Across the Tamalpais High School Union District, a significant percent of the class of 2024 did not participate in The California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) test in May of 2023, resulting in a large decrease in the overall test scores causing the date to be changed to March for 2024.

The CAASPP test was put in place in 2014 and the point of it is to evaluate and monitor how students are doing in school, and to see how effective the current curriculum is. 

In 2023 there were a total of 1,246 juniors in the district, yet only 874 juniors took the test. 

“The state dashboard says the district’s 11th-graders ‘declined’ academically by 20 points in English and 39.4 points in math,” Board trustee Lara Kelly told the Marin Independent Journal.

Although the juniors who did participate in the test scored fairly well and aligned with previous years’ results, the lack of participation was what caused the decline in scores.

A possible reason why the attendance rate for the CAASPP tests was so low is because these tests are near the time of the Advanced Placement tests.

“It’s already a very academic-heavy month and having all these tests crammed into one month doesn’t help,” Tamalpais High School senior Solance Scheidt said. 

With the testing being moved to March, there is hope for an improvement in participation from students in future years.