Benicia Unified School District outlined positive highlights and areas for improvement when data from the most recent Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) was presented at Thursday’s Governing Board meeting.

The SBAC was initiated in 2015 and replaced the previous California Standards Test following the state’s shift to Common Core practices. The statewide assessment is given to all students in grades 3 to 8 and 11 in the areas of math and English Language Arts (ELA). According to Dr. Leslie Beatson, BUSD’s assistant superintendent of educational services, the test is taken on a computer and quizzes students in a variety of formats, including multiple choice, short answer, constructed response and performance test. The test also utilizes a concept called universal design where accommodations such as enlarged text or Individualized Education Program arrangements for special education students can be built in.

“It builds in many accommodations so that it’s accessible for all students,” Beatson said.

Beatson said a goal of the test was to go beyond looking at the scores and actually improve learning for students.

“We look at groups and student groups,” she said. “We disaggregate the data. There’s lots of ways to slice and dice it and look at it. In some ways, it looks like we’re making growth if we look at data in one particular way. In another way, we might be thinking, ‘Oh, we’re looking a little flat here.’”

BUSD had a lot of positive data from its 2017 assessment, as presented by Educational Services Coordinator Stephanie Rice. Benicia remained the top-scoring district in Solano County and even outscored the state average, whose scores have been relatively static for the past three years. BUSD also saw positive gains in math and ELA at most grades and a particularly strong improvement for socioeconomically disadvantaged students in both areas.

However, Rice also noted areas of continuing focus for the district, including four student subgroups: socioeconomically disadvantaged, special education, English Language Learners and African-American students. Likewise, the district is also going to focus on fifth-grade students who did not meet expectations on the math exam and middle schoolers who did not meet standards in both areas.

“We’re concentrating in on our most struggling students,” Rice said.

Beatson noted that BUSD had a slight uptick in positive results from the previous year and surpassed the state average in ELA but felt the district was not at the level it could be. She then illustrated this by diving into the further data at each school. The data examined cohorts, e.g., comparing how 2017’s fifth-grade students performed compared to when they were third-graders in 2015 and fourth-graders in 2016. At Matthew Turner Elementary, the number of 5th-grade students not meeting the standards— Level 1 students— had decreased since the test was first administered to that particular class in 2015. In that same amount of time, the number of Level 1 students at Mary Farmar and Joe Henderson elementary schools have fluctuated over those three years but decreased this past year. The number of fifth-grade students who scored at Level 1 on the ELA test at Robert Semple Elementary had decreased from the previous year, but 39 percent of students did not meet the standards. Beatson said Level 1 students would remain a focus and noted that Semple became a Teachers College affiliate school this year.

“They will be getting that in-depth, job-embedded professional development at their site for five days this year,” she said.

Rice presented the math data and noted that with the adoption of Everyday Math, 2017’s fifth-graders made 24 percent gains since they were third graders in 2015. The mean scale score had increased at all schools since 2015, however, the percentage of Level 1 students had also increased at all schools from the previous year.

Looking at the four subgroups also yielded mixed results. While the percentage of socioeconomically disadvantaged and African-American fifth-grade students meeting or exceeding the ELA test had increased since 2015, the percentage of special education students performing at that level had decreased. Meanwhile, the percentage of socioeconomically disadvantaged eighth-graders who met or exceeded the standards had increased since they took the test in 2015, but the percentage of African-American students meeting or exceeding the standards in that same time had decreased.

Trustee Peter Morgan said the achievement gap for African-American students had been the same since he began serving on the board and felt the board should devote more attention to it.

“Since I’ve been on this board, there has been that wide disparity,” he said. “We hear about it, we talk about it and I know you all are following it, but I don’t know if the board has viewed it as a priority to track how we close those gaps.”

Beatson said the principals are writing their Single Plans for Student Achievement and are having conversations about how to assist all their subgroups. She said these conversations were also taking place at the county level.

“I think it would be important for the board to stay on top of this periodically tracking what’s going on,” Morgan said.

Trustee Diane Ferrucci said it would be important for the board to issue an Internal Assessment Report on a regular basis.

Trustee Stacy Holguin asked if there were any indications for the drops at the elementary level. Rice said the district was looking into it, including through STEM teams at the elementary sites.

“We’re looking at all different aspects, but we definitely have identified that we need to looking a higher level of differentiation,” she said.

Overall, Beatson said she was pleased with the gains but noted there were some “sticking points” to further look into.

“We are looking at growth,” she said. “It’s minimal, but we are looking at growth in the student cohort data. What we’re doing is working. it just means we need to do it a little faster and a little deeper.”

In other matters, Food Services Director Tania Courtney gave an annual report on the food services offered in the district. Preceding the meeting was a board study session where they discussed Benicia’s proposed cannabis ordinance and its potential impact on the youth. Superintendent Dr. Charles Young and Special Services Director Dr. Carolyn Patton presented data and recommended that dispensaries be excluded at First Street and the Southampton Shopping Center, the sale of edibles made to resemble food or candy be banned, and that funds from taxes and state revenues be provided to BUSD for prevention education and substance abuse counseling programs.

The next meeting will be Thursday, Oct. 19.