Common Core test scores show state’s daunting challenge

If there was any doubt California’s public schools face a steep challenge shifting to the new Common Core standards, students’ scores from the first set of statewide tests erased it.

Fewer than half the students who took the new tests earlier this year ranked as proficient at their grade level in English, and just a third met that standard in math, statewide results released Wednesday showed.

Even more disheartening — especially in large, diverse districts such as San Francisco and Oakland — was the widening of the achievement gap. African American and Latino students fell further behind their white and Asian American peers, and low-income students and English learners ranked far lower than the rest of the test-taking population.

“We need to be patient,” said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson. “We’ve gone to higher, tougher standards.”

Analytical approach

This idea behind the Common Core standards is to help students gain a more in-depth understanding of content rather than simply memorizing facts. That means the tests demand a more analytical approach, substituting written answers and critical thinking for the multiple-choice method that California abandoned after 2013.

This was the first time students took the state tests on a computer, clicking and dragging and typing open-ended answers or essays rather than filling in bubbles on paper with a No. 2 pencil — a wrinkle that some officials said may have worked to low-income students’ disadvantage.

This is just a baseline, a starting point for California under Common Core, Torlakson said. Yet the majority of the state’s most disadvantaged students are at a very different starting line.

While 72 percent of Asian American students and 61 percent of white students met or exceeded state standards in English, just 28 percent of black students and 32 percent of Latinos hit that mark. In math, 69 percent of Asian students and 49 percent of white students were at grade level, compared with 16 percent of black students and 21 percent of Latino students.

Overall, 44 percent of students were proficient at grade level in English, and 33 percent hit that mark in math.

‘Very sobering’

That achievement gap has long been present in state standardized testing, but it was about 10 points wider on the Common Core tests than under the old system despite decades of reform efforts — No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, among others — to close it.

“The results are very sobering,” said Troy Flint, Oakland Unified School District spokesman. “But it’s the information that we need if we are going to prepare our students for college, career and community success.”

In Oakland, just 29 percent of students met or exceeded standards in English and 23 percent scored that well in math. More than 50 percentage points separated white students and African American students in both English and math, 67 percent vs. 16 percent and 62 percent vs. 9 percent, respectively.

Glaring gap in S.F.

In San Francisco, district officials emphasized the positive, noting that more than half the students were proficient in English — though not much more — and nearly half reached proficiency in math. Both figures were well above the state average and higher than other large urban districts.

But the achievement gap in the city was glaring. African American students, for example, lagged nearly 60 percentage points behind white students and Asian students in both English and math.

“We recognize with tremendous urgency that we must improve outcomes for our African American children in San Francisco,” said Superintendent Richard Carranza. “The skills measured by these tests take time and effort to master, but our students will need them to succeed.”

Across the state, 3.2 million students in grades three through eight and 11 took the English and math test. The achievement gap wasn’t the only broad trend that survived the transition from the old test: Wealthier, suburban schools generally scored higher than their city counterparts.

The scores are not, however, an indictment of the students, the teachers or even the schools, said Oakland Superintendent Antwan Wilson.

“This is not about now saying we have all these bad schools,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for us to use this information to ensure students who need more, teachers who need more, schools that need more support get it.”

’Technology gap’ has impact

Wilson and other district officials also noted that the scores reflect, at least in part, a lack of access to the kind of technology used for the new test. Students who weren’t raised on desktop computers, who haven’t spent much time using a keyboard or a mouse would be at a distinct disadvantage on a test that requires those skills.

“It’s hard to quantify, but the technology gap definitely has an impact,” Flint said. But whether it’s problems with academic content or trouble with typing, students need all the skills, he said.

“For the first time we’re getting a really clear picture,” he said. “It underscores there’s a lot of work to be done overall.”

Although state, district and school results were released Wednesday, many parents were still waiting for their children’s scores. The state is processing individual scores and sending them in batches to districts. All families should be have their results by mid-October, education officials said.

At least one expert counseled a patient attitude toward the tests for parents and schools alike.

“We have truly set higher expectations,” said Debra Brown, director of education policy at Children Now, a nonpartisan education advocacy group in Oakland. “The testing dynamic is different. The first year is going to be challenging.”

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jtucker@sfchronicle.com

Twitter: @jilltucker

View results

For full state, district or individual school results, go to http://caaspp.cde.ca.gov.

About the test

Fast facts about the new Common Core assessment:

Questions: While some questions are multiple-choice or true/false, others require students to edit text or draw and object; write a short written or numerical response; write an argumentative essay; or solve a complex math problem.

Adaptivity: The test is computer adaptive, meaning that during the test questions get more or less difficult based on the accuracy of students’ previous answers.

Scoring: Student scores fall into one of four categories: standard exceeded, standard met, standard nearly met and standard not met.