FRESNO COUNTY – Despite 76% of students in Fresno County identifying as socioeconomically disadvantaged, the county ranks among the top 10 in the state for learning growth among that student group.
This statistic, in addition to the fact that the county is on average seeing growth that exceeds the state, is something the Fresno County Office of Education is particularly proud of, Fresno County Superintendent of Schools Michele Cantwell-Copher said. Standardized testing data released by the California Department of Education on Oct. 9 points to this and shows that the county has continuously achieved growth in overall student proficiency in math, science and the language arts.
“We’re very focused right now on sustaining the movement we’ve seen over the last three years, especially in literacy and math, and ensuring that that progress continues across all student groups,” Cantwell-Copher said.
Although Fresno County still lags behind the statewide averages for all grades, it is not quite as far behind as its southern neighbor in Tulare County. Further, Fresno County students, just like students across California, are recording strong growth year over year, even outpacing the amount of growth seen statewide for the 2024-25 school year.
Cantwell-Copher said these gains are the result of intentional collaboration between the county and its school districts, as Cantwell-Copher’s office has worked with superintendents, classroom teachers and community partners to remove barriers and ensure students have what they need to succeed.
“Our role at the county is to provide a lot of training,” Cantwell-Copher said. “For example, in the arena of English language development, we help our teachers develop the skill sets necessary to provide very targeted English language development instruction, and then we also help them understand how to integrate what we call ELD strategies into the entire full day of instruction.”
Understanding test scores
Standardized testing in California includes the California Science Test (CAST) and California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP). Some students also take alternate assessments if their individualized education plans indicate that they should do so, and English Language Learners (ELs) are tested by the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC).
The CAST is taken by students in fifth and eighth grade and once in high school — typically in 11th grade — across the state to measure how well students grasp core scientific concepts and practices. CAASPP includes exams in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics, and assesses students in grades third through eighth and once more in 11th grade.
Both CAASPP and CAST scores are broken down into four categories, called levels — standard exceeded (Level 4), standard met (Level 3), standard nearly met (Level 2) and standard not met (Level 1). The total percentage of students who are considered proficient in a subject combines those who met or exceeded the standards.
According to a score guide from the Regents of the University of California, Levels 2 through 4 show grade-level performance with increasing accuracy and complexity, while Level 1 indicates that students are not consistently demonstrating grade-level knowledge and skills.
Fresno County takes leaps towards state averages
Based on the average scores from all grades and districts in Fresno County, 28.47% of students met or exceeded state standards on the science assessment in the 2024-25 school year, up 2.65% from the 2023-24 school year. In math, 34.09% of students met or exceeded standards, an increase of 1.91%, and in ELA, 46.44% of students met or exceeded standards, up 2.14%.
Growth seen in science proficiency between the 2024-25 and 2023-24 school years was triple what Fresno County averaged between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years. Growth seen in ELA proficiency was almost double, at 2.14% compared to 1.16%, and growth in math, while not significantly higher, was still more than the previous year, at 1.91% compared with 1.78%.
This growth was also greater than the gains seen in statewide proficiency averages, putting Fresno County slightly closer to the state averages altogether. In science, Fresno County students are 4.19% behind the state average, while in math, they are 3.21% behind the state average. In ELA, students are just 2.38% behind the state average.
Cantwell-Copher said the overall theme for student progress in Fresno County is that students are outpacing the state when it comes to growth — to the point that in third-grade reading, Fresno County’s growth is double the state’s, at 3% compared to 1.41%.
“We’re really focusing on early literacy, … so we’re really proud about our third grade reading, which is a strong predictor of future success,” Cantwell-Copher said.
Science statistics
Even as Fresno County students continue to show less proficiency on their science assessments than on ELA and math, most unified school districts in the county saw gains on their science proficiency.
Kings Canyon Unified School District, Sanger Unified School District and Firebaugh-Las Deltas Unified School District had total student proficiency across all grades increase by more than 4% between 2023-24 and 2024-25. Additionally, Selma Unified School District, Kerman Unified School District and Mendota Unified School District had proficiency increase by more than 2%. Only Fowler Unified School District saw a decrease in proficiency, dropping by 2.68%.
