Low but improving student test results spark mixed reaction

State test scores for the Los Banos Unified School District released weeks ago are low but progressing, Los Banos Unified School District officials told the school board Thursday.

Across the district, 2016 Smarter Balanced state test results reported a 4 percent increase in students at or above grade level in reading and writing from last year’s baseline scores.

There also was a 3 percent increase of students at or above grade level in mathematics.

However, the actual numbers were still well under the state averages of 49 percent for reading and writing, and 37 percent in math.

Los Banos district students averaged just 32 percent in reading and writing and 22 percent in math.

“We’re still far behind the state percentages, but we are making gains to catch up,” Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education Paul Enos said. “We’re just trying to do all kinds of things to get our percentages up.”

One of those things is the new Rigorous Curriculum Design that the school district has implemented into its classrooms to align better with state Common Core standards.

The RCD units steer classes toward the types and nature of questions given on the state assessments. Administrators also will be visiting classrooms on a scheduled basis to monitor the RCD units and provide feedback to teachers.

Enos also said the school district will continue to provide extracurricular courses to students and parents with English as a second language.

Test scores and the district’s approach to them have been a contentious topic on the school board.

Trustees Dennis Areias and Anthony Parreira have noted improvement in the district’s test scores while adding that test scores aren’t the sole measure of school performance.

Other board members, including Carole Duffy, Tommy Jones and Marlene Smith, have noted the need to focus on further improving those test scores. Those trustees have been buoyed by a local civil rights group called the Community Advocacy Coalition.

Baldo Salcido, a representative of the CAC, noted the small improvement in the scores but said the district isn’t where it should be right now.

The CAC most recently successfully recalled former trustee John Mueller through a special election, in part due to reaction over the low test scores, and ran their own candidate, co-founder Ray Martinez, to take Mueller’s place. Thursday was Martinez’s first board meeting.

Salcido said there was nothing positive about more than half of students not meeting standards.

“When our schools improve from F to D-, they are still failing,” he said.

In addition to Mueller, the CAC has taken aim at Areias, claiming his 18 years on the board has coincided with low scores.

Areias said staff at the district’s schools have been working hard at educating children and that test results don’t tell the whole story.

He said state testing methodology hasn’t been consistent enough long enough to be a sole indicator of the school district’s effort or performance.

“I’m not blaming anyone (for the low test scores),” he said. “I don’t want people blaming our school system.”

Areais also said the tests don’t take into account the effects on test results from language barriers of the Spanish-speaking student population; home environments that don’t push students to study; gang influences on students; and students who focus on skill trades rather than tests and grades.

This story was originally published September 11, 2016 at 3:06 PM with the headline "Low but improving student test results spark mixed reaction."