As a general rule, going backwards doesn’t help you make progress.

And yet, when it comes to student achievement in America’s public schools, moving in reverse has recently become an acceptable strategy in several states.

Jessica Grose spells this out in “Nobody Wants to Be Responsible for Dismal K-12 Test Scores,” a New York Times op-ed that appeared on April 2.

Recently, she notes, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, and Alaska have lowered graduation requirements or testing standards for their students.

Florida might soon join them. The Florida Senate has now unanimously passed a similar bill. Up until now, high school students in Florida have needed to pass an English Language Arts assessment in their sophomore year and get an acceptable score on a statewide algebra test — or garner comparable scores on SAT or ACT tests — to land high school diplomas. Should this bill become law, however, such standards will fall by the wayside.

And this development comes at a time when, according to the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress scores, a larger percentage of eighth-graders were rated “below basic” in reading than at any previous time in the last three decades.

Fourth- and eighth-graders take the NAEP every other year so that the nation’s educational health can be determined. Seniors take it every four years.

Watering Down the Learning Standards

Instead of addressing these dismal test results with hard-hitting measures, however, the legislatures in these states are willing to lower the bar for high school graduation — and by so doing, one could argue, to diminish opportunities for students to thrive in their adult lives.

The attitudes and ideology of the new administration, unfortunately, are only making this situation worse.

Linda McMahon, the current education secretary, “has hobbled the federal government’s ability to gather statistics on student achievement, effective teaching practices and student literacy,” Grose writes. The Institute of Education Sciences, which collects such information, had fewer than 20 federal employees in early April — a plunge from than 175 when Donald Trump took office a second time.

The NAEP itself might now be under threat. The Department of Education “abruptly canceled” its national assessment of 12th graders this time around.

Fresno Unified’s New Focus on Raising the Bar

To its credit, Fresno Unified appears to be bucking this trend. Recently, under the direction of Misty Her, the district leadership has placed the improvement of academic outcomes at the center of its concerns. Now that Ms. Her has become Fresno Unified’s new superintendent, that emphasis looks set to continue.

The district’s Student Outcomes Focused Governance document sets forth four central goals that trustees adopted in January 2025.

The percentage of 1st graders who are proficient in literacy based on iReady results will increase from 48% in June 2024 to 80% June 2030.

The percentage of 3rd- to 8th grade students who are more than one year behind as measured by Smarter Balanced (SBAC) English Language Arts (ELA) who make more than one year’s growth will increase from X% in June 2024 to Y% by June 2030.

The percentage of students graduating from high school who are college and career ready based on CCI will increase from 43% in June 2024 to 64% by June 2030.

The percentage of 6th, 8th, and 12th grade students who demonstrate benchmarked competencies in the skills listed in the Portrait of a Learner using age-appropriate assessments will increase by X% in June 2027 to Y% by June 2030.

The Portrait of a Learner competencies include communication, collaboration, critical thinking, empathy, and, according to Constituent Services, they “are currently being refined into measurable indicators…[F]ormal measurement tools and rubrics are being developed for implementation in the 2025–26 school year.”

FUSD’s position paper also details subgoals for each of these main objectives, and it spells out subgoals for such “guardrails” as community engagement and equitable access.

Fresno Unified’s Plan Needs More Meat on the Bone

Examination of this document shows that this project is still a work in progress.

It’s puzzling ؅— and disturbing — that two of these goals mention X% and Y% rather than specific values. District leaders have contended that lowering the number of goals to four will enhance its performance. Wouldn’t assigning specific percentages to the outcomes that it seeks also serve this end?

The use of variables also finds its way into some of the document’s subgoals.

For example, one subgoal listed for literacy intervension reads as follows: From June 2024 to June 2026, the percentage of identified 3rd–6th grade students who meet their stretch growth goal on iReady will increase from X% to 50%.

It’s odd that this subgoal doesn’t include a more detailed timeline to indicate how the district plans to improve the learning outcomes for the other half of its learners in this cohort. After all, the first page of the position paper states that these measures were put in place “to guide our efforts and ensure the success of every student.”

District Yet to Act on Cell Phones, Easy Credits, Grade Inflation

Other topics make themselves felt by their absence.

A case in point: the nonacademic use of cell phones in classrooms.

California’s Phone-Free School Act, which became law last September, mandates that all school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education establish policies that restrict the use of smartphones before July 1, 2026.

The Madera Unified School District has already started placing some of its students’ devices in “phone jails” to meet the new law’s requirements.

Fresno Unified has yet to take such decisive action.

Doing so would increase students’ time on task and — as much research has shown — it would also benefit their emotional well-being.

Another issue that’s missing in the Governance document: the dubious merits of credit recovery.

To avoid a failing grade in many classes, FUSD high school students have been able to access credit recovery for several years now, which lets them complete assignments in a computer lab, using materials from a company called Imagine Edgenuity.

Now that credit recovery is available as an option for most courses, a significant number of students apparently see little value in completing regular course assignments. After all, as several instructors have told me, these individuals can get passing grades later on through Edgenuity.

One veteran district instructor has put it this way: “’Edge’ is not about education or meaningful preparation for life after high school…It is credit recovery to boost high school graduation rates.”

Continuing to offer this option for secondary students could well make it harder to motivate them to strive diligently for academic progress.

A third issue not addressed in the position paper: grade inflation.

As in many other districts in the U.S., the actual value of grades has been dropping for several years now. The fact that graduation rates have risen while standardized tests scores haven’t seen a comparable increase indicates this.

The Governance document states that between June 2024 and June 2028 the percentage of 9th and 10th grade students who receive at least one “D” or “F” at the end of the semester will decrease from 55.2% to 38.2%.

This is a laudable goal, but if grade inflation persists such a success, if reached, would be a meretricious one.

Fresno Unified has indicated that it wants to get serious about boosting academic achievement. It’s the right direction — in contrast to the route being taken in other places around the country —but success demands that it now move forward in a manner that’s suitably robust and clear-eyed.

About the Author

Before his retirement, Steven Roesch taught English and German for 30 years in Fresno Unified School District.