California test scores are higher, but higher federal targets put more schools at risk
Results released today show L.A. schools improving at a faster rate than the state average but still lagging behind overall.
Scores on state standardized tests took a step upward in results released this morning, but that rise won't prevent more schools from failing federal targets that have become more difficult this year.
In Los Angeles, schools improved at a faster rate than in the state at large -- a familiar and hopeful pattern. But they also continued to lag behind the state average overall. And here, too, increasing federal standards will inevitably lead to more schools being categorized as unsuccessful. Critics of school reform in California agree with that negative portrayal of many state schools.
Statewide, about 17% of the elementary schools that met federal standards last year in English are likely to fall short this year. That works out to nearly 1,000 schools changing camps from successful to unsuccessful, even during a year in which test scores went up overall. The figure is 17.5% for middle schools likely to be newly defined as insufficient, according to a Times analysis.
(A similar calculation could not be made for high schools because the state has not released the necessary data.)
The reason for the seeming decline is a rising bar for success. This year, to meet federal targets, the required percentage of students who must be proficient rose from 24.4% to 35.2% in English and from 26.5% to 37% in math. That means a school that met last year's standard would have one year to increase the number of its proficient students by as much as 43% in English and 40% in math to stay on the plus side of accelerating federal expectations.
Monte Vista Elementary School in Santa Ana, for example, met the federal targets last year and its scores rose in math and English this year, yet the school is at serious risk of falling below the federal standard in English this year.
Schools that don't keep pace ultimately face sanctions that could include replacing faculty and administration. So far, the state has been reluctant to impose severe sanctions. But unless there is relief at the federal level, more schools every year are almost certain to be labeled as failing because the federal targets continue to rise sharply until 2014, when nearly every student is expected to be academically proficient under the federal No Child Left Behind law.
The state won't issue precise and official federal accountability reports for about two weeks. The Times was able to preview the trend by analyzing today's release of state test scores, on which the federal rating will be based.
