STOCKTON, Calif — A new study released by the non-profit "San Joaquin A+" shows grim statistics when it comes to students trying to learn through the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It's troubling," says Don Shalvey, CEO of San Joaquin A+ and a veteran educator.
San Joaquin A+ is made up of a group of educators, business leaders, active citizens and philanthropists. It has been in existence since 1996.
The study looked at the state of San Joaquin County schools after a year or more of remote work, especially in the Stockton Unified School District. The results are alarming.
Before the pandemic, Stockton Unified fell behind the state average with 30% of its students proficient in reading and 21% in math.
This fall, only 14% are proficient at reading and 6.5% in math.
"And, there's no one to blame. This is the reality of a pandemic," said Shalvey. "When you look at this from the parent's perspective where a parent was trying to work from home or, when they had to work, older brothers and sisters became the teacher's aide to a teacher trying to manage an online community with variation of bandwidth."
Broken down by race, the study found only one of out of 10 Black students were proficient at math and reading, less than two out of 10 Hispanics and less than three out of 10 white students.
HJ Holcomb, a father of five, spent the past summer knocking on doors talking to families to gather input for the study in Stockton.
"Their hope is to see a change. They want to see a change," Holcomb said.
Solutions from the study include bringing "the whole community to the table," when deciding how five districts in San Joaquin County will spend $500 million in federal stimulus money over the next three years.
They also ask to "Get Creative" when using the funds like growing the quantity and quality of early learning for three to four year old's, providing "social and emotional supports for students," creating "clearer and cheaper pathways to college and career with Early College High Schools" that is putting students on a path with Associate's degrees before graduation and "paid meaningful internships." Finally, they say districts should be "fully transparent and accountable for how federal relief money is spent."
ABC10 reached out to Stockton Unified School District for comment, but the superintendent was unavailable.
In the study, Superintendent John Ramirez Junior is quoted in part saying "SUSD needs to make significant improvement so our students can be college, career, and community ready."
To ready the full study, click HERE.
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