Smarter Balanced Test Results for CUSD are Out!

Data and links to sources are live at CUSDWatch: Smarter Balanced Test Results.

California's public education system has gone through tremendous changes since 2010.

The "California Way" saw the implementation of:

• Common Core,
• LCFF (Local Control Funding Formula),
• LCAP (Local Control Accountability Plan)
• ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act),
• SBAC Testing, and

the journey to model California's K-12 system after the Canadian model of education put forth by Michael Fullan.

The Canadian model is founded on the following principles:

• Differentiated learning does not matter-
• Class size does not matter-
• Professional development for staff and teachers is the single most important factor in student success.

Since 2012, CUSD staff has systematically eliminated Honors Classes, the GATE program and accelerated programming for high achieving students. 6th grade math placement has; by design, limited student access to higher math tracks. CUSD is now the only District in south Orange County that does not offer Geometry Honors classes for students.

CUSD has made curriculum choices that made it more difficult for students who were on a path to entering a 4-year selective college or university after high school, succeed. Unique to CUSD is requiring all students to take CCP and Health as a stand alone class required to graduate. This year long block prevented students from taking a class that would satisfy an a-g requirement. Students wishing to attend a four year selective college or University after high school were forced to take summer school two summers and/or zero periods in order to stay on track to complete their a-g course work. CCP and Health are CUSDs' largest credit recovery component.

The data now clearly shows that this is a failed approach to education. No matter how well trained an individual teacher may be, it is not possible for a single teacher to reach a class of 34+ students and meet the individual needs of students of differing abilities. The range of students encompasses "newcomers" who do not speak English and may not even be fluent or literate in their own language, special needs children who have been mainstreamed, to truly Gifted students and everything in between. When you add to that; the fact that there is so much emphasis on professional development, that teachers are chronically absent from their classrooms, you have students that are actually being held back and harmed by this flawed model for California's K-12 public education system.

The data shows that of the four levels of students measured by the SBAC:

• "Standard Exceeded"
• "Standard Met"
• "Standard Nearly Met", and
• "Standard Not Met"

The ONLY group that performed well was the group of students that "Exceeded" the standard.

The group of students that "Met" the standard saw four straight years of across the board declines in academic performance which would evidence the fact that these students require differentiated learning to reach their academic potential.

The data for those students that "Nearly Met", or did "Not Meet" the standard is mixed. Any improvement in academic performance of these two groups was negligible... (measured to the right of the decimal point).

In conclusion- 3/4 of CUSDs students have been denied an educational curriculum that was designed to provide all students with an opportunity to reach their individual academic potential.

It is also worth noting that unique to CUSD was Trustee Lynn Hatton-Hodson.

Trustee Lynn Hatton-Hodson owned, and continues to own an educational company named InnovateEd. Though out the implementation of all of these changes Trustee Haton-Hodson's company InnovateEd partnered with Michael Fullan and ASCA to develop LCAP California and implement the LCFF.

Were the curriculum choices CUSD made based on what was in the educational interest of CUSD students, or the business interests of InnovateEd and Trustee Lynn Hatton-Hodson?

It is also worth noting that Dr. Susan Holiday, Associate Superintendent of Education Services; the person in charge of curriculum, is an IT person with a background in Health. There is substantial documentation to show that her major work has been to develop CUSDs' local dashboard which was designed to capture the social, emotional and health data of students and to implement California's Healthy Youth Act.

Now that there are three consecutive years of academic performance data that shows no improvement for 3/4 of CUSD students, OCDE must step in.

See: "Districts on the Move" March 2018 White Paper by InnovateEd, Introduction by Michael Fullan and Joanne Quinn

See: CUSDWatch: "No State will Measure Social-Emotional Learning Under ESSA... but CUSD is!"

Link to Grade Level Data CUSDWatch: Smarter Balanced Test Results.