Mixed views on state-mandated math assessments

The success of a 2023 bill that mandated yearly literacy testing for California students in kindergarten through 2nd grades has directly inspired the creation and passage of a new bill that would do the same for early math assessment.

Senate Bill 1067 by Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson (D-San Diego) was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last month, and seeks to recreate some of the same early testing standards around mathematics. However, unlike the literacy legislation, the math assessment bill doesn’t include funding — though school districts are eligible to apply for reimbursement from the state.

“With only 37% of California students performing at grade level in math, it is clear we need to do more to improve educational outcomes,” Weber Pierson said in a statement to Capitol Weekly.

“What prompted me to introduce SB 1067 was the recognition that too many students are falling behind in math at an early age, and without intervention, those challenges can follow them throughout their education.”

SB 1067 requires annual math assessments for students in kindergarten through second grade to identify learning difficulties early and help ensure students receive the support they need, Weber Pierson said. Starting in the 2028–29 school year, if a student is found to be struggling, school districts must provide timely, evidence-based support to help them.

“Math skills build upon one another, and my hope is that by strengthening those foundational skills early, we can close achievement gaps, improve academic performance in later grades, and better prepare students for higher education and future career opportunities,” Weber Pierson said.

Marshall Tuck, CEO of EdVoice, a California education advocacy organization, helped lead support for the bill and said SB 1067 is a “fundamental shift in responsibility” for childhood math education. “If a child is identified as needing support, they have a right to get that support, and the school has a responsibility to provide that support.”

“With only 37% of California students performing at grade level in math, it is clear we need to do more to improve educational outcomes.”

Tuck still sees “work to be done” for those students’ teachers, though.

“I think that (California’s) not doing a strong enough job of training our elementary school teachers on the most effective ways to teach math,” he said. “There’s not enough minutes required in terms of making sure they actually are building those strong early math skills as a teacher and as an instructor.”

Tuck said he foresees “a big push that needs to come in the next year or two, complementing this bill.”

“(SB 1067) doesn’t solve all the issues around math,” he said. “We need to have a serious push on teacher preparation and teacher professional development.”

Critics say the lack of funding for intervention is one of those changes they’d like to see happen.

A 6th grade teacher who works at a Sacramento-area school also expressed concern about the new legislation. She spoke on the condition of anonymity to Capitol Weekly, and said her biggest concern was the lack of funding in the bill for intervention.

“The intent is to get them while they’re young, but if there’s no support behind that, if there’s no funding…” she trailed off. “I’m not even sure we’ll get to keep our reading intervention teachers for too long.”

The last thing teachers want, she said, is another mandated state assessment.

Anna Molander Hermann, co-founder of the Sac City Caregivers and Parents Union said she is wary of the state instituting yet more standardized tests that will inevitably result in students from low-income schools being identified — and perhaps ostracized from learning math— at higher rates.

“Everyone wants a silver bullet that will make learning easy and accessible to every child. But we can’t legislate different families and cultures and economics and health and siblings and (etc.)” Molander Hermann said.

“What we can do is create a California education system that is truly student-focused. Standardized tests drive us further and further away from student-centered education.”

Tuck said it will be up to the districts to decide what kind of assessments students are given, but that the state has a constitutional responsibility to students to provide a “qualified teacher in every classroom.”

“Those just have to be state responsibilities, not just up to a thousand different districts in the state,” he said.

Only time will tell if California’s new math assessment legislation will help struggling students get the support they need — or if it simply identifies a problem that school districts lack the resources to solve.