year. Yet, more money hasn’t — and won’t — change the academic inertia of a failed bloated, bureaucratic education system captive to its special interests.

Ironically, the achievement data release occurred just days after a special interests-captive Legislature and a politically worn out California Charter School Association put on happy faces to sign a bill that, akin to death by 1000 cuts, slashes away at the very existence of independent, public charter schools.

Questions are swirling as to whether “local control” has failed, and whether there should be a larger state role in education outcomes.  Let’s have that conversation.

We contend that these dismal outcomes need not continue.  At our Scholarship Prep schools, for example, success isn’t a secret, and we look forward to sharing our model of success that earlier this year led to the U.S. Department of Education recognizing our model by awarding us a significant grant to expand our program.

The model starts with “no excuses” leadership philosophy and a belief that every kid can and will succeed.  Along with our co-founder, Jason Watts, we utilize a rigorous evaluation process which embraces merit pay and leadership pathways in collaboration with our teachers — not as punishment.

We value continuous professional development.  Our teachers give us 80 summer hours and actively engage in three hours of sustained development weekly.  And we embrace data: we don’t wait for the state release — we utilize internal metrics to guide our daily march towards college and career readiness.

It’s paying off. In three years in Santa Ana and two in Oceanside, we’ve seen double digit growth in both subjects. We have surpassed the local school districts at educating high poverty youth from the same neighborhoods with no “cherry picking”.

Superintendent Thurmond:  we invite you to come see what we do to ensure that no kid is left behind, and that kids exiting our schools possess education keys capable of unlocking that great American Dream in which we believe —  and in their education timeline — not fifty years sometime in the distant future.

Gloria Romero is a former California Senate majority leader, now Executive Director of Scholarship Prep Public Schools.  Andrew Crowe is Scholarship Prep’s Chief Academic Officer.

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