Total proficiency in science varied greatly across the county, with some districts, like Sanger Unified, seeing proficiency higher than the state average at 36.21%, and others, like Parlier Unified School District and Golden Plains Unified School District, recording proficiencies of just 8.91% and 6.82%, respectively.
Although many school districts have low overall proficiency in science, the percentage of students nearly meeting state standards far outweighs the percentage who do not meet state standards at all. In Parlier and Golden Plains, 60.68% and 60.71% of students, respectively, scored within the “nearly met” standards category.
Likewise, Mendota Unified, of which only 15% of students reached proficiency, had 62.4% of students nearly meet standards compared with 22.6% of students who did not meet standards.
Math measures
In math, Fowler, Golden Plains, Selma and Kingsburg Joint Union High School District all saw decreases in overall proficiency across all grades after recording increases the previous year. Conversely, Kings Canyon Unified nearly doubled its growth in proficiency, increasing by 4.25% between 2023-24 and 2024-25 compared with 2.25% between 2022-23 and 2023-24.
With total proficiency reaching 42.14% for Kings Canyon and 40.78% for Sanger, students from both districts exceeded the state averages by 4.84% and 3.48%, respectively. On average, students in those districts also saw strong growth between having met state standards and having exceeded state standards. Across all grades, the number of students exceeding standards increased by 3.75% for Kings Canyon and by 3.34% for Sanger.
While students in some districts are strengthening their math skills, students in other districts continue to not meet state standards at all.
In Parlier Unified, 65.4% of students scored within Level 1, meaning they were not consistently demonstrating grade-level knowledge and skills. Golden Plains, Firebaugh-Las Deltas and Mendota also had more than half of their students score within Level 1, at 58.4%, 54.9% and 52.15%, respectively. Just 14.45% of Parlier students, 16.28% of Golden Plains students and 19% of Firebaugh-Las Deltas students reached proficiency.
After early literacy, Fresno County’s second-highest priority is math acceleration, Cantwell-Copher said.
“We use that terminology to describe that we are very aware that our students are performing at a level about 34% on grade, so we have to accelerate that growth in order to see more students doing well,” Cantwell-Copher said.
ELA achievements
Just as they do across the state, higher percentages of students demonstrated proficiency in ELA across Fresno County districts than they did for science or math.
In Parlier, where less than 15% of students were proficient in science and math, 24.47% of students reached proficiency in ELA. While the district overall saw a marginal decrease in proficiency from the last year — about half a percent — students in 11th grade showed major growth, with 31.95% reaching proficiency, an increase of 12.15%.
This was true for other districts where students struggled more in math and science, including Golden Plains, Firebaugh-Las Deltas and Mendota. In Golden Plains, 26.39% of students reached proficiency in ELA, an increase of almost 7% from the previous year. Firebaugh-Las Deltas students did not see growth but still recorded proficiency of 32.8%, and 36.3% of Mendota students reached proficiency.
Eleventh grade students in Golden Plains had particular success, as proficiency increased by 29.8%, from 18.5% in 2023-24 to 48.39% in 2024-25.
Other Fresno County districts that made significant improvements in math and science also made improvements in ELA, with Kings Canyon seeing growth of nearly 4.7% and Sanger seeing growth of 4.3%. Both districts again saw total proficiency levels exceed the state, with Kings Canyon surpassing the state average by 7% and Sanger by 4.2%.
Though not surpassing the state, Fowler and Selma students were not too far off, as 44.7% of Fowler students reached proficiency, about 4% behind the statewide average, and nearly 41% of Selma students reached proficiency, 7.8% behind the statewide average. Fowler students were also just 1.7% behind the county average despite seeing a 4.4% decrease in proficiency from the previous year.
To see how other specific grades and groups of students performed, visit the California Department of Education CAASPP website.
