The latest California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress results are in, and they tell the same story we’ve heard for years: only 38.3% of California students are proficient in math. That’s that’s up from 37.3% last year, but it is still well short of where students stood before the pandemic.

Three of the state’s five largest districts saw their English scores decline.

For too many families, that is not a surprise. It is the predictable outcome of years of failed leadership in Sacramento.

We have poured more money into education than nearly any other state. We have layered on new programs, new frameworks and new priorities. Yet fundamental skills remain out of reach for most California kids.

When more than half of students leave our schools unprepared for the competency demands of college or the workforce, that is not a funding problem. It is a leadership problem.

For years, state leaders have treated math as secondary to other agendas. Curriculum has been diluted. Mastery of fundamentals has been de-emphasized in favor of unproven approaches. Teachers have been pulled in too many directions.

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And when the results come in weak, the response is more process, more task forces and more promises that next year will be different. Parents have watched this cycle repeat for long enough.

The data keep confirming what many of us already know from our own communities. Students who fall behind early rarely catch up without targeted help. 

Gaps widen. Confidence erodes. 

By high school, too many are locked into pathways that limit their options.

This is not inevitable. It is the result of deliberate choices. The choice to downplay direct instruction in core skills; the choice to delay honest assessment; and the choice to treat intervention as optional rather than essential.

There is a better path. It starts with returning the focus to teaching fundamentals, and teaching them well.

Kids need clear, targeted instruction that identifies areas where they are falling behind and directly fixes the problems. They do not need watered-down standards or lessons that treat mastery as optional.

Districts that have kept the emphasis on rigorous, proven math instruction have shown that it works. The rest of the state should follow that lead instead of chasing the next education trend.

Testing is not the enemy of learning. Honest, timely assessment is how we find out which students need help and which methods are working. 

Statewide results like the ones released this week should drive action, not spin.

At the classroom and school level, regular metrics give teachers the necessary heads up on where and how to intervene before small gaps become permanent barriers. Early screening, followed by direct support, is far more effective than waiting until middle or high school and hoping students somehow catch up.

That support has to be specific and intensive. When a child is behind in math, the solution is more time on the material, clearer instruction and practice until the skill sticks. Not another initiative that spreads resources thin.

Parents should be partners in this process, not spectators. They need clear information about where their child stands and what is being done about it. Schools that treat families as allies instead of obstacles tend to see better results.

California has spent years proving that good intentions and large budgets do not automatically produce academic progress. The flat math scores are the latest evidence. 

Families are ready for a different approach, one that measures success by whether students can actually do the work, not by how many new programs we launch.

The status quo has had its chance. It is time for leadership that treats success as a non-negotiable goal and builds the system around getting there. California’s kids cannot afford another year of the same results.

Sonja Shaw is president of the Chino Valley Unified School District and a candidate for California State Superintendent of Public Instruction.