Top Takeaways National database shows widespread declines in reading, including in some California school districts. Researchers identified several districts as bright spots where reading and math scores have steadily increased. Modesto City Schools and Compton Unified are among the districts whose scores are rising faster than demographically similar districts. Students attending Compton Unified School District and Modesto City Schools are improving in reading faster than students in demographically similar districts amid what a team of researchers has identified as a national “reading recession.” District leaders and researchers credit years of sustained academic reforms and data-driven intervention systems. “We’re feeling really comfortable with what we’ve built for literacy development. Now we’re like, ‘Okay, now what can we learn from that experience to make gains in mathematics as well?’ ” said Vanessa Buitrago, Modesto City superintendent. The findings come from the Education Scorecard, a database released Wednesday by researchers at Harvard, Stanford and Dartmouth that compares reading and math test scores across more than 5,000 school districts in 38 states, including more than 500 districts in California. Researchers said the project is intended to make “local recovery efforts — both successful and unsuccessful — more visible,” highlighting both successful and struggling districts. To allow comparisons across states, the team aligned state test scores with results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a nationwide exam given every two years. Going Deeper The Associated Press analyzed data from the Education Scorecard, produced by researchers at Harvard, Stanford and Dartmouth, which uses state…
