Results out for important California standardized test

The results of California’s most important public school tests are out today. Educators released the annual public school standardized test scores at a San Fernando Valley high school. They show a slight improvement in English and math test scores statewide.

Fifty-four percent of students statewide scored at or above proficient on the English test, and 50 percent scored at or above proficient on the math test. That 2 percent improvement has stayed about the same for the last eight years. Last year, state educators said the slight improvement was impressive because several years of budget cuts had reached the classroom.

Scores for students in the L.A. Unified School District remain lower than the statewide average, but district superintendent John Deasy says L.A. Unified students showed greater improvement.

"We are not where we want to be, yet," Deasy says. "But we surely are nowhere near where we used to be in LAUSD. Knowing this pace with which we can continue is only able to encourage us to demand more of ourselves, more of our students and more of our parents."

Deasy argues that the improvements are impressive because budget cuts are hurting classroom instruction.

Just over 20 years ago, California’s Board of Education put down on paper what students should be learning each year in math, English, science, social studies and history. And these yearly tests, given to students from second to 11th grade, are the state’s way of making sure that’s happening. It’s not for many students.

The president of L.A. Unified’s teachers union cautions against putting so much emphasis on the standardized test scores. Teachers unions have long been critical of these and other standardized tests. The California Teachers Association is backing a bill in the state Legislature to get rid of the standardized tests given in second grade.