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California Will Give A Short Version of Its Standardized Math and English Tests Next Spring

It’s actually identical to the short version that the board approved for spring of 2021, when most districts were still in distance learning.

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Young male writing on notebook at a desk, Photo courtesy of Santi Vedri

The “Smarter Balanced” standardized tests in math and English language arts that California students will take in the spring to measure their academic progress will have fewer questions and take less time than the pre-COVID-19 versions. But the test results to parents won’t provide as much information as in the past.

On September 9, the State Board of Education approved the shorter test that the California Department of Education recommended. The shorter version will give districts more flexibility in scheduling the tests, free up time for more instruction and reduce the potential for internet glitches with the fully online test, the department argued in making its case.

It’s actually identical to the short version that the board approved for spring of 2021, when most districts were still in distance learning.

At that time, given the option of administering Smarter Balanced or their own local assessment, many, if not most, chose a test other than Smarter Balanced last spring. It’s hard to know, however, because the state didn’t require that districts report their choices or the scores.

But the Smarter Balanced tests will be mandatory in spring 2022. The department says the short version of the combined math and English language arts tests will take 4½  hours for grades 3 to 5, 90 minutes less than before; 4 hours, 45 minutes for grades 6 to 8, 75 minutes shorter; and 5 ½ hours for 11th grade, 2 hours shorter.

Performance tasks — the longer problem-solving and research exercises on the test — will remain intact, while the multiple-choice questions will be cut in half.

Scores will be just as accurate, since the proportion of questions will be equally reduced in all areas of the tests, said Mao Vang, director of the department’s Assessment Development and Administration Division. And parents will receive their students’ scores along with their ranking — whether the scores were far below standard, below standard, at standard or above.

What parents won’t get is their child’s scores on components of the test: reading, writing, listening, and research and inquiry for English language arts; and concepts/procedures, problem solving, communicating reasoning and data analysis for math — at least next year.

This lack of detail is why a number of civil rights and groups advocating for low-income students opposed the short form.

“Losing key summative data makes it more difficult to gauge performance on key standards, and more difficult to tackle equity of opportunity and identify achievement gaps” across ethnic and racial groups, testified Lexi Lopez, communications manager for the advocacy group EdVoice. “During these times, schools should be providing parents with more information about student performance — not less.”

The Local Control Funding Formula Equity Coalition, representing a dozen statewide organizations, argued that a shorter test could actually result in more total testing time, because districts “may end up backfilling” information not provided by Smarter Balanced by administering additional local assessments.

Board President Linda Darling-Hammond

But districts should be using more “interim” tests and short or “formative” assessments throughout the year that “allow educators to drill down and see how students are doing within particular content and topic areas,” said board President Linda Darling-Hammond. That’s what the state should be encouraging, said Darling-Hammond, an emeritus professor in education at Stanford University.

Seven of the 12 states that use the Smarter Balanced tests used the shorter form last year, and many will probably do so again this year, said Tony Alpert, the executive director of Smarter Balanced.

The department staff didn’t say whether they’d recommend continuing with the short form in future years, although they indicated that might be the case. But they said that use of the short form in the spring would not interfere with plans by 2024 to add a “growth model” as a way to measure student test scores.

A growth model is a technically complex but useful method that all but a few states use to measure the progress over time of individual students’ test scores. The state board adopted it in May, five years after the idea was first raised.

Darling-Hammond and other board members said that it’s possible that the pandemic may create challenges for months and that a shorter version would provide more flexibility to administer the test. Reflecting first-hand views of a teacher and a student, board members Haydee Rodriguez and Rana Banankhah also said to use the short form.

“I want to echo what’s already been said. I’ll just say that with my experience as a classroom teacher, I’m in support of this recommendation,” said Rodriguez, a bilingual and bicultural high school teacher at Central Union High School, near the Mexican border.

“I found that this shortened test was absolutely beneficial to my class, especially those connecting from home who had trouble with tech issues, which definitely slowed them down. And I was one of those students,” said Banankhah, a senior at Modesto High. “Students with internet issues are probably going to be disproportionally socioeconomically disadvantaged and rural students. This recommendation would definitely improve equity among students.”

Smarter Balanced scores next spring will be publicly reported and applied to the California School Dashboard in 2022 for the first time in three years. The rating system measures improvement or lack of progress in schools and districts using multiple indicators. However, the dashboard’s color rating system ratings won’t reappear until 2023.

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Activism

Dr. Kimberly Mayfield Working to Bring a ‘Black-Affirming University’ (HBCU) to Oakland

The goal, according to Mayfield, is to “create a Black-serving institution in Oakland, which means that 50% or more of the student body would be African American.” The Oakland program could either be an HBCU, which is preferable, or a Black-serving institution unaffiliated with other HBCUs. The program itself could become a stand-alone institution or an assemblage of different programs on a single campus.

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Dr. Kimberly Mayfield. Official photo.
Dr. Kimberly Mayfield. Official photo.

By Ken Epstein

Dr. Kimberly Mayfield, who, until recently served as deputy mayor of Oakland, has been working for several years with educators and community groups to create a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) or other Black-serving institution of higher education in Oakland — potentially on the fully operational campus of Holy Names University in East Oakland, which went out of business in 2023.

The goal, according to Mayfield, is to “create a Black-serving institution in Oakland, which means that 50% or more of the student body would be African American.”

The Oakland program could either be an HBCU, which is preferable, or a Black-serving institution unaffiliated with other HBCUs. The program itself could become a stand-alone institution or an assemblage of different programs on a single campus.

“It could be a consortium model where programs from existing HBCUs locate in Oakland,” similar to the Atlanta Union Center in Georgia, which offers courses from Morehouse, Spelman, Morris Brown, and Clark Atlanta HBCUs, she said.

