Ventura County K-12 test scores might just be beginning to recover from their COVID-19 cliff.
On Oct. 10, California education officials released the results of last spring’s standardized tests. In Ventura County, public school students passed English language arts and math assessments at slightly higher rates than last year.
Test scores fell precipitously from spring 2019 to 2022, the first year of widespread standardized testing after two years of pandemic pause. A limited number of schools took the tests in 2021. Last year saw a small bump in the county’s math test pass rate and a virtually unchanged English language arts pass rate.
This year, the percentage of students who met standards on the math exam increased again and English language arts scores saw their first increase since the full return of standardized tests.
County schools still lag behind state averages, though the gap is narrower now than the two years before the pandemic.
State education leaders gave varied assessments of the outcomes. State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond told online education new site EdSource she was encouraged by the scores and highlighted improvements among vulnerable populations, including low-income, homeless and foster students.
But nonprofit advocacy group Children Now told EdSource that the state is displaying an “unacceptable” lack of progress in closing gaps over the last 10 years.
California has administered this version of state standardized tests — the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments — to students in grades three to eight and high school juniors since 2015.
Outcomes varied across grade levels on both tests in Ventura County and across the state. No grade-to-grade pattern was immediately evident in the English results, but on the math assessment, younger students discernibly outperformed their older counterparts.
Detailed test scores are available at caaspp-elpac.ets.org.
| 2023-24 Test Scores | English pass rate | Math pass rate |
| State of California | 47.04% | 35.54% |
| Ventura County | 45.66% | 33.95% |
| Briggs Elementary | 25.46% | 20.36% |
| Conejo Valley Unified | 65.11% | 54.42% |
| Fillmore Unified | 28.01% | 16.11% |
| Hueneme Elementary | 25.55% | 16.50% |
| Mesa Union Elementary | 52.56% | 36.32% |
| Moorpark Unified | 54.02% | 43.73% |
| Mupu Elementary | 38.65% | 32.77% |
| Oak Park Unified | 80.10% | 73.00% |
| Ocean View | 25.94% | 20.31% |
| Ojai Unified | 42.53% | 26.40% |
| Oxnard | 30.14% | 20.16% |
| Oxnard Union High | 46.27% | 18.18% |
| Pleasant Valley | 60.26% | 49.28% |
| Rio Elementary | 33.68% | 24.03% |
| Santa Clara Elementary | 63.33% | 60.00% |
| Santa Paula Unified | 33.89% | 20.17% |
| Simi Valley Unified | 48.56% | 35.44% |
| Somis Union | 49.67% | 46.30% |
| Ventura Unified | 46.79% | 36.74% |
| Ventura County Charter Schools | 45.66% | 33.95% |
Nonprofit news site EdSource contributed to this report.
Isaiah Murtaugh covers education for the Ventura County Star in partnership with Report for America. Reach him at isaiah.murtaugh@vcstar.com or 805-437-0236 and follow him on Twitter @isaiahmurtaugh and @vcsschools. You can support this work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America.