California test scores show deep pandemic drops; 2 in 3 students don’t meet math standards
The latest annual survey by the College Board shows a significant decline in fourth-grade reading proficiency, but high rates of progress in mathematics during the same year.
The test scores, from 615,726 fourth-grade students in the spring 2017 release, show that the percentage of students who scored in the lowest performance level — below basic skills measured by the third-grade reading test — fell 21 percentage points from 2016. Those drops were largely among low-income and minority students, who make up two-thirds of fourth-grade students.
The percentage of students proficient in English language arts/literacy also fell 24 percentage points, largely among low-income and minority students.
The percentage of students at or above the fifth-grade math proficiency level, when high school graduate scores are considered, increased by about one-third during the school year.
But at least one expert said the gains were more likely due to high levels of student input than better performance.
“The big drop in fourth-grade math proficiency is probably more about how much more students can do than the quality of instruction,” said Patrick Lynch, a former high school math teacher and former University of Southern California professor.
“I’d be real surprised if the reading drops were larger without the massive intervention [in the current school year], where teachers have been forced to teach reading by the number of students in class,” he said.
Third- and fourth-grade reading scores — which measure fundamental skills for students to master in middle school — have been falling since the early 1990s because students are starting middle school with fewer resources than first- and second-graders, said Dr. James D. Simeon, chief of the College Board’s college and career readiness assessment practice.
The College Board’s new math test for 4th-graders takes a similar approach. Last school year, the College Board’s standardized math test for 4th-graders measured skills like number sense and basic math, but also covered such topics as geometry and abstract thinking.
The score differences in math proficiency between fourth-grade and first- and second-grade students are expected to continue in subsequent years, Simeon said.
The College Board