More than half of third graders in LA’s public schools are failing to read at grade level.
The shocking findings were revealed in a 5-hour presentation from the Board of Education which outlined the group’s upcoming strategy.
The figures are alarming considering third grade is a critical age when experts say students’ reading skills define their long-term academic success.
Just 43.6% of third grade students in the Los Angeles Unified School District are reading at grade level. Statewide, that number is 44.2%.
California leads the country in education spending, at an estimated $107 billion last year, but LAUSD Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho seemed to shrug off the failures.
“No one ever reaches all of the goals that are designed,” Carvalho said at a board meeting Wednesday.
Governor Newsom also praised Carvalho — who makes $440,000 per year — during his State of the State speech earlier this week. “I just want to say this to the teachers, the classified employees and to the parents of L.A. Unified school kids, you should be very proud of the progress you’re making,” he said.
He added Carvalho “has just been doing a remarkable job.” The Los Angeles Unified School District — the second largest in the nation — set a benchmark in 2021-2022 to get all third-grade student currently below grade level standards back up to grade level.
Instead, with only one year left in the 4-year plan, damning new data shows only about half of those students are now reading at grade level.
For math, only 36.8% of students in LAUSD are meeting or exceeding standards. Across the state, that number is 37.3%.
Yvonne Ng, whose daughter is in kindergarten at Braddock Drive Elementary School in Culver City, blasted Carvalho for dismissing the sprawling school system’s poor marks.
“If goals are set and not achieved, it is very important to recognize what are the reasons for it and think of ways to overcome them,” she said. “It is an irresponsible and reckless response from a superintendent of the second largest school district in this nation, largest in the state of California.”
The LAUSD also set a goal for 70% of its high school graduates to earn a C average or better in certain courses that prepare them for college by the end of the 2025-2006 school year. That number currently stands at 58.4% … well short of the 70% planners hope to reach.
