Smarter Balanced test scores reveal California students doing worse in school
SACRAMENTO — Results from California's 2022 Smarter Balanced test have revealed that students performed significantly worse than they did before the pandemic.
The shift to remote learning was an adjustment for students; now, schools are seeing the impact of their decision reflected in students' academic progress.
The Smarter Balanced tests assess students in English/ Language Arts and Math. Students in grades three through eight and 11 participate in the exam. The test aims to measure how students compare to previous years and identify gaps in knowledge.
Students are categorized into four achievement levels: they either exceeded, met, nearly met, or did not meet standards.
Results from the 2021-22 school year indicate that over half of California students are below standards for English and Language Arts. This group includes those who nearly met or did not meet standards.
Two-thirds of the students were below standards for math.
Megan Bacigalupi is the Director of Parent Power, a California parent-led activist group.
Bacigalupi told CBS13 that while the numbers may seem alarming for parents, California schools were not in a good place, to begin with.
"Prior to the pandemic, it's not as if California students were performing great — they weren't," Bacigalupi said.
"Less than half of our kids were reading at grade level, and fewer were able to do math at grade level. So we've slid from a bad place to a worse place," she continued.
For Sacramento County, students that met or exceeded standards for ELA went down almost 4% from pre-pandemic levels; for math, 5.6%.
These numbers plummet further for African American economically disadvantaged students.
Bacigalupi says school and state leaders need to come up with strategic plans to get students the support they need.
"Not just when it comes to money… but teachers, additional staff, literacy coaches and tutors so that we cannot only just recover from the pandemic losses but make up for the losses that were there before."
A study from the National Bureau of Economic Research analyzes the impacts of remote and hybrid instruction during the pandemic.
The study says, "Depending on whether they remained remote during 2020-21, some school agencies have much more work to do now than others. If the achievement losses become permanent, there will be major implications for future earnings, racial equity, and income inequality, especially in states where remote instruction was common."
