Pam Sornson, JD, Author at EWD Pulse

How San Gabriel Valley Students Scored In Standardized Tests

Pam Sornson, JD on February 26, 2019

ARCADIA, CA — Southern California students continue to make modest gains on state standardized tests, although only half of them met or exceeded the state standard in English and less than half met or exceeded it in math, according to scores released Wednesday by the California Department of Education.

The performance of Los Angeles County and Orange County students on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress tests generally mirrored that of students statewide, according to the department.

The CAASPP tests were administered in the spring to more than 3 million students across the state in grades 3-8 and 11.

Statewide, 22.23 percent exceeded the standard in English, while 28.64 met it, 22.4 nearly met it and 26.73 failed to meet it. In math, 19.69 exceeded the standard, 20.04 met it, 25.41 nearly met it and 34.86 failed to meet it. The statewide scores were all also moderately improved from the previous year.

In Los Angeles County, 21.73 percent of the more than 740,000 students who took the tests exceeded the state standard in English, up from 20.58 percent the previous year. According to the state, 28.48 percent met the standard, up slightly from 28.35 percent last year; while 22.65 percent “nearly” met the standard, down from 22.84 percent last year; and 27.14 percent failed to meet it, down from 28.23 percent last year.

In math, 19.15 percent exceeded the standard, 19.96 met it, 25.42 nearly met it and 35.48 failed to meet it. The percentages from the previous year were 17.66, 19.8, 26.04 and 36.5, respectively.

The Los Angeles Unified School District — the nation’s second-largest — showed across-the-board year-over-year gains, but students continued to lag behind their counterparts across the state. According to state figures, 17.73% of LAUSD students exceeded the standard in English, 26.17% met it, 23.45% nearly met it and 32.65% failed to meet it. In math, 15.08% exceeded the standard, 18.39% met it, 25.83% nearly met it and 40.7% failed to meet it.

In Orange County, 29.82 percent of students exceeded the state standard in English, while 29.66 percent met it, 19.74 percent nearly met it and 20.78 percent failed to meet it. In math, 28.53 percent exceeded the standard, 21.91 percent met it, 23.03 percent nearly met it and 26.54 percent failed to meet it. The figures all reflected slight improvements over the previous year.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond acknowledged the overall improvement, but said he was concerned that gains were less consistent in later grades of 7, 8 and 11, while performance continues to lag among some students of color.

“Disparities between students of color and their white and Asian peers continue from year to year and demonstrate the importance of our priority initiative of closing the achievement gap,” Thurmond said in a statement. “Education equity should mean equity for all students and right now, we are not there. All students should have an equal opportunity to succeed academically and enter the workforce prepared with the needed skills to compete in the industries that drive our state forward.”

Hispanic entrepreneurs more optimistic in business survey

Pam Sornson, JD on February 26, 2019

Hispanic entrepreneurs are feeling better about their businesses and the nation’s economy than other business owners, a new report reveals.

Bank of America’s 2019 Hispanic Small Business Owner Spotlight survey says 51 percent of Hispanic-owned businesses plan to hire more workers this year compared with 26 percent of non-Hispanic owned companies. Moreover, 87 percent of Hispanic businesses plan to expand their operations compared with 67 percent of all other businesses.

ESCO Aerospace Manufacturing in La Puente is one of them. ESCO makes components for Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. And business is picking up.

“I have 12 employees now and we’re looking into starting another shift,” company CEO Yvonne Escobedo said. “That means more people and more equipment. I’ll probably have to bring on another 12 people.”

Escobedo said the Trump administration’s pro-business stance has given her confidence to move her company forward.

“The big thing is the corporate tax break,” she said. “They lowered the corporate tax from 35 percent to 21 percent. That’s the catalyst for everything … it makes you feel comfortable with buying equipment and hiring. They are thinking about the little guy who is trying to succeed.”

Other survey data worth noting:

74 percent of Hispanic-owned businesses expect their revenue to increase this year, compared with 57 percent of non-Hispanic business owners
28 percent of Hispanic-owned businesses intend to apply for a loan, compared with 14 percent of other business owners
68 percent of Hispanic-owned businesses expect the economy to improve over the next 12 months, compared with 54 percent of other companies

Sergio Rivas, small business banking manager for Bank of America’s Los Angeles market, has a theory about the optimism.

“Many of them own newer businesses that haven’t seen the roller coaster kind of economy more established businesses have, so there is more confidence,” he said.

Still, some aren’t taking any chances.

“We dealt with a tortilla manufacturer that was concerned about commodity prices, so they bought up to six months worth of supplies as a hedge against the economy,” Rivas said.

More workers, more equipment

Frank Montes, chairman of the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce and founder and CEO of Inland Body & Paint Center in Fontana, is looking to hire five new employees to augment his current workforce of 19. He also plans to invest $100,000 in new equipment.

“I think our culture has always been optimistic,” he said. “When times get tough in our community we refocus. I’m a strong believer that when something bad happens, you look at how you can turn it around and make it positive.”

Still, Montes admits that California isn’t the easiest place to do business.

“More than 2,000 bills were introduced this year that will somehow impact our businesses,” he said. “If you want to scare small business away from California keep introducing all of these bills. The one thing that scares small business is the unknown.”

Health care costs topped the list of concerns among both Hispanic-owned businesses and others surveyed for the BofA report. Additional concerns included commodity prices, trade tariffs, consumer spending and minimum wage increases.

A tight labor market

Hispanic entrepreneurs are among many other businesses grappling with an ultra-competitive job market that has made it harder to attract and retain talent.

Sixteen percent of Hispanic businesses surveyed said they have lost at least 10 percent of their workforce over the past 12 months while 11 percent of non-Hispanic businesses faced the same problem.

To counteract that trend, Hispanic entrepreneurs are offering a variety of perks to attract job candidates. Fifty-five percent offer flexible hours, 36 percent offer flexible locations, 35 percent offer professional development and 32 percent offer discretionary bonuses, the report said.

Alex Guerrero, chief development officer at Valley Economic Development Center in Sherman Oaks, said his organization helps businesses in underserved communities gain access to technical assistance and loans.

“In the last 12 months, 21 percent of our loans have gone to Hispanics and those companies have created 111 jobs as a result,” he said. “It used to be mainly restaurant owners and manufacturing companies, but now we’re funding loans for dentists, accountants and other professionals.”

Increasing gender diversity in the STEM research workforce

Pam Sornson, JD on February 26, 2019

Women experience substantial, gender-specific barriers that can impede their advancement in research careers. These include unconscious biases that negatively influence the perception of women’s abilities, as well as social and cultural factors like those that lead to an unequal distribution of domestic labor (1, 2). Additionally, sexual and gender-based harassment is a widespread and pernicious impediment to the retention and advancement of women in many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)–related fields (3). Although there is substantial evidence documenting systemic barriers that women face in scientific careers, less is known about how research institutions and funding agencies can best address these problems (see references below and in the supplementary materials). We outline here specific, potentially high-impact policy changes that build upon existing mechanisms for research funding and governance and that can be rapidly implemented to counteract barriers facing women in science. These approaches must be coupled to vigorous and continuous outcomes-based monitoring, so that the most successful strategies can be disseminated and widely implemented. Though our professional focus is primarily academic biomedical research in U.S. institutions, we suggest that some of the approaches that we discuss may be broadly useful across STEM disciplines and outside of academia as well.