Assessing 2023–24 CAASPP scores and achievement gaps

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Stubborn achievement gaps have barely budged for more than a decade

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In October 2024, the California Department of Education (CDE) released the results of the 2023–24 California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP). Statewide improvement was exceptionally modest, and achievement gaps across student groups remain consistent.

Statewide average

CAASPP, also known as Smarter Balanced assessments, is the system of computer-based English language arts (ELA) and mathematics assessments taken by California students. Student performance is categorized using four levels, each addressing grade-level content and measuring associated knowledge and skills.

2023–24 Smarter Balanced assessment results showed exceedingly modest gains across all student groups in mathematics, with 35.5 percent of students meeting or exceeding standards. This represents a 0.9 percentage point increase statewide from 2022–23. The most noteworthy gains were seen by socioeconomically disadvantaged students (a two-point increase), Hispanic or Latino students (a one-point increase) and Black students (a 0.85-point increase).

ELA scores were largely flat from their 2022–23 levels with 47 percent of students meeting or exceeding standards, an increase of a third of a percentage point. Increases for socioeconomically disadvantaged, Hispanic or Latino and African American students outpaced the average in ELA, although most groups did not gain or lose more than a percentage point. The exception is with socioeconomically disadvantaged students, who gained 1.5 points.

The largest statewide gain was in the California Science Test, with 30.18 percent of students meeting or exceeding standards in 2022–23 to 30.7 in 2023–24, a gain of 0.52 points. This increase is held across many student groups.

Achievement gaps

While African American and Hispanic or Latino students saw gains compared to all students in the state, the achievement gap between these students and white and Asian students only slightly decreased. California has perennially had issues providing historically disadvantaged students with the resources necessary to help them meet curricular standards.

While African American students saw slight increases in both ELA and in mathematics, about 119,000 of 144,203 African American students tested in math did not meet the standard. Thirty-seven percent of the state’s largest student population, Hispanic or Latino, met or exceeded standards in ELA and 24 percent in math. That means that about 1.2 million Hispanic students in math and about 1 million in ELA, out of the state’s 1.6 million Hispanic or Latino students tested, also did not meet the standard.

Achievement gaps among student groups have barely budged over the past 10 years. This was true even before the pandemic among California’s highest- and lowest-scoring student groups.

Achievement gaps among student groups have barely budged over the past 10 years.

There have been some encouraging results in achievement gap reduction, however. For instance, the gap between Hispanic or Latino and white students in ELA has closed by 5 percentage points since 2019. But by and large, gaps between the highest- and lowest-scoring students have barely closed by 1 percentage point since 2022. Since 2019, the gap between African American and white students has stayed around 30 percent in both ELA and math. Gaps between African American and Asian students for ELA were 44 percent in 2019 and 43 percent in 2023–24. In math, the gap was 53 percent in 2019 and 52 percent today. The gap between Hispanic and white students in math was 28 percent in 2019 and is 24 percent today. The gap between Hispanic and Asian students in ELA is 37 percent and in math is 46 percent. In 2019, that was 40 percent in ELA and 48 percent in math.

Vulnerable student group scores

Some of the state’s most vulnerable student groups — foster youth, students experiencing homelessness, socioeconomically disadvantaged students, English learners and students with disabilities — continue to experience large gaps with peers in ELA and math.

The percent of students meeting or exceeding standards in math was 16.32 percent for students experiencing homelessness, 11.15 percent for foster youth, 12.54 percent for students with disabilities and 10.25 percent for English learners. All of these groups saw increases in the percentage of students who met or exceeded the standards in mathematics, but none of these groups outpaced the state average. Foster youth showed the most growth year over year at an increase of 0.68 percentage points. The percent of students meeting or exceeding standards in ELA was 25.85 percent for students experiencing homelessness, 19.92 percent for foster youth, 15.83 percent for students with disabilities and 10.29 percent for English learners. English learners who met or exceeded the standard fell by 0.58 percentage points in ELA from 2023–24.

Decades of resource deprivation have exacerbated the difficulties around addressing achievement gaps. The state could learn from local school districts like Emery Unified School District, Modesto City Schools and Los Angeles USD that enacted programs to raise Black student achievement. Oakland USD specifically addresses Latino student achievement through targeted programs and community partnerships. However, outside influences and an ongoing series of court cases across the country are threatening the efficacy of programs designed to address the needs of some of our most vulnerable students. While this local work is essential, large-scale change should be supported at the state level to move beyond tinkering around the edges. Without that support, California will continue to fail its historically disadvantaged students, and gaps will persist.

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