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Plunging school tests scores in SLO County, compare local school districts

October 25, 2022

By KAREN VELIE

Test scores for students in San Luis Obispo County and throughout the nation plunged during the coronavirus pandemic, demonstrating the impact lockdowns had on learning, according to data California’s Education Department recently released.

The percentage of children in SLO County meeting or exceeding standards in English language arts and in math fell in every local school district from 1% to 15% from 2019 to 2022. Students at Atascadero Unified School District fared the best while students at Coast Unified School District had the largest drops in math and English proficiency.

In Nov. 2020, three North County school districts – Atascadero, Paso Robles and San Miguel – were the first to allow some students to return to in-person learning while officials at the remaining school districts elected to delay reopenings. These three North County school districts had the lowest levels of student testing declines in SLO County.

Find out how local students fared on state tests:

At Atascadero Unified School District, 51% of students met English language arts standards, a drop of 1%. For math, 39% met the standards, down 1.3%.

At Atascadero High School, 47.2% of students met English language arts standards, a drop of 3.3%. For math, 26.9% met the standards, down 3.4%.

At Paso Robles Joint Unified School District, 40.8% of students met English language arts standards, a drop of 6.9%. For math, 29.5% met the standards, down 6.4%.

At Paso Robles High School, 52.3% of students met English language arts standards, a drop of 7.6%. For math, 25% met the standards, down 15%.

At San Miguel Joint Union School District, 35.8% of students met English language arts standards, a drop of 4.4%. For math, 28.4% met the standards, down 8.2%.

At Templeton Unified School District, 57.6% of students met English language arts standards, a drop of 5.6%. For math, 38.5% met the standards, down 8.6%.

At Templeton High School, 69.9% of students met English language arts standards, a drop of 6.4%. For math, 32.7% met the standards, down 9.9%.

At Lucia Mar Unified School District, 50.1% of students met English language arts standards, a drop of 6.3%. For math, 32.8% met the standards, down 9.3%.

At Arroyo Grande High School, 57% of students met English language arts standards, an increase of 2.3%. For math, 24.1% met the standards, down 9.8%.

At Nipomo High School, 47.3% of students met English language arts standards, a drop of 12.6%. For math, 22.7% met the standards, down 5.1%.

At San Luis Coastal Unified School District, 64% of students met English language arts standards, a drop of 6.4%. For math, 55.6% met the standards, down 8.5%.

At Morro Bay High School, 73.7% of students met English language arts standards, an increase of 3.5%. For math, 38.4% met the standards, down 4.7%.

At San Luis Obispo High School, 74.7% of students met English language arts standards, a drop of 6.7%. For math, 54% met the standards, down 11.2%.

At Coast Unified School District, 37.4% of students met English language arts standards, a drop of 14.7%. For math, 26.8% met the standards, down 11.2%.

At Coast Union High School, 64.7% of students met English language arts standards, a drop of 6.7%. For math, 29.4% met the standards, down 1.5%.

Following the release of the Nation’s Report Card, which revealed steep declines in math and reading scores in fourth and eighth grade students, parents and officials have noted the need for academic recovery.

“The results in today’s Nation’s Report Card are appalling and unacceptable,” said U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. “This is a moment of truth for education. How we respond to this will determine not only our recovery, but our nation’s standing in the world.”


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It is hard to say the the test scores plunged when they were in the basement already.


You should note:

A “percentage drop of 10%” from a previous performance score of 30% makes the new score 27%—the drop in actual performance is 3%. It doesn’t drop it to 20%. It is hard to tell what you are really comparing here with the data supplied.

Covid did affect retention – and test scores. No doubt. So does summer break.


Under performing schools is the real subject here. In the long run Covid is not to blame for our kids testing poorly. They were doing so pre-pandemic.


24

What’s upsetting to me is the “English language arts standards” start at around 50% for all of the schools. Just…what are they doing in these classrooms?


18

Not true. Morro Bay, Templeton, San Luis Obispo and Coast Union all rank in the top 25% of the nation’s high schools ranked by U.S. News and World Report.


https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/california/districts/san-luis-coastal-unified-school-district/morro-bay-high-school-3331


-6

Interesting. If any of us were to have productive analytics at our jobs like this, we’d likely be demoted or fired.


Note: I have 4 in school from Cal Poly to HS freshman. The three high schoolers say it is unbearably easy (save for pre-calc) and that the teachers have “mailed it in” and are just giving them handouts. It’s far too easy to just google an answer, and turn it in, get an A, and walk out. They all don’t feel challenged (Cal Poly senior is an exception) and do not feel they are required to think but are amazing researchers with abilities to find the answers that they are looking for but that is it.


18

Sure,i am worry that these scores are so low.

My advices to kids:find a mentor, find i person that inspire you.once you heve a goal,success is easy.

But forget football players,actors,Trump or Biden.

Look more towards Obama,bernie Sanders,Musk, civil rights leaders,unions,wrighters,philosophers.


Thing rather than buy,explore the world,the country and you will find a motivation.

COMMUNICATE WITH OTHERS.


-35

Musk yes, the other circus clowns you mentioned, hell no, Obama,bernie Sanders, civil rights leaders,unions,wrighters,philosophers.


9

Remind me how many connected to the last gop administration turned out to be criminals? Cheating on their taxes? circus clowns and reality tv shysters, hell no.


-21

Easy to blame teachers and government. Parents should be looking in the mirror.


If your kid is lagging — help them. Teachers can’t work miracles. If your kid is sitting in class texting on Snapchat for the 40 minutes they spend with each teacher, it only makes sense they get worse at tests.


13

Man, If only they’d stop burning books and bringing religion into school and religious and nationalistic distractions to those poor kids; and helping the disadvantaged economic kids, these scores would be awesome! But they aren’t.


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