Public school students in Los Angeles have positive news when it comes to the standardized tests they took in the spring: Their math and English scores rose across nearly every grade level and population group – a year-over-year increase that reflects the improvements exceeded the state results.

But in the bigger picture — beyond a one-year snapshot — the percentage of students meeting state math and English standards remains below the state. Highlights include:

• 43% of LAUSD students met grade standards in English, an increase of 1.8 percentage points. Nationwide, 47% of students speak English.
• In math, 32.8% of Los Angeles students met standards, up 2.3 percentage points from 2023. Nationally, 35.5% of students are proficient.
• LAUSD proficiency rates in science reached 24%, an increase of 1.8 percent from 2023. Statewide, it is 30.7%.

In other words, 57% of Los Angeles Unified students are not meeting English standards; 67.2% do not meet standards in math and 76% in science.

Still, Los Angeles school leaders had reason to celebrate the improved results Friday.

“We’re not done yet,” School Board President Jackie Goldberg said at a news conference. “We are not yet at the national average in anything. … But when you see growth that looks like that, you actually believe it’s possible to get there.”

Supt. Alberto Carvalho said students' growth, not their overall proficiency rate, is what matters most. The proficiency rate measures what percentage of students have met the California Learning Standard for a particular grade level or subject.

“America has an achievement problem that is particularly true among students of color, English language learners and students with disabilities,” Carvalho said. “The strategy for this is to increase the growth rate to separate these students from every other student in America, and what we're doing here, we're proving that it works.”

The Department of Education has administered the Smarter Balanced assessments, which measure whether students are meeting state standards, since 2015. Students are tested in math and English in grades three through eight and 11. In grades five and eight they are also tested in science like they were once in high school.

Gains among English language learners and others

The district saw particular gains among English language learners and students with disabilities, with both groups reaching proficiency rates last seen before the pandemic. Still, scores remain low: 10.7% of English language learners met standards in English and 8.9% in math. Of students with disabilities, 13.5% of students met standards in English and 11% met standards in math.

This means that more than 85% of students in both groups are proficient in neither mathematics nor English.

LAUSD's 121 priority schools — schools that the district has identified as needing additional investment — saw increases, according to the district. However, LAUSD has not released proficiency rates for these schools.

Black students' achievement in math has been a particularly positive growth factor. The metrics not only exceeded those of the district's pre-pandemic Black students in 2019, but also matched the state's 2019 metrics as 20.7% of students met grade standards. Yet nearly four out of five black students are not proficient in math.

But spring 2024 results remain low for 11th grade students graduating this year: 49.6% of students are proficient in English and 21.4% proficient in math, which is at least 6 percentage points below this year's state 11th grade results. class lies. In English, results remain 2.1% lower and in maths 3.9% lower than before the pandemic. At the same time, LAUSD's graduation rate rose to nearly 84% in 2023, about 5 percentage points above the 2019 rate.

LAUSD's youngest students — in grades 3 through 5 — posted gains in math that were above pre-pandemic levels. However, older students still struggle to recover.

Stanford professor Thomas S. Dee said this may be due in part to changes in composition. Younger families were more likely to move or remove their students from public schools during the pandemic to avoid online classes. High school students stayed more often and also struggled with chronic absenteeism and mental health problems.

USC Professor Morgan Polikoff said there is still a long way to go to achieve high academic standards, an issue that districts across the state were grappling with even before the pandemic.

“California is not a particularly high-performing state. There are still serious concerns about student performance, not to mention other outcomes like chronic absenteeism and graduation,” he said as he looked at LAUSD’s performance compared to California.

Dee said the gains in LAUSD's demographics are hopeful, but there are important caveats to consider when composing the data.

Due to declining enrollment, the district's demographics have changed, which would impact the data.

“I think this is encouraging, but I would also withhold these results until we can more accurately assess whether they reflect true academic recovery,” Dee said. “We don’t fully understand who is in the district now and who is participating in these tests several years after the pandemic began.”

Polikoff agreed, noting that many other states compare the average progress of individual students to determine improvements, while California only compares the percentage of students who have met the state's learning standards.

LAUSD's rising test scores come three years after the pandemic forced schools to close for nearly a year and shift instruction to online courses — and as state and federal pandemic funds expire, which will limit district funding for additional intervention programs .

LA Unified and other districts across the state continue to struggle with declining enrollment and chronic absenteeism as educators focus on getting students back on academic track.

Carvalho said the district is refining its budget approaches to maintain investment in its schools despite the reduction in funding. He decided to cut administrative resources and at the same time call for further investments.

“We are concerned and should advocate to members of Congress and Sacramento for an increase in funding, not a cut,” he said.”

Rachel Ruffalo, senior director of strategic advocacy at EdTrust West, praised LAUSD's growth this year and emphasized the need for continued investment in its students. She also said it's important to understand that test scores are not the only metric districts should consider when evaluating student success.

“Other data points that relate to student experiences and the different types of access and resources available to students really all need to be considered as we think about what works and where we should invest,” she said.