The California Department of Education released state assessment results Thursday — showing statewide improvements — alongside updates on what is considered “meeting expectations.”

Before Thursday’s change, the state considered level 3, standard met, and level 4, standard exceeded, as meeting expectations on the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium student tests.

The state expanded this threshold to include level 2, standard nearly met. Students scoring in this level are still failing to meet standards, but the state now considers them meeting expectations.

Recently, local school districts released student testing results that did not include level 2 achievement among those students meeting expectations.

Under the new threshold, these numbers grew significantly.

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A Look at Updated Scores

All local school districts boasted improvements in English language Arts and math, but continue to fall below pre-pandemic levels — even under new criteria.

Fresno Unified School District originally reported that 37% of student met or exceeded standards for ELA and 27% met or exceeded math standards. These numbers now jump to 60% and nearly 52%, respectively, under the new meeting expectations label.

However, applying the new criteria to pre-pandemic results shows there is still work to be done. The expanded margin would mean 62% met ELA expectations and 56% met math expectations ahead of COVID-19.

This trend is seen across all local districts when applying the new criteria to the older data.

Previously, Clovis Unified School District showed 67.8% of students met expectations in ELA and 54% in math. Now, almost 85% and 77%, respectively, meet expectations.

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“We still have work to be done to see every one of our students and every one of our schools surpass grade level standards, but there is much to celebrate in this year’s assessment results,” said Superintendent Corrine Folmer. “This steady forward progress is evidence that the work that our entire educational team is paying dividends for our students.”

Sanger Unified School District had great gains with original data showing that 53% of students met expectations in ELA and 40% in math — reaching pre-pandemic levels in ELA. Now, it’s 76% in ELA and 67% in math.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom gave a shout-out to Sanger Unified when the statewide test scores were released. In a statement, Superintendent Dennis Wiechmann credited the hard work of educators, staff, and students as supported by targeted funding for California early literacy initiatives for ensuring that all students experience growth in literacy.

In Central Unified School District, 44% of students met ELA standards and 30% met math standards. But, regarding expectations, 68% met ELA and 58% met math.

California’s Push to Raise Student Achievement

California, similar to local districts, showed state-wide improvements but remained below previous levels of achievement.

“This is a proud moment,” Newsom told reporters at a press conference Thursday. “When it comes to public education in this country, in this state, we tend to be focused on what’s wrong. … But I hope what you heard today (is that) things are getting better, that we’re not only moving in the right direction, we’re leading in that respect.”

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond echoed this sentiment.

“California’s significant education investments… boosted student proficiency in many areas,” Thurmond said. “Some growth is modest and some is profound, but in all cases the data reflects the impact of these investments and the hard work of educators to help students succeed. We aspire to achieve even greater student outcomes.”

California efforts include: $4.7 billion expansion of youth mental health services at schools, expanded summer and after-school programs, the rollout of universal transitional kindergarten, new legislation focused on phonic, and universal school meals.

But others are critical of the state testing results.

“This data tells us there are still millions of students far behind. That’s the reality,” said state Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R-Yucaipa), vice chair of the Senate Education Committee. “We know that when kids succeed in the classroom, it translates to better success, safety, and security in life. We have to be honest about our kids’ academic performance in California, or we risk failing them twice. The data is clear.”

You can view the statewide test score results here.