“There are four different institutions at Atlanta Union, and students can take classes from the different schools. They’re all based in the same place, but the programs are run by different institutions,” said Mayfield.

Key to the program would be the culture of the school, which would be “Black affirming,” offering students a supportive environment that recognizes them as individuals, she said. The program would be campus-based and include online course offerings.

Courses could be offered in downtown Oakland in office buildings in the Black Business and Arts District as well as at the Holy Names site, which was sold to developers for $64 million and is presently for sale.

Holy Names was a private Roman Catholic university in Oakland founded in 1868 by the Canada-based Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary with whom the university remained affiliated until it closed after facing several years of budget shortfalls.

Before serving as Deputy Mayor, Dr. Mayfield began her career as an educator in the Oakland Unified School District and served as dean of the School of Education and Liberal Arts and the vice president for external relations and strategic partnerships at Holy Names.

She said she has already found a lot of interest from various sources for donating funds to start the school, she said. “We have reached out to the East Bay Community Foundation, to set up the necessary structures to receive money to help with strategic planning,” and all other aspects investors want to see, including an internet presence.

The team working on the initiative has 16 members and is led by Mayfield, Councilmember Carroll Fife, and retired attorney Kim Thompson. They recently attended a conference of HBCU leaders held by the United Negro College Fund, where the Oakland proposal was greeted with enthusiasm.

Mayfield emphasized that the goal of bringing an HBCU is something that has broad support in Oakland and has been a subject of growing interest for several decades.

“This is a community-driven initiative. While former Mayor Sheng Thao’s support was important and allowed us to get organized in a certain way, it doesn’t end with her leadership” she said, adding that outgoing Congresswoman Barbara Lee and other mayoral candidates have expressed support for this initiative.

Mayfield said she and her team have been in conversations with leaders of some HBCUs, which are interested in expanding to the West Coast but face financial constraints.

“It’s the racial wealth gap, which affects HBCUs,” the same as the rest of Black America, she said. “They just don’t have the same financial resources that predominantly white institutions have. It’s hard for them to think about a completely separate, sustained campus, when they have to deal with preserving the infrastructure on their main campus.”

She said Holy Names University had 1,400 students at its largest enrollment, with no online component. “We could easily have 1,000 students matriculating on campus, and another online population of students, virtually.”

“We’d like all the virtual students to be close enough to come to campus and participate in the campus culture,” because that’s the difference an HBCU makes, Mayfield said. “It cares for students, sees you as a person, not a number, in touch with wraparound services, calling you if you’re not in class.”

“We want to have an institution that knows who the students are,” she said. “You know their brilliance when they walk in, and you’re doing everything possible academically for them to succeed and thrive.”

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Activism

Scholarships Available for Marin City and Sausalito Students

The Sausalito Woman’s Club Scholarship Recognition Fund is seeking candidates for its annual Scholarship Program.  Candidates are eligible to apply if they are a permanent resident of Sausalito or Marin City (living in the zip code 94965), a current high school senior or a high school graduate, and planning to continue their education in college, graduate school, vocational school, or art school.

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Scholarship recipients. Photo courtesy of Sausalito Women’s Club.
Scholarship recipients. Photo courtesy of Sausalito Women’s Club.

By Godfrey Lee

Scholarships are available through the Sausalito Women’s Club (SWC) Scholarship Recognition Fund for the Academic Year 2025-26.

Established in 1956 as a charitable arm of the Sausalito Women’s Club (SWC), scholarship has played an important role in the local community by helping more than 1,000 residents pursue higher education and by awarding over $1 million in its first 60 years.

The Sausalito Woman’s Club Scholarship Recognition Fund is seeking candidates for its annual Scholarship Program.  Candidates are eligible to apply if they are a permanent resident of Sausalito or Marin City (living in the zip code 94965), a current high school senior or a high school graduate, and planning to continue their education in college, graduate school, vocational school, or art school.

The deadline to submit applications are due on March 10.

Applications are available through the SWC Scholarship Recognition Fund website: www.swcsrf.org. Or email swcsrfApplications@gmail.com. Applications can also be obtained and submitted by US mail to: SWCSRF/Application Committee, P.O. Box 3045, Sausalito, CA 94966.

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Alameda County

New Data Show an Increase in Californians Enrolling as Undergraduates at UC Berkeley

UC and campus officials state that the increase in California undergraduates reinforces their dedication to expanding access to the state’s students and fulfilling the university’s compact with Gov. Newsom, and with the Legislature’s support, to grow in-state enrollment.

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UC Berkeley Campus. Photo by Keegan Houser/UC Berkeley News.
UC Berkeley Campus. Photo by Keegan Houser/UC Berkeley News.

The trend reflects an increase in Californian students enrolling across the UC system

By UC Berkeley News
Public Affairs Office

More Californians enrolled as new undergraduate students at UC Berkeley and other UC campuses in fall 2024 compared to the prior year, according to data released Tuesday by officials with the University of California systemwide office.

At the University of California, Berkeley, 7,657 new transfer and first-year students from California enrolled in fall 2024. Their percentage increased to 85% of all newly enrolled undergraduates, compared to about 80% in fall 2023.

UC and campus officials state that the increase in California undergraduates reinforces their dedication to expanding access to the state’s students and fulfilling the university’s compact with Gov. Newsom, and with the Legislature’s support, to grow in-state enrollment.

Last spring, UC Berkeley officials admitted fewer first-year and transfer students to compensate for prior admissions cycles in which more students enrolled than anticipated. However, they increased the proportion of California residents offered first-year admission, increasing that number from 75% for fall 2023 to almost 80% for fall  2024. This occurred by offering fall 2024 admission to fewer first-year, out-of-state students, and international students.

Additional enrollment data for Berkeley and the nine other UC campuses are available on the UC website.

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