Tom Torlakson is impressed with River Islands Technology Academy. So impressed that the man who oversees 10,000 public schools and the education of 6 million students as California’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction made his second visit in three years to the Lathrop charter school. The infusion of cutting edge technology to advance science, technology, engineering, and math education first lured Torlakson to visit in 2013.
Last spring, California held a statewide Assessment of School Performance and Progress testing for grades 3 -8 to ascertain students’ progress “in a more rigorous education regimen associated with the Common Core standards that were adopted in 2010”.
Performance was measured by the percentage of students who exceeded state standards, met state standards, nearly met state standards and did not meet state standards in English and mathematics.