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Nationwide, student test scores are ‘not good.’ But the data shows ‘a different pattern for San Diego.’

Wednesday’s release of scores from last year’s National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the “Nation’s Report Card,” is the second since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

First graders participate in writing words during a reading lesson at Chollas-Mead Elementary School on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023 in San Diego, CA. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
First graders participate in writing words during a reading lesson at Chollas-Mead Elementary School on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023 in San Diego, CA. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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San Diego Unified School District students’ performance in math and reading has stayed relatively steady on national tests this year, and their scores have nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels in fourth-grade math, new standardized test data shows.

Wednesday’s release of scores from last year’s National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the “Nation’s Report Card,” is the second since the COVID-19 pandemic began, upending student learning.

San Diego Unified’s trends this year reflect a nationwide increase in fourth-grade math, but they depart from declines in other subjects seen elsewhere, said a statistician with the test’s administration center.

“There is kind of a different pattern for San Diego,” said Ebony Walton, statistician with the National Center for Education Statistics, which administers the NAEP.

However, achievement gaps persist on racial and economic lines.

San Diego Unified officials highlighted the district’s progress in a call Wednesday afternoon.

“We held steady while the nation overall declined — and declined more than has been been seen in NAEP test results in decades,” said Wendy Ranck-Buhr, the district’s senior executive director of equity, access and opportunity. “Although holding steady might not seem like a great thing, in the context of everyone else declining at such a sharp rate, that is worth noting.”

The test is usually given every two years to fourth- and eighth-graders. It’s administered across states, allowing direct comparisons between student performance nationwide; it also collects district-specific scores for some large urban districts, including San Diego Unified.

“The news is not good,” said Peggy Carr, the commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, in a media call Tuesday.

Nationwide, scores are still not recovering to pre-pandemic levels; in 2022, they fell from the 2019 scores in the steep declines. But fourth-graders in math are showing progress.

San Diego Unified in 2022 lost ground in math at both the basic and proficient level, compared with 2019, but the district stayed relatively steady in reading.

On last year’s assessment, the district’s eighth-graders in math scored one point above where eighth-graders had in 2022 but had not yet returned to the pre-pandemic 2019 score. The 2024 average score was 275; it was 283 in 2019.

Tested fourth-graders had an average math score of 239 — seven points higher than the 2022 score, but still one point below the pre-pandemic score.

“Some states didn’t make any change, any significant change — but in the case of San Diego for grade four math, it seems that these fourth-graders have improved to the degree that it would take for you all to get to your 2019 scores,” Walton said.

Ranck-Buhr pointed out that the tested fourth-graders were kindergarteners when the pandemic began and that once in-person learning resumed, it emphasized problem-solving, working together and examining math problems to be sure their answers made sense.

Bucking the national trend, San Diego did not experience declines in reading from 2019 to 2022, and the district’s performance has remained steady since.

Eighth-graders had an average score of 263, one point below 2022 and only three points below 2019. Fourth-graders in reading showed no significant change, with an average score of 223, one point above 2022 and the same as in 2019.

Nicole DeWitt, the district’s interim deputy superintendent of instruction, said one contributor to its reading scores is ensuring students can take books home to enjoy with their family. “Just reinforce that importance of reading,” she said.

However, in all of those subjects, students who were identified as economically disadvantaged — a composite measure that includes whether they qualified for free or reduced lunch — scored on average significantly below those who were not.

For instance, at the eighth-grade math level, economically disadvantaged students scored, on average, 42 points below their peers who weren’t economically disadvantaged.

DeWitt acknowledged persistent “areas of opportunity” to close achievement gaps. But she highlighted gains, including a 10-point increase in average scores for lower-income fourth-graders between 2022 and 2024.

The district, she said, has also focused on ensuring that student achievement data is accessible and easy to interpret, so they can determine what actions to take with individual students.

DeWitt said district leaders also meet regularly with school site administrators and educators to discuss how to help struggling students meet standards by the end of the academic year. They have specific goals for literacy and for math, especially for transitional kindergarten through eighth grade.

On the whole, California students scored four points below their 2022 performance in eighth-grade reading. At 254, the average score was also four points below its 2019 average.

In fourth-grade reading, the average score was 212 — also four points below its pre-pandemic average score, and two points lower than in 2022.

California’s fourth-graders had an average score of 233 in math, three points higher than 2022 and two points below 2019.

The state’s eighth-graders averaged a score of 269 in math, one point lower than in 2022 but seven points lower than in 2019.

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