California School Dashboard returns, local schools show mixed results
Previously halted thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, The California Schools Dashboard is once again available to the public, offering an updated snapshot of how students across the state are performing, including those enrolled in West Contra Costa Unified School District.
The dashboard utilizes data from the 2022-2023 school year's assessments and illustrates that schools across the state continue to struggle with “chronic absenteeism” and continually low English and math scores.
The data, broken into five color-coded indicators, range on a scale from “very low” to “very high,” showing test scores in English language arts, English learning, math, absenteeism, graduation rates, and suspension rates. Students are segmented according to ethnicity and socioeconomic status, and how each group performs in those indicators is shown.
The goal of the dashboard is to illustrate where exactly schools are in need of improvement.
According to the dashboard, West Contra Costa Schools met state standards in areas that include Basics (teachers, instructional materials, and facilities), Implementation of Academic Standards, Local Climate, Access to a Broad Course of Study, and Parent and Family Engagement.
But when it comes to academic performance, the data is concerning.
Students enrolled in West Contra Costa are, on average, 53.7 points below state standards in English, 86.8 below in math, and only 34 percent are prepared for college or a career. The district has an absenteeism rate of 34 percent and a graduation rate of just over 83 percent.
The dashboard shows the district’s lowest-performing elementary schools are Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr., while the lowest-performing middle and high schools are Lovonya Dejean Middle School and John F. Kennedy High School.
More concerning is that Kennedy High School test scores dropped a whopping 126 points from previously released data, and no West Contra Costa Middle School met the standards in math or English.
The elementary schools that scored above the standard in English Language Arts or math include Kensington Elementary, Madera Elementary, Harding Elementary, and West County Mandarin School.
Middle College High School is the only district high school above state standards in both math and English. El Cerrito High School is above state standards in English, and so is Hercules High, but both are struggling with math scores that land below state standards.
The recently built Pinole Valley High School is below standards in both math and English.
West Contra Costa enrolls 25,737 students, of whom 57.6 percent are socioeconomically disadvantaged and 31.4 percent are English learners.
The board of education plans to publish new data each year in December.
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