San Mateo-Foster City School District students across various backgrounds have shown academic growth since officials implemented a number of classroom interventions but district leadership acknowledged there’s still room for more.
“There’s room for optimism here and there’s also room for where we need to improve so I’m really excited about actually seeing the data in comparison to years past and kind of where we’re going,” board Vice President Ken Chin said during a special study session on equity-focused student achievement held Sept. 14.
Students across racial groups, socioeconomic backgrounds and abilities appear to be performing better academically according to state and internal test score data reviewed by trustees and staff. Internal data shows more first and second grade students either met or exceeded grade-level standards when taking the assessment this fall compared to the same grade levels last year.
Broken down by groups, nearly all categories of first and second grade students saw bumps in performance this year compared to last. Of the groups, 81.65% of Asian students met or exceeded standards, a 3.75% increase compared to last year, followed by white students with about 65.5% meeting or exceeding standards, nearly 7% more students than last fall.
About 50% of Black students met or exceeded standards this semester, an increase of 11.5%. Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders saw a 12.12% boost with 45.45% meeting or exceeding standards. Another 8% of Hispanic students met or exceeded standards compared to last year, at 31.58%; and 20.5% more students with disabilities also met or exceeded standards this year at 39.61%.
“I do want to celebrate the gains that we’ve made. I think we’ve made incredible progress,” Trustee Maggie Trinh said. “And not just in the actual learning we can measure but even just seeing the way that they approach language and the excitement and creativity. I think the kids feel more comfortable being brave and trying new things.”
The academic growth could be credited to a series of classroom interventions implemented during the 2022-23 school year including hiring more teachers on special assignments meant to focus on early literacy, implementing two programs — PAF, a program meant to help with spelling, reading and handwriting, and Footsteps2Brilliance, a bilingual early literacy program — and more closely reviewing student performance data.
“We did a great job and it’s still the first year of implementation. Teachers are going to get better and stronger as we go forward,” David Chambliss, assistant superintendent of Education Services, said.
Still, officials acknowledged there’s more work to do to improve outcomes for all students but particularly for English language learners. According to CAASPP scores, about 28% of English learners met or exceeded standards this fall, a dip of nearly 2% compared to last year.
English learners in middle school also saw little improvement in their state math and English scores, unlike white, Black and Asian students and students with disabilities when comparing scores from 2023 to those in 2019. The reason for the four-year difference was to avoid comparisons to pandemic years, which had their own challenges. Similarly, Hispanic middle schoolers also saw less improvement than their counterparts.
Chambliss said staff plans to take a deeper look into why some English learners underperformed including reviewing which students used some of the district’s new programming over the summer. But he also noted many were also reclassified after performing well and are no longer accounted for in the group.
Superintendent Diego Ochoa also noted other factors could have influenced scores such as a teacher being out for an extended period of time. The district plans to increase interventions in sites where they’re needed and Ochoa said parents have been eagerly involved in finding ways to improve student outcomes, often meeting with staff on campus to learn how they can best support their children at home.
Trustees also agreed more data on students who are underperforming would help paint a fuller picture, as would performance figures following a single cohort. Ochoa said his team could provide the board with additional data while suggesting the best idea would follow a cohort of students who started with the district as preschoolers.
“You all, as educators in the classroom are being asked to do a lot of things — to implement new practices, to try new things, to assess students and evaluate that data and make changes, and identify focal students — and these things are what is best for our students in our schools but it’s a lot to ask,” board President Shara Watkins said.
(4) comments
I’d consider this good news but I feel we need more context... Were “standards” relaxed compared to years past? Comparisons to years prior to 2019, or before Common Core? What was the additional money spent to obtain these increases? How do these numbers compare to non-public school students?
You ask some good questions, Terence. It's important to know that the reporter did not get a key part of the story correct. In paragraphs 3-5 of the story, the reporter says that the data were pulled from the California Assessment of Student Perfomance and Progress (CAASPP), but this is not the case. Instead, the data come from interim assessments of K-5 students based on the K-5 reading curriculum. There is only one year of data to compare, fall 2022, which is essentially the pre-test of the curriculum because fall 2022 was the introduction of this curriculum (PAF) to district students. CAASPP assessments are administered in spring of grades 3-8 and 11 for public school students in CA, and so we would not see CAASPP scores for students in grades 1 or 2.
Your question about "standards" is an important one. The CAASPP is useful because it is standardized and ideally does not vary year over year. I believe this has been the case since 2018 or so, excepting the pandemic interval. Interim assessments, as are reported in detail here (misidentified as CAASPP assessments), are described by district teacher leaders and administrators as a "dipstick" to gauge student learning and progress and quickly identify any emerging needs. To my understanding (not a preK-12 educator), the interim assessments are not intended to be publicly reported or compared because they are not comprehensive or standardized. In fact, the assessment scores are not even shared with parents. Because of the secrecy, it has been difficult for non-educators to assess face validity.
Please keep asking questions!
r_payter, fantastic information! There is always spin and even with the improvement spin, the results were minimal to awful. 8% of 40 is 3.2, thus rather than having 60 failing students per 100, we only have 56.8 failing students per 100. Only in CA is 56.8% failure rate considered successful, but most likely our state government will need a $20 million bureaucratic celebratory party.
Thanks, r_paynter and Not So Common for the additional information and stats. I get the feeling that the more one delves into the reported statistics, the more one will find this reported “achievement” isn’t as great as is being touted. (In addition to what Not So Common has already provided.) Meanwhile, SF wants voters to weigh in on a March ballot regarding eight grade algebra and the deleterious effects from removing advanced math classes (https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/education/sfusd-8th-grade-math-wars-move-from-classroom-to-city-hall/article_1f09a48a-5d7e-11ee-8d1c-2b7ed9fc5015.html). Perhaps advanced students around the state stuck in, what is for them, remedial classes artificially raised achievement levels for the population? More food for thought…
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