The assessment data shows Black, Hispanic and Pacific Islander students most negatively impacted by pandemic learning
During a special meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 2, the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) Board of Education reviewed student assessment data reflecting learning loss during the past 18 months of the pandemic—leaving most LBUSD students one to three grade levels behind in reading and math.
Chris Brown, assistant superintendent of research, showed October data from the district’s new iReady assessment tool indicating that most K-12 students are at least one grade level behind in reading and math with nearly one-third testing three grade levels below.
“As we went through the pandemic, learning was unfinished,” Brown said. “Students fell behind.”
The board learned during a workshop last spring that students across all grade levels except kindergarten fell behind as the COVID pandemic forced most students to attend classes online from March 2020 to April 2021.
Among high schoolers, graduation and college readiness rates fell, and middle schoolers similarly fell behind in being ready for high school. The number of D and F grades increased by 14%.
About 15,000 LBUSD elementary students attended in-person summer school to help them catch up before the new academic year began at the end of August.
Brown said data from a March state-required student assessment test—the SBAC (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium)—shows a similar decline in student proficiency due to the pandemic.
Among high schoolers, graduation and college readiness rates fell, and middle schoolers similarly fell behind in being ready for high school.
The number of D and F grades increased by 14%.
Though Brown qualified that SBAC testing may have been problematic, with some students on campus by then and some not, Brown showed that nearly all students tested below similar students in 2018-2019, before the pandemic.
Significantly, Brown showed that both SBAC and iReady data reflect a disproportionately negative effect of pandemic learning on LBUSD’s Black, Hispanic and Pacific Islander students, which make up most of its population. Of LBUSD’s nearly 70,000 students, about 12% are Black and 58% are Hispanic.
SBAC scores for those groups declined the most in English Language Arts (ELA), Brown showed, with iReady data indicating that about one-third of Black and Hispanic students are currently three grade levels behind in reading and math.
LBUSD’s data aligns with a nationwide study of 1.6 million K-6 students on the toll taken by pandemic learning, Brown said. On average, those students fell five months behind in math and four in reading.
However, students of color in the study fell six months behind in reading and math, while impoverished students fell six months behind in reading and seven in math, Brown added.
iReady data shows that 86% of elementary students and two-thirds of middle schoolers are at least one grade level behind in reading.
Among high schoolers, nearly half are three or more grades behind in reading and more than half are three grades behind in math.
But he stressed that assessments like the SBAC and iReady are simply snapshots in time.
“It doesn’t tell us what our students can do,” Brown said.
Nevertheless, iReady data shows that 86% of elementary students and two-thirds of middle schoolers are at least one grade level behind in reading. Among high schoolers, nearly half are three or more grades behind in reading and more than half are three grades behind in math.
iReady data is being used to qualify students for LBUSD’s new externally contracted tutoring services that began Nov. 1.
Brown said he expects iReady data to fluctuate as students are tested in February and again in May. That data can assess student learning growth over the academic year, he added.
‘This is not about remediation, this is about acceleration’: Board expresses concern about getting students up to speed
Board members expressed concern but also optimism for change with students back in the classroom this year.
“It is unacceptable,” Vice President Megan Kerr said of the data. “We need to make decisions and strategy choices that change this.”
Board President Juan Benitez called the disproportionate effect on students of color—with over three-fourths of those students at least one grade level behind—“not surprising, but striking.”
He said the data confirms how lack of technology and internet access affected learning among students of color during the pandemic. iReady data should help the district create policies and allocate its budget to help specific student subgroups, he added.
“Let’s talk about Black students in the 10th grade and build strategies specifically for Black students in the 10th grade, as an example,” Benitez said.
Superintendent Jill Baker emphasized that catching students up might not happen in one year but requires a multi-year approach.
“Today does not feel comfortable to any of us—to see the struggles that our students have had coming out of 18 months, many of them at home for that extended period of time,” Baker said. “Even with our teachers’ and principals’ and staff’s best efforts, our students have absolutely struggled.”
Brown said iReady teacher reports include “stretch goals” for each student to help catch them up or advance beyond their grade level.
“This is not about remediation,” Brown said. “This is about acceleration.”
Remediation gives students below-grade level content before new learning while acceleration incorporates unfinished learning into new content, Brown shared.
“I’m wondering if we’re going to be closing some of those gaps,” Board Member Diana Craighead said of the student deficiencies. “I’m very hopeful.”
The district will send parents their children’s iReady reports on Nov. 15, Brown said. It will also host a livestream “parent night” on Nov. 18 to help them read the report.
