Between school closures, failed negotiations between the district and its teachers, and changes in the composition of its Board of Directors, the Sonoma Valley Unified School District has been in the news frequently lately.
The district serves 3,129 students, of which 59.6 percent are deemed socioeconomically disadvantaged, and 25.9 percent are English language learners, this according to the latest 2024 California School Dashboard, a system that tracks school performance under California’s accountability system.
Tracking various elements, such as Chronic Absenteeism, Suspension Rate, Graduation Rate, Academic Proficiency in English and Math, and other metrics, the system allows comparison to other districts and previous academic years.
While in 2024 there were some areas of improvement, the statistics overall indicate a middling to poor performance, with a 17.9 percent Chronic Absenteeism rate, 7.5 percent better than in 2023, but still concerning. To be chronically absent, students must be absent on 10 percent or more school days. Similarly, the Suspension Rate of 3.2 percent has declined slightly from the year before. Nonetheless, 92.9 percent of students graduate, although their academic proficiency varies widely.
It is academic proficiency that matters most, and among Long-Term English Learners, proficiency in English is poor, a whopping 103 points below the state standard. Among students with disabilities, it’s even worse. The same is largely true for mathematics, where these same groups rate between 124 and 181 points below the state standard, essentially in the Very Low Performance category.
Student performance in California overall is not exceptional, with academic achievement in the Low Performance category. Compared to the Petaluma School District, for example, Sonoma’s graduation rate is slightly higher but so is its Chronic Absenteeism rate. Only 34.4 percent of Sonoma’s students are rated as prepared for college or a career.
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