FRESNO, CA (KMJ) – Fresno Unified School District is celebrating their 2017 scores from the NAEP test.
27 of the nation’s largest school districts take the voluntary assessment test called NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress), which assesses language arts and math for 4th, 8th, and 12 grades.
It’s considered a national report card, said Fresno Unified Superintendent Bob Nelson, who thanked the teachers, school board and other partners when he released the test scores on Friday in a news conference at the district’s headquarters in Downtown Fresno.
“We’re celebrating a four test trend going back to 2011, in which our fourth graders are actually exceeding a national average. There were only a number of districts that actually improved overall, in terms of their total scores and Fresno was one of those,” said Superintendent Nelson.
8th grade did not see as much growth but was commensurate with the national average.
“There are still disproportionate outcomes, students of color still lag behind white students in terms of their total performance, 8th grade had good growth actually among students who had high poverty but it’s not yet a trend,” said Superintendent Nelson.
Superintendent Nelson said 12 graders in the school district were not assessed in the 2017 test.
Chief Academic Officer Kim Mecum (above, far right) said Fresno Unified’s School Board has made three key investments to promote student achievement; in the last five to six years they have invested in having more students in seats in early learning programs T-K and P-K, 40 elementary schools out of 60 have thirty minutes more time to collaborate at school, and they are working with partners to collaborate on learning techniques, including State Community College, Fresno Pacific University, and the Sanger School District.
Mecum said Sanger”s district has seen significant gains in their past in which they have sustained a profession learning community model – where teachers are working together using data to drive instruction and improve their practices.
Despite the good news, Superintendent Nelson says there is work to be done, “we know that this is a clarion call to get our stuff together in areas where we are still struggling.”
Superintendent Nelson says they will be vigilant when they make their new school budgets to “use every dollar at our discretion to make sure students are as successful as they can.”
Click to listen to the report by Liz Kern:
