While scores have inched upward, disparities in academic achievement for different student groups remain stark, according to statewide results from the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress released Oct. 9. Statewide results in all tested grades showed that 51 percent of California students met or exceeded standards in ELA, an approximately 1 percentage point increase from 2018 and a nearly 7 percentage point jump from 2015. In mathematics, 40 percent of students met or exceeded standards, showing similar gains since 2018 and 2015. However state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond expressed “deep concern” that improvement is less consistent across the score range in the later grades of 7, 8, and 11, with a persistent percentage of students of color not meeting standards and, in several grades, showing declines. “Disparities between students of color and their white and Asian peers continue from year to year and demonstrate the importance of our priority initiative of closing the achievement gap. Education equity should mean equity for all students and right now, we are not there,” said Thurmond, in a press release. “All students should have an equal opportunity to succeed academically and enter the workforce prepared with the needed skills to compete in the industries that drive our state forward.” Whereas 65 percent of white students meet or exceed standards for English, only 33 percent of their African American counterparts do. Disparities exist for many other student groups, including economically disadvantaged students, of whom 39 percent meet or exceed standards for English and 27 percent meet or exceed standards for math. Thurmond supports working with data experts to evaluate what is causing the results: “The CDE can work with all educational stakeholders to identify strategies and then explore legislative efforts to support the needs of local districts and provide resources to improve test scores,” Thurmond said.