California student test scores are in. Here's how San Joaquin County students ranked

While most students in San Joaquin County schools are still not meeting English and math standards, test scores showed slight improvement from last year's results.

The latest test scores are from spring 2023, the second full-year back to in-person teaching and the second year of mandatory testing since 2019.

The California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) test score results — released by the department of education on Oct. 18 — showed that schools across the state are still struggling to reach pre-COVID levels of achievement.

Stockton Unified School District scored far below state averages, with just 27.78% of students meeting or exceeding English standards, almost 1% above the 2021-2022 school year.

In math, 16.76% of Stockton Unified students met or exceeded state standards, a 1.76% increase.

"Student achievement and success is a priority," Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez told The Record. "I pledge to recognize and build upon our established strengths, to tackle challenges with determination, and follow through on priority recommendations that will propel us even closer to our shared vision for student success."

Some of those recommendations, Rodriguez said, include identifying solutions to address chronic absenteeism and restructuring the district's English Language Learners program to ensure accelerated learning for students who are still developing literacy skills.

Stockton Unified, much like other school districts across the state, saw chronic absenteeism rates skyrocket after the pandemic. The district had a 48% rate last year, which means students missed 10% or more of the instructional days they were enrolled.

Chronic absenteeism has been linked to lowered academic performance and has plagued districts across the state.

Lincoln Unified School District's test scores were higher than Stockton Unified's, but still well below state averages. Nearly 45% of students met or exceeded English standards at the second largest school district in Stockton, a 1% increase.

Lincoln Unified students also made a 1.06% gain in math, with 28.47% meeting or exceeding state standards.

"Lincoln Unified celebrates the encouraging signs of improvement as our teachers and dedicated support systems move students towards pre-pandemic performance levels and beyond," said Lori Green, associate superintendent of education services. "We remain committed to vigilant monitoring and adaptive strategies to sustain this positive trajectory."

The other larger school districts in San Joaquin County also tested below state averages, but saw small increases from last year's scores:

• Lodi Unified School District: 38.61% met English standards, 27.76% met math standards

• Manteca Unified School District: 37.81% met English standards, 21.83% met math standards

• Tracy Joint Unified School District: 39.52% met English standards, 25.07% met math standards

Test scores don't show the whole picture

Sally Glusing, director of continuous improvement and support at San Joaquin County Office of Education (SJCOE), said test scores aren't the only metric of student success that the county or school districts follow.

"It's a snapshot in time. It's the end of the year when students take this assessment," Glusing said, "but leading up to the day, and the rest of the year after it, teachers are still teaching and students are still learning."

Some of those other measures include chronic absenteeism rates, graduation rates and suspension rates, according to Lisa Neugebauer, SJCOE's Williams Act accountability and college readiness coordinator. The goal of the act is to provide public school students with equal access to instructional materials, safe and decent school facilities and qualified teachers.

"The state's really gone away from one measure, one test score, and they're really trying to look at the whole student. Are the kids coming to school? If they're not in school, are they learning?" Neugebauer said. "There's a variety of measures that the state is looking at, but then as you get down into the district level, they're really looking at all the student supports to support that whole child."

Overall, Glusing said this year's CAASPP scores show "forward momentum" for San Joaquin County schools.

"Not huge leaps and bounds, but not backsliding either," she said. "There are a lot of different factors that districts and schools are managing and addressing post-distance learning. There have been some learning gaps along the way or unfinished learning ... but they're working hard and these test scores show that a little bit."

Record reporter Hannah Workman covers news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at hworkman@recordnet.com or on Twitter @byhannahworkman. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: San Joaquin test scores show most students still not meeting standards