National Assessment Highlights Challenges Faced By Large School Districts

SACRAMENTO — The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) today released the results of a special National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) study comparing the performance of large urban school districts across the nation. The study showed that fourth grade English learner students in Los Angeles showed significant improvement in reading.

In California, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and the San Diego City Unified School District participated in the voluntary 2003 NAEP review of large districts. LAUSD also had participated in the 2002 NAEP assessment of large school districts. Fourth grade reading scores for English learners at LAUSD are up10 points from the year before, even though the district has 11 percent more students who are English learners than last year.

"The Los Angeles and San Diego City school districts should be congratulated for wanting to know how they are performing compared to other large districts across the nation," said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell. "I'm particularly pleased with the progress made by English learners in Los Angeles, who showed a 10-point improvement over last year, significantly narrowing the achievement gap. Our highest priority for urban districts is to continue this kind of progress until all students achieve to California's high academic standards."

The results of the study also show the difficulties faced by large urban districts across the country. Among the many challenges facing large urban districts are those of educating students for whom English is their second language, and those from economically disadvantaged families. In Los Angeles, 83 percent of fourth grade students and 67 percent of eighth grade students were eligible for the National School Lunch program as compared to 44 percent and 36 percent eligible at the respective grades for the nation as a whole. Overall, fourth grade reading scores for English learners were about the same for Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston, New York, and other large American cities. Only Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Boston had significantly higher scores.

As with any of the assessments conducted as part of NAEP, comparisons made among districts should be based on the scores of comparable subgroups. However, Los Angeles had the highest proportion of English learners with 56 percent of fourth grade students and 33 percent of eighth grade students so classified. Furthermore, the California districts excluded far fewer students due to limited English proficiency than did other higher scoring districts. Only one in 10 fourth grade students in Los Angeles were excluded as compared to two out of every three in Houston.

"These results help to highlight areas where we are improving as well as where we need to do more work," said O'Connell. "Test scores in California have gone up for five years in a row. By continuing this sustained improvement on our state exams, which are directly aligned to our world-class standards, we eventually will see those gains reflected in national test like NAEP."

This was NAEP's second Trial Urban District Assessment conducted by NCES. In 2002, five urban school districts participated in the study. Those districts were: Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and New York. The 2003 study saw the addition of four medium-large districts: Boston, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Cleveland, and San Diego. The 2002 study assessed students in reading and writing at grades four and eight. In 2003, reading and mathematics were assessed at the same grades.

The Results

San Diego reading scores compared favorably with the other districts in the study. While scores in San Diego were below the national average, they were statistically equivalent to those of both California as a whole and those of large city school districts nationally. In fact, only the Charlotte-Mecklenburg district had higher scores among the districts in this study.

The results from Los Angeles showed reading scores at grades four and eight did not change significantly between 2002 and 2003. The average scores in Los Angeles at both grades four and eight were found to be significantly lower than those of the nation, large city schools, and California as a whole. Los Angeles fourth grade students' average scale score of 194 in reading was not significantly different from the averages for Atlanta (197), Chicago (198), and Cleveland (195). Boston (206), Charlotte-Mecklenburg (219), Houston (207), New York (210), and San Diego (208) all had higher average scores in reading at grade four. Similar results were reported for reading at grade eight.

In mathematics, San Diego students performed at a level comparable to large cities nationwide. The average performance of fourth grade students in San Diego was a score of 226, statistically equivalent to those in New York (226) and Houston (227). Los Angeles students' average scores in mathematics at grade four were lower than those in Charlotte (242), Houston, New York and San Diego; and were statistically equivalent to those in Atlanta (216), Boston (220), Chicago (214), and, Cleveland (253). Similar results were reported for eighth grade mathematics. The average grade eight mathematics score of 245 for students in Los Angeles was statistically equivalent to the average score for Atlanta (244).

For more information, please link to: http://www.nces.ed.gov/ (Outside Source).