Update: Here is another district spreadsheet that shows the average racial/ethnic results across all grade levels.

OUSD’s test scores improved this year, after flattening out in 2007. But there is still plenty of room for improvement. Only about one-third of the kids tested scored at proficient levels or better in math, reading and science. (You can find the results here.)

Also, despite modest gains in the average scores of most ethnic groups, a striking racial achievement gap remains. It shows up in an area that the school district has zeroed in on during the last four or five years: Third-grade reading.

The disparity in the English language arts scores of white third-graders and their non-white peers has actually grown during the last five years, despite the district’s efforts to narrow the gap.

If you look at the percentages of those who scored at “proficient” or “advanced” levels in reading — one of the measures used to determine progress in the No Child Left Behind Act — the data is stark: Read the rest of this entry »

California’s superintendent of public instruction says that in order for Gov. Schwarzenegger’s de facto eighth-grade Algebra I requirement to work, the state will need to pony up $3.1 billion — “with a `b’” — dollars for smaller math classes, additional class time, more school counseling services, and expanded after school and summer programs.

State Superintendent Jack O’Connell said he was aware that he was making the spendy Algebra I Success Initiative proposal during state budget negotiations marked by deep deficits and planned cuts to education, health and social services. He also noted that the $3 billion proposal mostly included ongoing costs, rather than one-time expenses.

“If the governor is unable to come up with this (funding), then he should encourage the state board to reconsider this mandate,” O’Connell said during a teleconference this morning. Read the rest of this entry »

Girls tackle basic and complex mathematical problems as well as boys do, a departure from the findings of a 1990 study that found significant gender differences, a UC Berkeley professor and her research team from the University of Wisconsin concluded.

Armed with a National Science Foundation grant, the team crunched the standardized test scores of 7 million students to see how the boys’ and girls’ averages measured up. They also compared the percentages of boys and girls who scored at the high end of the spectrum to see if there were more boys than girls at the top. There weren’t.

The reason? Well, it’s not earth-shattering. Researchers think it’s because girls are finally taking the same number of advanced math courses as boys.

Notably, the researchers had to look beyond the standardized tests required by NCLB to determine how well children of each gender solved complex problems. They combed 10 state exams for examples of highly challenging, real-world math — and found zilch, according to this news release: Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, we ran a story about the “summer slide,” the erosion of vocabulary and other academic skills during long breaks from school. Researchers say it especially affects kids don’t have access to summer schools, camps or other structured activities during the summer.

“Summer is a time when the rich get richer and the poor get poorer,” said Ron Fairchild, executive director of the Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. “We think of summer as this time for camp and recreation and all kinds of fun programs, but it’s a wasteland for many low-income children. There’s no other time of year where inequality is greater then the summer, and it has a huge impact on the achievement gap.”

The Oakland Cal Ripken-Babe Ruth Baseball League fills that void for dozens of Oakland kids each summer. And last week, the 9-year-old team won the state tournament and advanced to the Pacific Southwest competition in Panguitch, Utah. The coaches said they just learned, however, that the team would have to come up with the money for the trip. Read the rest of this entry »