Academic achievement of students in foster care improved before the pandemic but lost all gains afterward, with only 19 percent meeting ELA standards in 2022–23¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · recheck by 2030: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? The percentage of students in foster care meeting ELA standards rose from 19 percent in 2014–15 to 24 percent in 2018–19, then fell back to 19 percent by 2022–23, versus 47 percent of all students. → Ximenes Barrat 2025 q2 i? Mathematics performance was even lower, dropping from 15 percent meeting standards in 2018–19 to 10 percent in 2022–23. → Ximenes Barrat 2025 (2)

Evidence¶

Ximenes Barrat 2025¶

Ximenes Barrat, V., Diercks, C., Berliner, B., Derby, K., Chen Gaddini, M., & Pivnick, L. (2025). Revisiting California's invisible achievement gap: Trends in education outcomes of students in foster care in the context of the local control funding formula. WestEd. https://www.wested.org/resource/revisiting-californias-invisible-achievement-gap/

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Analysis of CAASPP Smarter Balanced Summative Assessment results for grades 3–8 and 11, 2014–15 through 2022–23. In 2022–23, only 19 percent of students in foster care met ELA standards, compared to 47 percent of all students and 35 percent of low-income students.

"in 2018–19, 24 percent of this group met or exceeded standards for English language arts/literacy. But in the post-pandemic years, the group lost all the ground it had gained"

Ximenes Barrat 2025 (2)¶

Ximenes Barrat, V., Diercks, C., Berliner, B., Derby, K., Chen Gaddini, M., & Pivnick, L. (2025). Revisiting California's invisible achievement gap: Trends in education outcomes of students in foster care in the context of the local control funding formula. WestEd. https://www.wested.org/resource/revisiting-californias-invisible-achievement-gap/

q2 · i? · associational · r2

CAASPP mathematics results for the same period and grades. All student groups sharply decreased following the pandemic; the report highlights the need for investments in mathematics learning recovery.

"For students in foster care, 12 percent met or exceeded these grade-level standards in 2014–15 and 15 percent met or exceeded them in 2018–19; but by 2022–23 that had dropped to 10 percent"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Students in foster care were increasingly identified with disabilities, reaching nearly one in three by 2022–23 and far exceeding other high-need groups — related
• School stability for students in foster care improved from 62 percent to 66 percent but remained far below the roughly 90 percent rate of other groups — related
• Students in foster care were consistently about three times more likely to be suspended than all other student groups, with rates reverting to pre-pandemic levels by 2022–23 — related
• The number of California students in foster care declined by over 13,000 on Census Day between 2014–15 and 2022–23, with enrollment concentrated in a small number of districts — related
• Students in foster care were consistently more likely than other high-need groups to attend a low-performing school — related
• Among LCAP planned actions referencing students in foster care in the 10 largest districts, very few were unique to foster care and an even smaller fraction of funds was — related
• Students in foster care meet or exceed state standards at much lower rates than other students in English language arts and mathematics — related
• Students experiencing homelessness meet or exceed state achievement standards at far lower rates (29% ELA, 19% mathematics) than students statewide (48%, 37%) — related
• Each within-year school move is associated with lower CAASPP achievement among students in foster care — related