The California Schools (Non)Achievement Fact Sheet

California Schools (Non)Achievement Fact Sheet

How the state is failing to prepare students for college and careers.

The Landscape 

• As of 2021-22, there are 5,892,240 students enrolled in California public schools, across 1,021 districts. This is a 4.39 percent decrease from 2019-20, during which 6,163,001 students were enrolled. 

• The largest demographic of California public school students are Latino/Hispanic students, comprising 55.86 percent of California’s K-12 population. White students comprise the second largest demographic group (21 percent), followed by Asian (9.53 percent) and African American (5.07 percent) students. 

• 57.8 percent of California students in 2021-22 are eligible for free or reduced-price meals; this is a metric commonly used to gauge student poverty. (However, in 2021, AB130 was signed into law, which establishes a universal meal program for all students by the 2022-23 school year.)

• During the 2021-22 school year, there were 1,127,648 English learning students, or “18.10 percent of the total enrollment in California public schools” according to the state Department of Education.

• Total education funding for K-12 education in California for the 2020-21 year was $98.8 billion, equaling $16,881 per student. For the 2021-22 year, the education budget totaled $124.3 billion and is expected to total $128 billion in 2022-23.

Dismal Student Achievement Scores

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS (ELA)

• A 2022 EdSource Special Report reveals that “California fourth graders trail the nation in reading, and half of its third graders…do not read at grade level.”

• According to the California Dept. of Education, the 2020-2021 Smarter Balanced Assessment results show that among California students in third grade, only 39.79 percent met or exceeded standards for ELA. In addition:

• Among economically disadvantaged third graders, 76.07 percent scored below standards.

• 74.77 percent of Hispanic third grade students scored below standards.

• 74.04 percent of Black/African American third grade students scored below standards.

• California’s 2020-21 Smarter Balanced Assessment scores show that just under half (49.95 percent) of students in seventh grade met or exceeded ELA standards.

• 63.49 percent of economically disadvantaged seventh grade students scored below grade-level standards.

• Among Hispanic seventh graders, 62.11 percent scored below standards.

• 64.91 percent of Black/African American seventh grade students scored below standards.

MATHEMATICS

EdSource reports that California students’ math assessment scores touch off a “five-alarm fire” in the state. 

• For 2020-21, Smarter Balanced Assessment scores show that only 30.09 percent of California fifth graders met or exceeded math standards for their grade level.

• Among economically disadvantaged fifth grade students, 84.32 percent scored below standards.

• 83.25 percent of Hispanic fifth grade students scored below standards, meaning that less than 17 percent of Hispanic fifth graders met or exceeded them.

• Even fewer Black/African American fifth graders met or exceeded standards (15.04 percent), with 84.96 percent scoring below standards.

• In 2020-21, only 30.82 percent of all California eighth grade students met or exceeded math standards for their grade level.

• 82.18 percent of economically disadvantaged eighth grade students scored below standards.

• Among Hispanic eighth grade students, 82.05 percent did not meet standards.

• 84.6 percent of Black/African American eighth graders scored below standards.

SCIENCE

• In 2020-21, just less than a third (29.74 percent) of California fifth grade students met or exceeded science standards for their grade. 

• Among economically disadvantaged fifth grade students, 84.83 percent scored below standards.

• The numbers are approximately the same for Hispanic fifth graders: 84.86 percent scored below standards for science.

• Among Black/African American fifth grade students, 85.55 percent scored below standards.

• In the same year, less than a third of  California's twelfth grade students (27.54 percent) met or exceeded standards for science. 

• 81.2 percent of economically-disadvantaged twelfth graders scored below standards for 2020-21.

• Scores were roughly the same for Hispanic twelfth grade students, with 81.61 percent scoring below standards.

85.78 percent of Black/African American twelfth graders scored below science standards.