“California’s students, educators and school leaders deserve recognition for the gains reflected in this year’s test scores, particularly the progress demonstrated by students who have historically been underserved by our education system. But we cannot confuse modest improvement with meaningful, sustained and impactful progress. When the rise in graduation rates far exceeds growth in student performance, we must question whether graduates have paper credentials without the level of knowledge we, as a state, have deemed optimal to prepare them for success after high school.
Once again, the latest test score results demonstrate the need for the state to get serious about how California organizes and aligns its policy, funding and state agencies to support the hard work being done at school districts and county offices of education.
For years, the state has subjected local school districts and county offices of education to extensive scrutiny while failing to establish comparable standards of accountability for its own actions. We measure local performance relentlessly, but where is the equally rigorous assessment of whether the state’s own policies, investments, agencies and programs are working together effectively to help local educational agencies accelerate student achievement? Where is the accountability for the state government’s performance?
When fewer than half of California’s students are proficient in English language arts and fewer than four in 10 meet state standards in mathematics, an increase of half a percentage point or even a full percentage point, it’s time to do something different. The current glacial rate of progress is underwhelming, and we cannot afford to wait decades for the state to change its operations to better support LEAs.
This is precisely why, earlier this year, CSBA launched the Close the State Accountability Gap campaign. California needs a system of reciprocal accountability in which the state government truly shares responsibility for student success. That requires the state to establish a coherent state-level operations and support plan, align budgets and policies with measurable goals, provide adequate and predictable school funding, regularly eliminate ineffective or duplicative state programs and publicly evaluate whether state agencies and policymakers are fulfilling their responsibility to support local schools. It also means supporting — not dictating to — local educational agencies and ensuring that accountability extends from the classroom all the way to Sacramento.
With a new Governor on the horizon, California has an extraordinary opportunity to replace fragmented initiatives with a unified strategy built around student achievement, operational effectiveness and reciprocal accountability.
We cannot be satisfied with simply launching more programs or celebrating marginal gains. We must embrace reciprocal accountability and continue to push for better results from the entire education system, including the state government itself.”
