SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- A new study of California’s education system shows the state is lagging far behind the goals set by the federal “No Child Left Behind” act. There have been improvements, but the state is not expected to reach the outlined benchmarks anytime soon, according to the SRI International report.
"Right now we've got about 40 percent of the students on average in the state meeting the state standards. Our goal is by school year 2013-14 to have 100 percent proficient," said SRI Principal Researcher Patrick Shields.
Shields said math and reading are the main problem subjects and California needs to step up its efforts to train more math and science teachers. Progress is being made, but Shields told KCBS’ Rebecca Corral it’s not fast enough.
"The number of under-prepared teachers has been cut more than half in the last four or five years as a result of state policy efforts. So we have about 17,000 teachers who are under-prepared in the state right now, that is teachers who haven't fulfilled their preliminary credential requirements before they enter the classroom. But that compares to 42,000 four years ago."
Black, Latino, and poor students continue to lag behind Asian and white piers. The lowest performing schools are typically in the poorest neighborhoods.
(RdD)
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