Senate Republicans Demand Answers on Delayed Student Test Scores

Senate Republican Leader Scott Wilk (R-Santa Clarita) and all members of the Senate Republican Caucus recently submitted a letter to the California Superintendent of Public Instruction demanding the release of statewide data regarding the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP). The CAASPP testing scores are a key tool for assessing student progress or lack thereof and are critical to assessing the anticipated pandemic related learning loss for California’s students.

The California Department of Education (CDE) has withheld the release of the CAASPP statewide scores and previously declined to announce a firm release date of that information. In response to pressure by Senate Republicans and others via social media, CDE pivoted this week and announced scores would be released sometime next month. 

Putting students first, Senate Republicans demanded the test scores be released immediately to ensure we can begin to address the severity of learning loss that has occurred over the last two years.

Below are excerpts from the Republican letter and you can download the letter here:

… “The withholding of this information is alarming at a time when we are still trying to assess the educational impacts and learning loss that occurred due to COVID-19 …

.. Delaying the release of this information will make it more difficult for teachers, academics, researchers, and policy makers to make decisions or investments to improve student performance. Because this delay will affect assessing student proficiency, we are asking that you please provide specific citations of existing law or regulations that allow you to withhold this data.”… 

CDE Letter