FAQ

What is the goal of this site?

We want to help improve the fundamentals at schools in California, focusing mainly on reading proficiency by 3rd grade, which is widely considered to be a key milestone that deeply affects kids' future learning potential.

We do this by surfacing reading and math proficiency scores in an easy to read format, showing multi-year trends. We then make it easy to email your board to ask them to focus on the very specific goal of 3rd-grade proficiency.

Why is 3rd-grade proficiency that important?

The research base says three things fairly clearly: first, a lot of foundations for reading happen in K–3; second, students who are still weak readers at that point tend to have more trouble once school becomes more dependent on reading across subjects; and third, third-grade reading performance is a strong predictor of later outcomes such as middle-school reading, ninth-grade course performance, high school graduation, and college attendance.

That said, 3rd-grade reading isn’t some magical cliff, and with focused coaching kids can be brought up to speed. It’s just easier to start earlier than to catch up later. In other words, prevention is the best medicine.

Why do you want me to email the board?

The board sets the district goals through the LCAP (Local Control and Accountability Plan). They hire the superintendent, who then prioritizes what the board wants. The superintendent then aligns these policies to the principals of the schools in their district.

The board needs to hear from parents that this is important to them so they can set goals that the superintendent can focus on.

Why aren’t boards already focused on this?

Some boards need help knowing what parents want them to prioritize. They are elected officials, and they try to implement the will of their voters.

Boards sometimes implement vague, broad goals that are hard to evaluate. They sound nice, but because they can’t be measured, it’s impossible to know if they succeeded.

We want them to implement clear, data-driven goals that have built-in accountability.

How do I read these scores?

Reading and math proficiency is a fancy way of saying “what percentage of kids meet or exceed grade-level reading expectations”.

In many cases, the number of kids at grade-level is shockingly low. Many districts have less than 50% of students at grade-level. Some schools are less than 20%.

Why are my school's scores so different from the grade assigned on Great Schools or Niche?

Our site just gives you the raw proficiency scores. These can also be found on Great Schools and Niche, although they usually don’t give you trends. They offer a combined score that takes other factors into account.

Isn’t school about more than just reading and math scores?

Of course! There are many things that are harder to evaluate, like community, the arts, and more. Your kid may be doing amazing in a school that otherwise struggles. But we think the fundamentals should always be strong, that it is possible to change them for the better, and that we should do it because it makes such a big difference for our kids' future.

Doesn’t this mostly just show socioeconomics, i.e. rich areas perform better?

Yes and no. Parent involvement, outside tutoring, etc, likely really help some school’s performance that might otherwise underperform.

However, the Mississippi miracle, along with the subsequent improvements in Alabama and Louisiana, show that this is changeable, even after decades of underperformance, in the poorest communities.

See more details about spending and performance here: The biggest spenders in California

Don’t teacher-student ratios affect this?

In some cases it does, but in many cases the effect is either unnoticeable or even reversed. Some schools have incredible teacher student ratios, and yet they still under perform.

See here: The smallest student-teacher ratios in California

Do schools need more funding to fix this?

Many school districts have turned this around without additional funding. Palo Alto Unified re-allocated existing funds, went from over a hundred to a handful of goals, and brought in a structured, data-driven approach involving coaches and teacher training that completely turned around reading scores for groups that formerly struggled.

Read about what Palo Alto did here: How any district can move the needle on early literacy

How do school districts solve this?

Because this has been reproduced in different districts, cities, and states, a clear playbook is emerging. It is largely: Set one goal, align instruction, coach the adults, review the data in short cycles, and intervene fast.

This is how the Mississippi miracle turned things around: How red states improved schools

How Marietta, GA improved: Marietta City Schools' focus on literacy

How Palo Alto Unified solved for historically underperforming groups: How any district can move the needle on early literacy

Where has this succeeded?

The big example in the news right now is the Mississippi Miracle. For decades, Mississippi was at the bottom of the national rankings for education. But in the last 13 years, they’ve implemented a number of measures that have brought them to about 25th, a remarkable improvement. There’s been an enormous amount of scrutiny on this, and the gains have held up under heavy attention.

Even better, two states near them have been able to reproduce Mississippi’s outcomes: Louisiana and Alabama have seen incredible gains. Alabama especially was able to reproduce this in just a few short years. Certain districts, like Birmingham, went from 53% proficiency to 81%, in just a single year.