Pandemic years take toll on education progress

Monday, Oct. 24, was a big day for education administrators and possibly for the election in two weeks. The California Department of Education released the student scores from last year’s statewide assessments and national results from a separate testing set also were released.

The overall message was “recovery is occurring.” The COVID pandemic’s effect on schools and teaching methods was sad. The statewide 2021-2022 scores in English language and mathematics remain below the scores from 2018-2019, the year before schools were shutting because of COVID.

However, the recovery in many areas is hopefully seen in the improvement of this year’s results compared to 2020-2021.

“California focused on keeping kids safe during the pandemic while making record investments to mitigate learning loss and transforming our education system,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom in a press release after the testing results were released. “While California’s students experienced less learning loss than those in most other states during the pandemic, these results are not a celebration but a call to action — students are struggling academically and we need to keep getting them the resources they need to thrive …”

Nationwide the results were similar. The U.S. Department of the Education reported, “A majority of states saw scores decline for fourth and eighth graders in mathematics and reading between 2019 and 2022, according to the latest results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress [NAEP].”

And in the Hemet Unified School District (HUSD), results were the same. The percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards on the English language arts portion of the 2022 assessments was 30.7%, nearly 6.7% less than 2019 results of 37.4%.

A similar outcome is seen in the mathematics results. In 2019, 22.3% of HUSD students met or exceeded the standard. In 2022, it declined by 6.5% to a total of 15.8%.

Idyllwild was not an exception. Its 2022 scores also declined from the 2018-2019 results. In 2022, nearly half the students met or exceeded the English and literacy standards, but in 2019, more than 60% achieved this result. And the decline in mathematics was almost 15%.

“Although the Smarter Balanced Assessment System tests are only one measurement, at one point in time of student achievement, we recognize the important role they play in helping our school district identify areas of growth and focus in the areas of math and English,” said HUSD Superintendent Dr. Christi Barrett. “For many students, the last time they took a summative assessment test was in the spring of 2019 — over three years ago. Throughout the last three years, our district has sought to support students and families in many areas, including social-emotional and mental health supports, as well as hybrid and online learning.”

For 2022, Idyllwild scores are good compared to the entire HUSD, but less so compared to the whole state. For example, 17.1% of Idyllwild students exceeded the standard for English language and literacy compared to only 9.4% in the entire district, but statewide, 20.4% of students exceeded the standard.

And nearly half of Idyllwild students met or exceeded this standard, whereas only 30.7% of HUSD students did and 47% of students in the state accomplished this.

Similar results are seen in mathematics testing. Statewide, 16.1% of students exceeded the mathematics standards. In HUSD, it was only 4.7%; but 12.4% of Idyllwild students exceeded this standard.

Combining students who met the standard with those who exceeded it, nearly 33.5% of Idyllwild students achieved those levels. Statewide the total was 33%, but in HUSD, the combined percentage was 15.8.

“The results show the profound toll on student learning during the pandemic, as the size and scope of the declines are the largest ever in mathematics,” said Peggy G. Carr, commissioner for the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

Specifically in Idyllwild School, more than 55% of both the fourth and eighth grade students met or exceeded the English language and literacy standards. But 63% of the eighth graders were either slightly below standard or just didn’t meet it.

In none of the six grade levels were more than half of the students able to either meet or exceed the mathematics standard. Schoolwide, 66% of the students were not able to meet the standard. That includes 77.8% of the fourth grade students and 80% of the eighth grade students.

“As a school and staff, we are diligent about understanding the snapshot provided by the recent test scores. Although the results represent the first time these students took the SBAC test, we believe that the scores provide helpful information that can support our efforts of improvement,” Idyllwild School Principal Timothy Poseley said in an email to the Town Crier.

“Since 2019, the district has added one literacy-focused teacher along with two paraprofessional support staff to assist students in meeting grade-level expectations,” Poseley added. “Additionally, Idyllwild School provides targeted support services based on both academic and social/emotional assessments. A central tenant of this approach is to consider the needs of the whole student as a function of overall student achievement.”

National results evinced similar declines between 2019 and 2022. The percentage of students performing below the NAEP basic level increased across both subjects and grade levels. In reading, the percentage of fourth graders below the basic level increased from 34% in 2019 to 37% in 2022, and the percentage of eighth graders below basic increased from 27% in 2019 to 30% in 2022.

Mathematics results for below the basic level showed similar increases from 2019 to 2022.The NAEP basic level is the least stringent of the three achievement level goals for American students that are set by