Ten years ago, a new computer-based test for California students replaced the paper-reliant standardizing testing and reporting program.
Called the Smarter Balanced assessments, the tests measure third through eighth graders’ and 11th graders’ knowledge of the state’s English language arts and math standards.
Students served by the Santa Barbara County Education Office (SBCEO)—those who can’t be served by their home district—tested 0 percent in both English and math standards for the 2023-24 assessments. Fifty-four students sat for the English language arts test and 55 sat for the math test, the SBCEO told the Sun.
The county office serves students in the Juvenile Court and Community Schools—namely Peter B. FitzGerald Community School in Santa Maria—and special education programs. On average, students are enrolled for only 38 days and 78 days in the court school and in the community school, respectively. Non-stability rates can soar above 94 percent.
“For SBCEO’s Juvenile Court and Community Schools, student transiency is a primary challenge for measuring success,” the county office said. “Many students face additional barriers, including homelessness, socioeconomic hardship, and high rates of therapeutic needs. For students in special education programs, medical needs can lead to extended periods of absences impacting instructional time.”
According to the office, the state recognizes that students in alternative schools often face a unique set of challenges, which impact standardized test performance. The Santa Barbara County office pads its funding with the Student Support and Enrichment Block Grant and the Learning Recovery Block Grant.
“For [the Juvenile Court and Community Schools], a primary measure of success is helping students earn their high school diploma,” the office said. “For [the] community school, … an additional metric of success is a student successfully returning and transitioning to their referring school.”
Alternative schools report a one-year graduation rate. The juvenile court school achieved a 100 percent one-year graduation rate in the 2024-25 school year. That same year, 13 out of 15 students who attended the community school cleared their expulsion and returned to their home school district.
Students in the special education programs also receive an individualized education program with goals tailored to their needs.
“Within SBCEO programs,” the office said, “we recognize that success looks different for every student and the critical role SBCEO plays in our students’ academic growth.”
In neighboring San Luis Obispo County, only 13 percent and 0.8 percent of students served by the County Office of Education met or exceeded the state standard for English language arts and math, respectively, according to the 2024 results.
The County Education Office serves students enrolled in the SLO Juvenile Court School who are incarcerated or are awaiting court dates and not considered supervisable. The office also teaches seventh through 12th graders in Loma Visa Community School who have been expelled from and referred there by the county’s 10 local school districts because of excessive truancy.
“Our students come from situations of high levels of trauma, high rates of poverty, multiple years of school failure and not attending school,” county Director of Alternative Education Chris Balogh said. “We enroll students throughout the year because life happens and they end up in juvenile hall. That’s beyond our control but any time a student shows up there, we provide an education for them year-round.”
At Loma Vista, students complete the rehabilitation terms of their expulsion or truant remediation, recover credits, and learn social skills, behavioral therapy, and workplace readiness. They do so with the help of five teachers who specialize in different subjects. Depending on their capacity and life situation, students can opt for independent study, too. They’re supervised on campus, and the county also offers transportation.
According to a 2024 self-study visiting committee report by the accrediting body Western Association of Schools and Colleges, attendance at the juvenile court school “remains highly consistent.”
“We have a little bit different metrics,” Balogh said. “For sure we look at attendance, because if a student hasn’t gone to school at all and now they’re coming to school four out of five days, it’s a huge increase.”
Still, in the eyes of the Smarter Balanced assessment, standards at the Juvenile Court School and Loma Vista are slipping. English and math literacy rates dropped by 3.6 percent and 2 percent, respectively, compared to 2023 results.
The number of enrolled students also reflects the fluctuations in scores.
At the Juvenile Court School, there were no seventh graders enrolled between 2022 and 2024. A single student was enrolled in eighth grade in the 2023-24 school year. Three students were enrolled in the 11th grade during the 2024-25 school year.
Enrollment dropped over the last three school years for seventh and eighth grades at Loma Vista, resulting in one seventh grader and six eighth graders in the 2024-25 school year. There were also 19 11th graders that year.
“With numbers this small, the metrics don’t work,” Balogh said. “We’re focused on getting them to school daily, providing therapeutic services, and getting them to understand that they can learn.”
He added that the assessment isn’t an appropriate measure of success.
“Sometimes, we get a student who has been working and then they’ve committed a crime and end up in juvenile hall. They haven’t been to school in years,” he said. “We’ve had no experience with this student. We may have had a week to spend with the student, and a week is not enough to get them up to 11th grade standards. It’s similar with our community school. … The test isn’t really a measure of their progress or our progress because they’ve been at multiple different schools.”
The Smarter Balanced assessment is only one component of the larger yearly California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) test. There are also state science tests, a Spanish language assessment, and a set of alternate tests for students with significant cognitive disabilities.
Compared to the county Office of Education, SLO County’s school districts fared much better last year in the Smarter Balanced tests.
Lucia Mar school district’s Central Coast New Tech High in Nipomo placed ninth overall in the state, with 98.3 percent and 43 percent of students meeting or exceeding standards in English and math, respectively.
San Luis Coastal Unified School District saw 66.5 percent of students hitting the mark in English and 57.6 percent in math.
In response to the Sun’s question about why schools must adhere to CAASPP reporting, a California Department of Education representative stated that federal and state laws “require all local educational agencies to assess all of their students in English language arts, mathematics, and science in the required grades. This applies to all student subgroups, which include racial/ethnic groups, English language learners/multilingual learners, low-income students, and students with disabilities.”
The representative added that federal law requires states to allow results to be separated within each state, local education agency, and school.
Not performing well in these tests has funding consequences for the county Office of Education.
“Parents and media and everybody look at these scores to gauge how a school or a school district is doing,” Balogh said. “If we don’t get the right amount of participation, or we don’t do well enough, we can fall into an assistance mode where we have less control over what we’re doing.”
Balogh told the Sun that the state hasn’t stepped in to assist the county office yet. He added that federal government denied the California Department of Education’s request modify the requirements for alternative schools.
“We’re allowed to use other information, but we have to still report on the CAASPP,” he said. “In my work with the state and I work with people who have similar jobs as me in different county offices of education, we try to have a message that says why CAASPP isn’t relevant for our kids.”
Reach New Times Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal, from the Sun’s sister paper, at brajagopal@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Aug 7-17, 2025.