Orange County students are reading a bit better, working more easily with numbers and, critically, attending school more regularly than they were a year ago, according to new data from the California Department of Education.
Though the overall picture shows students locally and around the state remain somewhat behind where they were before 2020, when the pandemic interrupted education for millions, the new numbers hint at significant improvement in everything from verbal and math skills to graduation rates.
The data show local students improving in key areas that were affected by the pandemic. And several districts, including Capistrano Unified (the county’s biggest), Orange Unified, Tustin Unified, and even La Habra City Elementary (one of the smallest), exceeded pre-pandemic performance levels in English language arts or math or both.
Students also missed less school. Every district in the county improved or matched their most recent numbers for chronic absenteeism, which the state defines as the percentage of students who miss 10% or more school days in a given year. Chronic absenteeism soared during the pandemic and has yet to fully recover.
High schoolers around the county also were slightly more likely to graduate during the 2023-24 school year, according to the data. The uptick roughly matched a trend seen throughout California.
The latest California School Dashboard, released Thursday Nov. 21, tracks how California schools and districts are performing at the state and local levels. That data measure raw numbers for some levels of performance (absenteeism, graduation rates), while offering ratios that show if students are scoring above or below state standards in language arts and mathematics. The dashboard also works as part of the state’s schools accountability system, measuring graduation rates, suspension rates, test scores, English learner progress, college/career readiness, chronic absenteeism and other local indicators.
The online database was created in 2017 following a 2013 law that changed the way the state funds public schools and, overall, is intended to hold local districts more responsible for student performance.
Some parents suggested numbers tell only part of the story.
“I have one kid who did really well at the local high school for us. He’s science-oriented and felt totally comfortable. But I have another who went to the same school, and didn’t really feel like she performed that well because she’s stronger at things like English and history,” said Allison Tsai, who lives in Irvine.
“The school is great in my opinion,” she added. “But you have to be able to look beyond the numbers to see if it’s the right place for your kid.”
Here are some key takeaways for Orange County from the 2023-24 school data:
Increasing test scores
On average, Orange County schools scored roughly 31 points above the state standardized score for English language arts in the past school year. That’s well above the state average, which was 13.2 points below grade-level standards.
That said, the comparatively strong county number might be slightly misleading. While some districts scored particularly well for English language arts, many others did not. Seven out of the county’s 28 school districts tested out below grade-level standards for English language arts.
Some of the county’s top-performing districts in English language arts include Los Alamitos Unified, where students are scoring an impressive 71.9 points above the grade-level standard, and Laguna Beach Unified, which reported test scores of around 64 points above the standard.
The local picture is less rosy in math. Overall, 17 of the county’s 28 districts posted math scores below state standards, though many schools in those districts improved in the past year when compared with recent testing periods. Three districts — Capistrano Unified, La Habra City Elementary and Orange Unified — reported math scores that surpassed pre-pandemic performance.
Garden Grove Unified, too, showed progress in its standardized math test scores, improving by 3 points from the previous year, though still 7.5 points below grade-level standards. District spokesperson Abby Broyles noted that students excel in English language arts, with test results 20.7 points above grade-level standards, and also outperform the state average in math despite the gap.
“This is an impressive accomplishment given the fact that, among the top ten highest performing large school districts, GGUSD has the greatest percentage of English learners (31%) and students who qualify for free and reduced price meals (80%),” Broyles said.
Declining chronic absenteeism
Mirroring statewide trends, fewer Orange County students missed 10% or more of school days in the last academic year. On average, chronic absenteeism in Orange County decreased by around 5.3%, on par with the decline seen statewide.
While a positive trend, the data still reflects the challenges schools continue to face in fully reengaging students post-pandemic. For instance, while Anaheim Elementary — a district with more than 14,000 students and high rates of economic hardship — improved its absenteeism numbers by about 11%, the new numbers show that more than twice as many students are missing school routinely than in the 2018-19 school year.
And even districts where absenteeism is low, such as Los Alamitos Unified, which has the lowest absenteeism rate in the county, at 6.5%, are still below the numbers found pre-pandemic.
Increasing graduation rates
Districts in Orange County are significantly better at churning out high school graduates (94.4%) than are schools around the state (86.7%).
Laguna Beach Unified, with just over 2,300 students enrolled, posted both the county’s highest graduation rate (99.2%) and the biggest year-over-year increase (2.8%). Anaheim Union High, with more than 27,000 students and a graduation rate of 93.4%, recorded the county’s second-biggest one-year gain, 2.3%.
Irvine parent Tsai said graduation rates reflect a community, not just the school.
“Some schools have a lot of parents helping and paying attention and paying for tutors and things like that,” she said.
“Not every school has students who get to do that. And that’s probably a huge difference.”
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