Los Angeles Makes Gains in Reading and Math – But Most Kids Still Don’t Meet Standards
Katie VanArnam | October 24, 2024
Your donation will help us produce journalism like this. Please give today.
The Los Angeles Unified School District showed improvement on state test scores released this month, but most students are still not hitting state proficiency standards.
Like other school systems across the country, LA Unified saw student achievement plummet during COVID-19. LAUSD scores have risen some since then, with underperforming student groups making particularly big gains.
In the 2023-24 school year, 43.1% of all LAUSD students met state proficiency targets in reading, compared with 44.1% in the 2018-19 school year, the last before the pandemic. In math, 32.8% met standards, compared to 33.5% in 2018-19.
LA Unified officials said the district’s gains are proof its efforts to raise students’ test scores are working.
“This is mission impossible, that has become mission inevitable,” said superintendent Alberto Carvalho at an Oct. 11 press conference.
Here are key findings about academic progress in the nation’s second-largest school district:
1. LA still trails the state in reading and math, but has been closing that gap
Although LAUSD has historically trailed California statewide in math and reading scores, its rate of improvement is outrunning that of the state as a whole.
This year, LAUSD saw a 1.9% increase in students who met or exceeded state standards for English language from the previous year. In math, the district saw a 2.3% increase.
That’s compared to a 0.3% improvement in reading and 0.9% improvement in math, statewide.
That means LAUSD outpaced the state in reading improvement by 500% and in math by 300%.
But, as is the case for many urban districts, LA’s test scores still lag behind those of the state as a whole. Statewide, 47% of students are proficient in reading, compared to 43.1% in LA. In math, 32.8% of LAUSD students are proficient, compared to 35.5% statewide.
LAUSD also trailed behind the state in its science scores. LAUSD proficiency rates on science tests were 24% in 2024, up 1.8 percentage points from 2023. Statewide it’s 30.7%.
2. Historically underperforming student groups in LAUSD are showing improvement
In historically struggling students, LAUSD is seeing improvements, with Black and Latino students now outperforming those in the rest of the state.
Black students have historically had the lowest test scores of any racial LAUSD group of students.
For the 2023-2024 school year, 20.7% of the black student population met state standards in math, up 1.9% from the year before. The number who met expectations was higher than it was pre pandemic, with a 0.5% increase over pre pandemic math scores for those students.
Comparatively, the state of California saw a 2.7% decrease in Black students who met math requirements since COVID-19, with the percentage of black students meeting math goals falling to 17.8%.
For Latino students, the district saw a 1.8% increase in math test scores, while the state of California only saw a 1% improvement. Latino students in LAUSD now sit almost 3% higher than those in the state of California.
Los Angeles Unified also reported a 1.6% improvement in reading scores from before COVID-19, for students with disabilities. In reading, students with disabilities now sit at 13.5%.
Meanwhile, 66.3% of white students and 77.4% of Asian students met state reading standards.
3. Programs targeted at underperforming schools showed promise for boosting scores
LAUSD officials said rising scores among historically underperforming student groups serves as proof efforts to improve academics for struggling schools and kids are working.
LA Unified has a number of such programs in place, such as its Priority Schools Program, which gives 100 low-performing schools extra tutoring and training for staff, plus help from outside organizations.
Partnership for Los Angeles Schools is one such organization. The LA non-profit works with 20 of LA Unified’s lowest-performing schools, providing extra training and teaching materials to teachers to help them better reach struggling students.
“We’re in the business of supporting educators,” said Partnership for Los Angeles Schools CEO Guadalupe Guerrero. “Without the adults feeling supported and being successful, we’re not going to get the impact we want to see with kids.”
Schools that worked with the organization last year saw particularly strong growth in their state test scores, LAUSD officials said.
The district has also targeted Black students with its Black Student Achievement Plan, but the future of that program has recently fallen into question because of a lawsuit from an out-of-state activist group.
4. District officials worry about decreased funding
LA Unified officials raised concerns about the impact of the loss of federal pandemic relief money this year, and said the funding is needed to maintain academic progress shown in rising test scores.
Districts across the country are facing the expiration this year of more than $190 billion in federal funds meant to help schools remain open during the pandemic and aid in the recovery of students.
Carvalho said the funding allowed the district to invest more money in tutoring, school supplies, social services and after-school programs for needy kids.
WIthout the money, he said, LA Unified may struggle to continue its growth on state exams.
“Covid recovery funding brought our district and many districts across the country close to a level of financial sufficiency that should be guaranteed, not just temporarily, speaking, but forever,” he said.
This article is part of a collaboration between The 74 and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.