By Harry Gibbons
This marks a one-half percent increase from last year, and an increase of more than five percent since the first year of testing.
The department also released the scores for the Academic Performance Index, which is a measure of individual school quality. Those scores went down.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said the drop could be explained by years of school funding cuts and by complications in California’s transition to the new “Common Core” standards.
“When you consider the devastating cuts of the previous four to five years, and the shift away from the old standards and the old testing to the new Common Core standards, I think those are the two biggest explanations," said Torlakson.
Additionally the federal government says the number of underperforming schools in California has increased. But Torlakson says the federal assessment is the result of unrealistic standards set by the No Child Left Behind program.
Follow us for more stories like this
CapRadio provides a trusted source of news because of you. As a nonprofit organization, donations from people like you sustain the journalism that allows us to discover stories that are important to our audience. If you believe in what we do and support our mission, please donate today.
Donate Today