Poor Test Scores in California Should Prompt Folks to Look Closely at Teacher Performance

22Oct
by Leticia Chavez-Garcia

The California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) and the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) state test results were recently released. The results are troubling.  

Statewide, only a little (and I mean very little) over 50% of students are proficient in English Language Arts (ELA) and just shy of 40% are proficient in Math. There are more than 6 million students enrolled in California schools. That means that only about 3 million of our students are actually learning. So at what point do we look at how they are taught and by whom?  

What is going on here? Year after year we see the same thing. It does not get better.  In fact, it has gotten worse. What are we missing? What are we not taking into consideration? What group of folks seems to always be missing from the education equation? Teachers. There is no accountability for the teachers.  

Just for shits and giggles, let’s look at the teachers and how their students performed. If for no other reason than to prove me wrong and shut me up! Please, put up your scores teachers!  Show us your evaluations! We need teacher accountability. Not every teacher would have an evaluation to post.  

Would it shock you to know that some teachers are only evaluated every five years? I submit to you once again this year that we need to look at the one variable in education that we are not allowed to look at: teachers. We are prohibited from asking about the teachers. That needs to change.  We know that there is such a thing as the belief gap, and we also know about the soft bigotry in education. We need to address tenure and teachers that perpetuate these detrimental attitudes in education that are clearly affecting our black and brown children with apparent impunity.

You can look at your child’s school or district by going on this website and entering your information:  2019 Test Results Search

Edsource has also developed a great tool for parents to use here: 2019 Test Results

If you look at this chart, you can see that Black and Latino children have the furthest to climb.

This is unacceptable. 

What do you think?
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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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