MONDAY, JUNE 1, 2026
Let's take a look at the record: Are California's public schools some sort of uniquely bad? A person might have received that impression from what this unnamed gentleman said:
...[NAME WITHHELD] Fawns Over ‘Authentic’ Spencer Pratt in Podcast Appearance
[...]
During one especially warm moment, [NAME WITHHELD] expressed his frustration over education in California, assigning blame to teachers’ unions, before asking Pratt for his answer to the problem.
“We spend a lot more trying to educate a kid in this state and do worse than places that spend way less. And part of that is because the teachers’ union is so strong,” he said.
“Are you–there’s a great question for you, Mr. Candidate. Are you strong enough to buck the unions?”
All in all, it sounded like Cali was really struggling. Skillfully, we ordered the analysts to go take a look at the record.
The youngsters examined the data. They returned with these average scores in reading and math from the most recent NAEP:
Average scores, Grade 8 Reading: 2024 Naep
California / United States
White kids: 269.15 / 265.85
Black kids: 246.97 / 242.58
Hispanic kids: 242.50 / 244.52
Asian kids: 281.70 / 279.62
Two or more races: 267.29 / 261.42
Average scores, Grade 8 Math: 2024 Naep
California / United States
White kids: 287.22 / 284.46
Black kids: 252.43 / 250.83
Hispanic kids: 253.47 / 257.39
Asian kids: 307.22 / 304.64
Two or more races: 288.51 / 276.61
For all Naep data, just click here. From there, you're on your own!
The differences here aren't enormous. By a very rough rules of thumb, ten points on the Naep scale is often said to correspond (very roughly) to one academic year.
The differences aren't huge. But California's white, Black and Asian kids slightly outperformed their counterparts nationwide. California's Hispanic kids slightly underperformed their nationwide peers.
Regarding spending, the World Population Review has California ranked 14th highest among the fifty states in per pupil spending. Now for the rest of the story:
Cali ranks only 33rd highest among the fifty states in per pupil spending as a percentage of taxpayer income.
Plenty of money is almost surely being imperfectly spent, in California and elsewhere. That said, are some other states doing much better while spending much less?
Given the history of such competitions, we're very, very, very slow to sign on to "miracle" stories. (Over the course of the past fifty years, the experts have tended to be the last ones to know.)
That said, Cali's kids are scoring roughly like the nation's kids overall. The statewide per pupil spending lags far behind that of big spenders like New York, Vermont, New Jersey, Connecticut.
Everyone knows all about public schools. It has ever been thus!
"almost surely"
ReplyDeleteLOL!
CA is the 4th largest economy in the world, it's educational system is not perfect nor the best, but it obviously is doing just fine.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeletegood news
Trump administration plans to drop DOJ’s $1.8B ‘lawfare’ fund, reports say
The idea that CA spends more but low-spending states outperform it has been a right wing talking point forever. It used to be based on misleading test scores on the SAT, where Southern states had far higher averages because (1) those Southern states take the ACT not the ACT, so those taking the SAT are self-selected because they intend to apply to places such as Stanford and Berkeley, and (2) only the top students in the South wind up taking the SAT because they do not need it to get into Eastern and Southern schools, whereas all students in CA take the SAT. Some high schools require them to take it, while anyone intending to apply to the UC or CalState systems will be taking it.
ReplyDeleteSo a small sliver of the top Southern students are taking the SAT and their average is being compared to the average for the entire college-going senior class in CA, including students heading for less competitive schools. It is not a fair comparison but the right has promoted that kind of data for decades, and apparently is still saying the same things.
Somerby says he automatically disbelieves academic miracles, but that isn't the kind of swindle being played here. He should be looking behind the data to see where the means come from and how the groups being compared are formed. That is basic to using statistics, something Somerby has never seemed adept at doing.
typo correction: take the ACT not the SAT (taken predominantly by those applying to Western schools including CA colleges)
Delete