Great news! The absentee rate has gone down from 30% to 20%. Of course there are fewer students, many have fled the government schools. The better news is that more kids are being given child care, in the guise of “education”. Has the curriculum gotten better? No. Are the students still being forced to become bigots, sexually groomed and learning to hate America and freedom? Yes.
“The most notable improvement was in attendance. The percentage of students who were chronically absent, missing more than 10% of school days in a year, dropped to about 20%, a significant decline from when it peaked at 30% three years ago. Prior to the pandemic about 12% of students were chronically absent.
“This is good news,” said Hedy Chang, director of Attendance Works, a nonprofit that advocates for school attendance. “I’m pleasantly surprised. … To benefit from all the services that schools are offering, kids have to show up.”
Almost all students do get at least two meals a day at government schools—sadly little is done to educate them and prepare for adulthood.
Attendance is a bright spot in the latest California School Dashboard
by Carolyn Jones, CalMatters, 11/21/24 https://calmatters.org/education/k-12-education/2024/11/california-school-dashboard-2/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=How%20well%20is%20CA%20racial%20justice%20law%20working%3F&utm_campaign=WhatMatters
In summary
Chronic absenteeism dropped to 20% last school year, but that is still higher than the pre-pandemic rate of 12%.
California’s public school students are continuing to rebound from the pandemic, with more showing up for class, more graduating and fewer misbehaving at school, according to new data released today.
The California School Dashboard, a color-coded snapshot of how students and schools are faring, showed improvements in many categories during the 2023-24 school year — a relief for schools trying to help students recover academically and social-emotionally after the 2020 campus closures.
The most notable improvement was in attendance. The percentage of students who were chronically absent, missing more than 10% of school days in a year, dropped to about 20%, a significant decline from when it peaked at 30% three years ago. Prior to the pandemic about 12% of students were chronically absent.
“This is good news,” said Hedy Chang, director of Attendance Works, a nonprofit that advocates for school attendance. “I’m pleasantly surprised. … To benefit from all the services that schools are offering, kids have to show up.”
Since the pandemic, schools across the state have been doubling down on efforts to lure students back to school. Many used their federal and state COVID-19 relief money to hire outreach workers, add bus routes, host pizza parties and otherwise make it easier and more enticing to come to school. Some districts had social workers connect directly with parents to solve transportation and other obstacles.
Chronic absenteeism continues to improve after pandemic peak
Percent of California students absent for at least 10% of school days
Multi line chart that shows the absenteeism rate of all California public school students increasing from 14.3% in 2020-21 to 30% in 2021-22, then most recently 20.4% in 2023-24. Black and Latino students consistently have higher rates, and White and Asian students consistently have lower rates.
’20-21’21-22’22-23’23-24010203040%
All students
Black
Latino
White
Asian
Note: Asian excludes Filipino students, who are categorized separately.
Chart: Erica Yee, CalMattersSource: California Dept. of Education
Those efforts paid off, Chang said. While the pizza parties helped, she pointed to many schools’ focus on improving campus climate overall. That includes counseling, social-emotional learning, stronger relationships between school staff and families, and health and wellness services.
Pandemic relief grants expired this year, so some districts will be scrambling to maintain these programs going forward. But the state’s recent investments in community schools, arts education, transitional kindergarten and other services will help, Chang said.
Recognition for long-term English learners
Another noteworthy item in the Dashboard is the inclusion of a new student group: long-term English learners, or students who were not fluent in English after seven years. The reasons for these students’ delays vary, but in general they’re not receiving adequate help learning English and as a result, lag far behind their peers academically.
About 10% of students who were ever classified as English learners were considered long-term English learners last year, according to state data. Those students had some of the lowest math and English language arts scores of any of California’s 13 other student groups.
“We’re celebrating this significant milestone, that long-term English learners get the spotlight they deserve and they are no longer invisible,” said Martha Hernandez, director of Californians Together, which advocates for students who are English learners. “But now the work begins to ensure their needs are met.”
Schools and other education agencies need to work together to help families who are recent immigrants by finding translators, provide counseling to students, boost bilingual education and bring in tutors to help with English and academic skills, said Lindsay Tornatore, director of systems improvement and student success at California County Superintendents, which represents county office of education superintendents.
‘Not good enough’
Elsewhere on the dashboard, the graduation rate was 86.4%, up a bit from the previous year and higher than the pre-pandemic rate of 84.2%. But a related item on the dashboard raised alarm bells with researchers. The number of students meeting the requirements for admission to California’s public universities was up only slightly — an increase of just 3,700 students among a graduating class of 438,000. Close to half of high school graduates are ineligible for the University of California or California State University.
“That’s just not good enough,” said Alix Gallagher, interim managing director at the nonpartisan think tank Policy Analysis for California Education. “It means the recovery has been anemic, and that’s a problem. We need a different approach, starting at the state level.”
Most California high schoolers graduate in four years
But only about half of graduates meet University of California or California State University admission criteria, also known as A-G requirements.
Side-by-side line charts showing the percent of California high schoolers graduating in four years hovering around 86% for several years, and the percent of students graduating and meeting UC/CSU requirements ending at 44.9% in 2023-24.
She pointed to some districts’ policies of placing students on math tracks that don’t allow them to meet the college admission requirements by their senior year. While not all students should be expected to enroll in four-year colleges, they should at least have the option available, she said.
The Department of Education hailed a drop in the suspension rate, among all student groups. Student misbehavior had increased after schools re-opened, and schools struggled to maintain a positive atmosphere for staff and other students. The rate dropped from 3.6% to 3.3% last year.
No major changes to format
The dashboard itself has been under fire recently. The data is too hard for parents to navigate, and the color coding can be misleading, according to a report from the Center for Reinventing Public Education at Arizona State University.
For example, a school might earn an orange color, the second-from-lowest designation, for showing slight improvements, but its scores might actually be lower than schools that earned a red, the lowest ranking. The state said it would consider making some changes but hadn’t made any major alterations on this year’s version.
The dashboard was released a few weeks earlier than it was last year. By 2026 the dashboard’s release will coincide with the Smarter Balanced test score announcement in mid-October.
