Editorial: Until test scores improve, Tam District board must voice concerns

A continued slide in student test scores has Tamalpais Union High School District trustees calling to turn them around.

District students still outscore the countywide and state averages, but the downward trends do little to promote their image as some of California’s best schools.

“It stops right now,” said Trustee Kevin Saavedra, who said he has “a sense of shame” over the slipping scores.

“We have egg on our faces,” added Trustee Cynthia Roenisch, herself a high school teacher.

It’s hard to blame them.

Last year, after seeing the 2023-24 test results, they said the same thing.

“I don’t want to hear any excuses,” Roenisch told administrators last December when staff presented the scores at a board meeting. “We need to set some higher expectations. And we need to hold students accountable.”

After the most recent results show another drop, their stinging commentary should not come as a surprise. Usually, school boards don’t spend a lot of time homing in on the results of the state’s annual test scores. They’ll get a presentation from staff, ask a few questions and raise concerns about some scores that drop and voice praise for those that rise. They are often told that there are many variables at play and that one year’s score should not be blown out of proportion.

Certainly, for example, many students’ academic progress likely slipped during the pandemic, when their classroom schooling had to be replaced by online lessons.

But that means scores should be creeping back up toward pre-pandemic levels, not sliding further.

Their focus and frustration are warranted and the faculty should be held accountable – for answers, if not improved scores.

The latest results of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress show 63% of students met or exceeded the standards for English in 2024-25. That’s down from 75%, the average over the past three years. In math, the 54% score dropped from a three-year average of  57%.

All three of the district’s comprehensive high schools – Redwood, Tamalpais and Archie Williams – saw downturns in their scores.

The most was at usually top-scoring Redwood where its 70% in English was down from its average of 79%. On the math exams, its score of 57% is down from a three-year average of 65%.

That’s a significant one-year decline, one that deserves attention and answers.

Tam and Archie Williams also posted lesser scores, but their drop was not as large.

In fact, Archie Williams’ students’ scores in math were up, hitting 56%, compared to the three-year average of 50%.

The district’s new superintendent Courtney Goode can’t take blame for the downturn, but now he’s responsible for reversing the trend.

What rankles trustees – at least Roenisch and Saavedra – is that the district’s scores, while much better than countywide and statewide averages, fall far short of other top-scoring Bay Area school districts.

Tam district scores are a lot lower than Palo Alto or the East Bay’s Acalanes district that includes the Walnut Creek, Lafayette and Moraga areas where students score 80% in English and 79% in math.

At Tam’s board meeting, several board members and teachers surmised that some students in 11th grade who take the test don’t think it’s worth it because it isn’t counted on college transcripts or their graduation.

And some high-performing students just don’t do well on standardized tests. They perform well on classroom assignments and tests, but filling in the correct test “bubbles” isn’t always an accurate reflection of a student’s academic achievement.

However, why aren’t those same variables affecting test scores in the Bay Area’s top-scoring districts?

Tam trustees, administrators and faculty may want to see what those districts are doing right.

Acalanes Union High School District’s annual and public “Assessment Report” which dissects the state test results and others would be a good place to start.

Shining a public spotlight on the recent results – asking questions and calling for improvement – is the right thing to do. Expanding public awareness, information and involvement could be a boost toward reversing the current trend.