California celebrates modest progress in student achievement, but advocates warn it’s not enough

California made incremental gains in boosting novice graduation rates reducing chronic absenteeism and seeing more students ready for college or careers according to newly published state information But the state s slow progress means the majority of California s students may not reach proficiency in English Language Arts and math for numerous years At the current pace of progress it will take various a multitude of more decades and leave behind multiple generations of students announced Melissa Valenzuela-Stookey the director of P- research at EdTrust-West an educational advocacy nonprofit The new facts comes from the California Department of Schooling which circulated its - school dashboard Tuesday The dashboard is widely considered the best snapshot of California schools graduation and suspension rates academic performance attendance content and scholar progress According to the California School Dashboard students graduation rate across the state increased a little less than percentage point from last year with of the state s students graduating high school Individual apprentice groups saw bigger improvements with a percentage point increase for long-term English learners a percentage point increase for foster youth and a percentage point increase for students with disabilities Related Articles Trainee shot at East Bay high school California urges Trump administration to feed hungry students outside school hours East Bay middle school art facilitator charged with continuous sexual abuse of learner A California guide s students suddenly started getting A s Did a Google AI tool go too far Oakland superintendent says urgent situation requires painful cuts Statewide the percentage of all TK- students who were absent for at least or more of the school year dropped again down from last year to more than percentage points lower than the state s all-time high of in But this year s figures evidenced slower progress in decreasing chronic absenteeism among students with only a one percentage point drop compared to last year s important percentage point drop from According to the CDE figures the percentage of high school graduates statewide who were prepared for college and careers increased to up from last year State leaders celebrated the improvements Tuesday noting that for the first time since the dashboard was created in all learner outcomes demonstrated improvements Seeing modest improvement on every dashboard indicator should encourage us to deepen our investments in every child s progress announced State Superintendent of Populace Instruction Tony Thurmond in a comment Tuesday We can see that strategies like neighborhood schools and literacy coaches are making a positive impact I am proud of our work to narrow persistent achievement gaps in candidate outcomes like graduation rate and we must not rest until all students outcomes represent their brilliance and probable Tuesday s details follows state testing details issued last month which revealed modest gains for California students across English language arts science and math National testing facts disclosed in September presented that California s students post-pandemic learning recovery has been especially slow compared to students in other states as California s fourth- and eighth-grade students continue to trail their peers across the nation But Valenzuela-Stookey at EdTrust-West mentioned the overall state details does not consider equity gaps for students of color multilingual learners and low-income students and rather than focusing on nominal gains state leaders must prioritize accelerating investments and progress for those students In a comment Tuesday EdTrust-West pointed out that while students chronic absenteeism across the state dropped Black Pacific Islander and Native American students continue to be more than twice as likely as white and Asian students to be chronically absent from school with roughly a third of each trainee group chronically absent in - The nonprofit declared despite latest improvements vital equity gaps remain in graduation rates and college readiness EdTrust-West noted while the dashboard s color rating system can make these disparities appear less severe the reality is stark only of Native American graduates of Black graduates and of Latinx graduates meet the state s college readiness benchmark In the Bay Area performance among school districts varied San Jose Unified saw an increase in the percentage of graduates considered college and career ready at up from of students in and a decrease in the percentage of students considered chronically absent with of students compared to of students last year The district s graduation rate saw little change at compared to last year And the percentage of English language learners making progress towards proficiency increased to up from last year Oakland Unified had no change in the percentage of students considered college and career ready compared to last year with The district saw a decrease in the percentage of students considered chronically absent with of students compared to of students last year English language learners also saw little change in progress with of students making progress towards proficiency compared to last year But the district s graduate rate tumbled with of the district s students graduating high school compared to last year West Contra Costa Unified saw an increase in the percentage of students considered college and career ready at compared to last year and a slight decrease in chronic absenteeism among students to The district s graduation rate increased slightly to but saw a sharp decline in English language learner progress to down from last year San Jose Unified Oakland Unified and West Contra Costa Unified did not respond to a request for comment from this news organization EdTrust-West revealed closing persistent equity gaps requires state leaders to build and sustain a high-quality tutor workforce that reflects the diversity of the state s students and ensures that all students have access to high-quality curriculum and instruction especially in math Valenzuela-Stookey disclosed this year s records further proves the need for adequate and equitable school funding as schools in the Bay Area face financial crises over multimillion-dollar budget holes including Oakland Unified which must cut million from its budget in order to stay afloat and the federal governing body s cuts to instruction leave schools facing further financial uncertainty I think that what the results in the dashboard show is that we need increased investments and funding to close equity gaps which is the complete diametrical opposite to what we re seeing in terms of cuts and threatened cuts from the executive she disclosed We re hoping that California state leaders continue to stay the curriculum and put students and families first Otherwise I think those types of cuts will certainly threaten the slow progress that we ve already seen if not derail it entirely