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Scores show SLO County students haven't bounced back from COVID

A student fills out a standardized test.
biologycorner / Flickr
A student fills out a standardized test.

Student test scores are not showing much improvement in San Luis Obispo County. New data indicates scores remain below pre-pandemic levels—an indication that COVID-19 continues to take a toll on classroom learning.

In the 2023-24 school year, a little more than half of students in SLO County met or surpassed the state’s English Language Arts standard, while just 39% did the same for math. This is the same as last year, but about 1% higher in both subjects than the 2021-22 year.

That’s according to the newly released California Smarter Balanced test results for students in grades three through eight and grade 11.

SLO County students performed better than their peers around the state. However, local numbers are still lower than before the pandemic, which caused major learning disruptions.

In the 2018-19 school year, pre-covid, roughly 5% more students in SLO County met English and math standards.

Paso Robles Unified had its lowest math scores in eight years, with only 29% of students meeting the standard. One bright spot: ELA scores improved more than 40%.

KCBX Reporter Amanda Wernik graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a BS in Journalism. Amanda is currently a fellow with the USC Center for Health Journalism, completing a data fellowship that will result in a news feature series to air on KCBX in the winter of 2024.
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