Student math scores are abysmal. A new California law requires early testing for skill

All kindergartners, first- and second-graders in California will take a basic math skills test under a law signed last week by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The new law, Senate Bill 1067, is an effort to reverse the state’s abysmal math scores, which have improved a bit the past few years but are still significantly below the national average. The hope is to identify children who struggle with math early and provide them help, so they don’t fall further and further behind as math lessons become more complex in upper grades.

The state’s Department of Education must now come up with a list of tests for school districts to choose from, including options for English learners. Schools will begin testing children beginning in June 2028.

“I’m pleased but this is just a first step,” said Carl Pinkston, a cofounder of the Black Parallel School Board, which advocates for Black students in California schools and was among the bill’s supporters. “It has to be implemented right or it’ll just be another failed initiative.”

The key, Pinkston said, will be the ability of schools to provide sufficient tutoring and other support for students struggling with basic math skills – counting, understanding quantities and identifying numbers. Tutoring can be expensive, and the new law does not include extra money for schools.

The Assembly Appropriations Committee estimated hiring enough tutors and paying for other support for students who need it could cost schools tens of millions of dollars annually. Much of that could be offset by an extra $4.4 billion in the most recent state budget for “student support and professional development,” the committee analysis said.

The new law is meant to be a companion to a 2023 initiative to test all children in kindergarten, first and second grade for dyslexia. As with the math screener, the goal of the dyslexia screener  is to reach children who are most at risk of falling behind – in both cases, typically children who are low-income, Black, Latino, homeless, in foster care or disabled.

Last year, only 37% of California students were proficient in math, and just under half were proficient in reading. California’s test scores had been gradually shifting upward until the pandemic, but tanked when schools closed for remote learning. Since then, they’ve been inching higher but still lag behind the 2019 levels, when 51% were proficient in reading and 40% in math. 

More legislation to improve those numbers is on the way, said Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson, a Democrat from San Diego who authored the bill.

“My team and I will continue researching and developing ideas for the next legislative session, including ways we can continue improving educational outcomes for California students,” Weber Pierson said. “This is a valuable time to listen to educators, families and students, identify where gaps remain, and determine where state policy can make a meaningful difference.” 

Both the math screener and dyslexia screener encountered opposition from the California Teachers Association — the state’s largest teachers union — and a handful of other groups, who argued that young children should not be subject to standardized tests and teachers already know which students are struggling. Funding was also a concern, if the economy sours and the state cuts its schools budget.