A sample question from the 4th grade math test. Credit: NationsReportCard.gov

A sample question from the National Assessment of Educational Progress' quaternary grade math test. Credit: NationsReportCard.gov

California students performed about the same in reading and math on this year'due south National Assessment of Educational Progress as they did in 2011, ranking among the 10 lowest performing states in the country.

Results from this yr'south cess show that merely 33 percent of California 4th grade students and 28 percent of 8th graders are skillful or better in math. In reading, 27 pct of ivthursday graders and 29 percent of  viiith graders are good or better.

Explore how California students performed on the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress .

The national assessment is delivered to a representative sample of children in all 50 states and the District of Columbia every other year; the skills tested and form of the exam differ from California's standardized tests.

Overall, California students continue to rank virtually the bottom on the national cess: Fourth graders scored 46th in the nation in math, and 47th in the nation in reading; eighth graders ranked 43rd in the nation in math and 42nd in reading.

Educatee scores did not change significantly from 2 years ago in whatsoever area except 8thursday grade reading, where students fabricated a 7 indicate proceeds – the largest in the country.

California was one of 13 states, the Department of Defense schools and the District of Columbia, that made gains in 8th grade reading between 2022 and 2013. Source: NationsReportCard.gov

California was one of 13 states, the Department of Defense schools and the District of Columbia, that made gains in 8th grade reading between 2022 and 2013. Source: NationsReportCard.gov

"These scores are another sign that we are moving in the right direction to ready students for college and career, but we notwithstanding have a lot of work to exercise to make sure every student graduates equipped to succeed," California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said in the statement.

The department declined to comment further on the mostly flat operation of California students on the national test.

Students in all 50 states, including California, have improved steadily, if slowly, in math and reading since the test was start administered in 1970. That comeback holds true beyond indigenous groups, though a gap in performance between white students and their black and Hispanic peers has persisted. The gap betwixt white and black students in California continues to mirror the national gap, while the gap between white and Latino students is slightly larger in California than in other states on all measures except eightth grade reading.

U.Southward. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan called the disparity between the performance of white students and students of color "extremely apropos" in a news conference on the new test information Wednesday. The solution, he said, is expanded public programs for immature children every bit proposed by President Barack Obama in his 2022 Land of the Union accost.

In the vii months since the national assessment was administered hither, California has adopted two major policy changes in school funding and curriculum. State money will now be distributed to school districts according to a Local Command Funding Formula that provides extra funding for low-income students and students still learning English language. And the country's bookish standards accept been replaced with the new national Common Core standards, which require teachers to get into greater depth in the subjects they teach.

Read EdSource's brusque guide to California's new Local Control Funding Formula for schools.

Champions of the new policies are hopeful that they will lead to an uptick in educatee operation on the national assessment in coming years, said David Plank, executive managing director of Policy Analysis for California Pedagogy (Stride), a not-partisan research center based at Stanford University, the Academy of California – Berkeley, and the University of Southern California.

"Those of usa who are supportive of (the new funding formula, known as) LCFF, and additional flexibility for local determination makers are optimistic that those changes volition allow local educators to adapt their programs to the needs of their ain students and that will pb to better circumstances for their ain students," Plank said.

As the Common Core curriculum rolls out, there has been speculation that educatee scores on the new standardized tests, meant to assess students on the new standards, volition be worse than they were on the old STAR tests, which were based on the now defunct California state standards. Plank said that might happen because the examination is changing, not because the curriculum is changing, and he does not due eastxpect to come across a dip in functioning on the national cess.

In fact, Plank said, the National Cess of Educational Progress volition exist the simply consistent mensurate of student functioning delivered before and after the major policy changes now being implemented. Progress will likely continue to be slow and steady, he said.

"It'south unrealistic to expect dramatic changes and probably needless to worry near dramatic deterioration" on the adjacent national examination, which volition be administered in 2015, Plank said.

Plank does expect to run across improvement in pupil performance in 2022 and hopes to encounter performance gains accelerate over time. How big those gains might be depends entirely on how well the new policies are implemented, he said.

"At this point, I'1000 optimistic," Plank said. "We've fabricated changes that should pb to significant comeback in pupil operation simply there are way too many variables in between for us to brand strong judgments nigh that."

Lillian Mongeau covers early childhood education. Contact her or follow her @lrmongeau.

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