Where Is the Outrage Over the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) Results?

11Oct
by Leticia Chavez-Garcia

If you have not had a chance yet to review your school district’s state test results, known as California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP), I would encourage you to take a look. I have been spending the last few days reviewing the SBAC/CAASPP scores for California students, and it literally has my head exploding. I have been looking up schools and districts with this great resource provided by EdSource. I am left wondering how it is that we spend so much money on administrators and teachers that clearly have no clue how to educate our kids!  The graphics on this site are shocking to see. Brace yourself.  

What are we going to do about a system so far gone that it cannot be corrected and a generation of learners that has been short changed and denied its right to be educated members of society?  

I am seriously beginning to believe that students should consider suing the districts that have failed them. Students leave their high schools unprepared for college, and in many cases, they enter high school unprepared for high school. Forget about college readiness, these students are not even high school ready!

So who is at fault? Because, now is the time for blame. And DO NOT say that it’s the kids and/or their parents! Parents are required by law to put their kids in the public education system! It’s called compulsory education, and the United States of America mandates ALL children be enrolled in school. It is NOT the parents responsibility to teach them reading, writing and math.  So don’t go there!  

Let me be perfectly clear with the uncomfortable truth…the fault can be placed with subpar teachers and the subpar principals who continue to employ the subpar teachers. Every single teacher in the classroom knows exactly what their students are capable of. Each teacher knows what the strengths and weaknesses of their students are. So if you, as a teacher, have a student that you know is NOT performing at grade level, or cannot read by the 7th grade, or perform basic math functions in the 7th grade, which clearly the state results show is exactly the case, go fight for these kids to get the remediation needed. Do not ignore the needs of your students. Go see an administrator and let them know that you have concerns about the ability of the students that are struggling. If they ignore you, find another administrator to voice your concern to. I know what this is like because I have been there. As a teacher, it is your responsibility to help these kids succeed. Stop giving failing students C grades; do not pass students because you sympathize with them when they are not doing the work at the required level. It helps no one when mediocrity is accepted and celebrated.

These test scores are a disgrace. Every teacher that has access to student in a classroom should be embarrassed and full of shame. You’re making the profession a sham. Imagine that you are a doctor and your patient survival rate is only 30%. You would not be a doctor very long would you? Your license would get yanked. What if you were an attorney and your win rate was 29%, do you really think you’d be an attorney very long? Of course not. And by the way, both of these professions carry malpractice insurance because they can actually get sued if they don’t do their job right. So why do you still get to be a teacher if you keep putting up these abysmal student scores? Students and parents should be allowed to sue for malpractice, since they are required by law to attend your subpar schools. Teachers are always complaining that they don’t get paid enough and that they are required to have the same level of education of doctors and lawyers, but their success rates are horrible. But at least you’ve been consistent! Do I sound mad? Good! I am mad. I am outraged that this has gone on as long as it has, and you should be as well. Help me hold these districts accountable. Our students need us to fight for them.  

The legislature MUST get involved. They are enablers in this mass education fraud being committed by school districts all over the state! We have lost a whole generation, are we going to continue and lose another? We must streamline the process to rid the system of the bad apples once and for all. Legislation must be introduced to help principals weed out poor instructors in their schools. I will be posting more on this very important matter and how we can hold our districts accountable in the upcoming days and weeks. We cannot let this stand.  

Find out how your school or district did here.

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Leticia Chavez-Garcia

Leticia Chavez-Garcia is a Mother, Grandmother, former Middle School Teacher, former Member of a School Board of Education and an Education Advocate for hundreds of parents and students in the Inland Empire. Having become a mother at 15, Leticia knows what it’s like to be a single mother trying to navigate the education system. Leticia received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Political Science and Public Administration from California Baptist University and a Masters’ Degree in Education Technology from Cal State Fullerton in her 30’s. Leticia has used her knowledge and experience to help hundreds of families as an Education Advocate in the Inland Empire and currently works as an Education Specialist.

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