An Oct. 9 webinar hosted by CSBA featured initial analysis of results from the 2025 California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) and CSBA issuing a challenge to the state to create a state-level plan focused on what state agencies and policymakers will do differently to better support local educational agencies in closing the achievement gap.
“For decades, the State of California has held local governing boards accountable through various mechanisms, including, for example, audits and state mandates, but has never held its agencies or policymaking bodies accountable for the quality and accessibility of the support provided to local educational agencies laboring to improve student achievement,” CSBA CEO & Executive Director Vernon M. Billy said in a statement. “The state has not created a comprehensive, coherent plan to hold itself accountable for its own role in closing the achievement gap, instead relying on unfunded or underfunded mandates and, at times, disparate funding programs thrust on local school districts and county offices of education.
“This initiative is about changing that dynamic, so the state takes greater responsibility for its role in supporting LEAs in their ongoing work to address the achievement gap. CSBA believes it’s time for the state to turn toward a ‘customer service or concierge’ approach to help — not direct — LEAs,” Billy continued. “This service-oriented mindset must be self-reflective and focus on examining and establishing benchmarks, goals, standards and specific measures the state itself will take to change its operations in order to help LEAs close the achievement gap.”
According to CSBA Chief of Communications Troy Flint, the framework of a coherent, state-level plan should include annual benchmarks and transparent reporting on the state’s actions, not just local outcomes, as well as budgetary and legislative considerations and support for LEAs and their ongoing work to bring all students to proficiency.
“We celebrate the results that we saw today. It’s always encouraging and invigorating to see that more kids are moving to proficiency and that achievement gaps are closing,” Flint said. “At the same time, we have to be realistic and note that the progress has been incremental … and that if we continue to move at the same pace that we are currently, it will be generations before we bring all students, or the vast majority of students, to proficiency.”
CAASPP results
Members of CSBA’s Research and Education Policy Development (REPD) team gave an overview of English language arts (ELA) and math results during the webinar. They intend to provide a deeper look at scores, disaggregating data by measures like grade-level and student group, and consider science performance, to have a fuller picture of what is occurring and at what pace.
Among notable results from this year’s CAASPP scores, African American students’ rate of proficiency in ELA rose from 30.34 percent in 2024 to 32.8 percent in 2025, Hispanic students went from 36.78 percent to 38.8 percent, and foster youth saw gains from 19.9 percent to 22.5 percent.
“Positive progress is always good to see, but on the other side of that is that we still have not reached pre-pandemic levels, so as we inch forward, the pace of that growth over time is something we’re going to want to keep an eye on,” said CSBA Principal Research Manager Jeremy Anderson.
In math, African American students saw improvements (increasing from 17.75 percent in 2024 to 20 percent in 2025), as did Hispanic students (from 23.73 percent to 26 percent) and foster youth (from 11.2 percent to 13.17 percent). In fact, all student groups covered in the initial analysis saw some improvement, but overall, pre-pandemic levels have still not been attained.
“We want to be very mindful of looking at the gaps between student groups and where the growth is happening in relation to student groups who have traditionally performed very well and some that have not,” Anderson noted.
Though it was a positive year for some student groups, substantial equity concerns spanning decades are still present and must be addressed urgently, Anderson said. “Every point and every year represented on these graphs represent millions of California students. These are real people who are progressing through this educational system and incremental change upward over time isn’t serving them,” he said.
CSBA Senior Director of REPD Mary Gardner Briggs added that, “These are generations of our students, California’s future, that are depending on our system to meet their needs and to serve them better. We know that there has been a lot of work in this area but what has really been missing is a coherent strategy from the state to transform education in a way that supports locals in their efforts to support students.”
Closing the achievement gap
A panel featuring CSBA President Dr. Bettye Lusk, CSBA President-elect Dr. Debra Schade and Fontana Unified School District Superintendent Miki Inbody offered more historical and local perspective. In their discussions, Inbody noted that closing the achievement gap is a shared responsibility and accountability should be shared too.
“I appreciate just the conversation here to invite the state to be a true partner in this work,” she said. “We’re the ones at the local level leading it and these numbers mean something to us. They are our students and our future and we’re all responsible for them.”
Schade noted that LEA leaders are looking for focus from the state and for current and future elected officials to make this a priority area while Lusk reiterated the need for a central mission and to make all students and families feel supported.
Presentation slides are available to download here. The webinar recording is a truncated version of the live event.
