Using criteria established under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), academic achievement is assessed by using standardized tests and measured by the percent of students performing at or above proficient in English Language Arts and Mathematics. Sacramento County students continue to make slow, incremental progress, but large gaps between subgroups persist.
Students Proficient in English Language Arts and Mathematics
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Why is this important?
- Standardized testing helps identify where students and programs are succeeding and where progress is needed.
How are we doing?
- Sacramento County student performance has improved steadily between 2008 and 2012.
- In both English Language Arts and Mathematics, the percentage of students scoring at or above proficient was slightly higher in Sacramento County than the state until 2012. The state percentages are now the same as Sacramento County.
- More than 4 out of every 10 students in both Sacramento County and the State are not proficient in English Language Arts or Mathematics.
Students Proficient English Language Arts and Mathematics by Subgroup
Why is this important?
- Disparities in educational attainment associate with disparities in quality of life outcomes throughout the lifespan, including areas such as income, employment, and health.
How are we doing?
- In Sacramento County, in both English Language Arts and Mathematics, fewer than half of African American, Native American, Hispanic, and low-income students performed at or above grade level or proficient.
- For students with disabilities only about one-third were proficient in English Language Arts and Math.
Achievement Gap
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Why is this important?
- In Sacramento County and throughout the nation, there has been a long standing academic achievement gap between white students and African American and Hispanic or Latino students.
- Because academic achievement and attainment has significant impact on future prospects, the gap is an issue that must be addressed to foster equity.
How are we doing?
- While scores for African American students have been steadily improving overall, the achievement gap remains persistent.
- Between 2008 and 2012, the achievement gap between African American students and their white peers scoring at or above proficient in English Language Arts and Mathematics has remained consistent at about 26%.
- For Hispanic students, achievement gaps in both English Language Arts and Mathematics are beginning to close, however, the gap for English Language Arts is more than 22% and the gap for Mathematics is 18%.
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More than half of African American and Hispanic
students
are not proficient in English Language Arts or Mathematics.
Data Source: Sacramento County Office of Education