Test scores rise again, but not enough to bring public schools in line with federal standards

Duke Helfand:

Although California public school students showed promising gains on math and English tests last spring, less than half were proficient in the two subjects and unable to meet the achievement goals set by the federal No Child Left Behind education law, the state Education Department reported Monday.

Students in grades two through 11 have steadily increased their test scores over the last four years, progress that officials attribute to a strong focus on academic standards in classroom instruction.

The pace of the students' improvement, however, has not come quickly enough for all schools to keep up with requirements in the federal law — a looming problem particularly for campuses that serve predominantly Latino and African American students, whose test scores remain far below those of their white and Asian peers.

The No Child Left Behind law requires all students to be proficient in English and math within a decade. Schools that repeatedly fail to bring enough students to the proficient level can face sanctions, including the removal of principals and teachers.

The proficiency hurdle was underscored by The Times analysis that found only incremental gains among California sixth-graders — the first crop of students who were tested each year since assessment of the standards began five years ago.

In some of California's largest urban school districts, including Los Angeles Unified, last year's sixth-grade classes saw math achievement levels decline over the two previous years, the analysis found.

Race still remains a significant factor:

The wide achievement gap between racial and ethnic groups has changed little, if at all, over the last five years. Sixty-five percent of Asian students and 51% of white students were proficient in math last spring, compared with 27% of Latinos and 23% of African Americans.

One of the criticisms made against the U.S. educational system is that it is "culturally biased" against non-white minorities. If this is true then how come the Asian students did better than the white ones?

Scores rise, but most pupils lag