Inland and California students made modest strides in the second year of state math and English tests, new data show.

Statewide, fewer than half of students scored at or above English standards, while barely one-third hit those levels in math, results released Wednesday show.

Of Southern California’s four counties, only Orange topped the state marks for proficiency in the two subjects.

Most districts across the region saw single-digit improvements, signaling there’s much work ahead.

Second-year results from the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress mark the first time parents and educators can see whether schools and districts did better or worse on the state’s new exam.

More than 3.2 million third- through eighth-graders took the online tests, which are based on more rigorous Common Core academic standards that stress critical thinking, problem solving and preparing students for the real world.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson voiced concern about the poor scores of students from low-income families, English learners and black and Latino youths.

Thirty-seven percent of Latinos and 31 percent of blacks met or exceeded English standards – compared with 64 percent of white students.

Torlakson has proposed an office in the California Department of Education to focus on narrowing this achievement gap.

Here are answers to six common questions about the latest round of scores.

Q. Which Riverside County school district had the highest scores?

Temecula Valley Unified was best in English and math for the second straight year.

Chaparral High School in Temecula showed the most improvement of any high school in the district. Students who met or surpassed the standards in English jumped from 67 percent to 83 percent. In math, the figure increased from 30 percent to 46 percent.

Principal Nicole Dayus said the school has a certain approach to test preparation. Last year, administrators scheduled days when juniors took sample tests and became familiar with answering questions and using math calculators on Chromebook computers. Though they don’t take the state test, ninth- and 10thgraders get comfortable by working and taking practice exams on Chromebooks, she said.

Last year, teachers missed six classroom days so they could meet in grade-level teams and talk about tests, student data and best practices.

“It’s often times messy,” Dayus said. “We’re not leaving anything off the table when it comes to doing what’s best for kids.”

Q. Which Riverside County school district improved the most?

Corona-Norco Unified School District, the Inland area’s largest school system, saw the percentage of students who scored at or above the standard move from 36 percent to 43 percent in math.

That was the largest improvement in the county. It’s also the most growth in math among the state’s 15 largest school districts.

Fifty-nine percent of students met or surpassed the English standards, a 6 percentage point jump that ties four districts, including San Bernardino City Unified, for the most improved of the 15 largest districts.

Teachers receive coaching and discuss how to bolster instruction, said Patricio Vargas, the district’s director of assessment and accountability.

Training is uniform so all district teachers have the same vision, he said.

Tests are given regularly rather than at the end of a chapter or a unit. That lets teachers help students before they fall behind, he said.

“This is a huge success for us,” Vargas said of the results. “We know teachers have had to struggle and parents have had a hard time with the transition to the new standards. This gives us a sense that we’re moving in the right direction.”

Q. Why aren’t schools doing better?

Progress is slow in education, said Morgan Polikoff, an associate professor of education at the Rossier School of Education at USC.

“You’re not going to dramatically turn around what kids know in a single year,” he said. “When 30 percent of kids are proficient in math, you shouldn’t expect that’s going to be 70 percent in one year.”

The state has rolled out several policies in recent years to improve education, including a new accountability system and a funding formula that gives districts greater flexibility to address achievement gaps between groups. It’s also important to look at graduation rates, college enrollment and other tests when evaluating schools, he said.

Q. Why are math scores so much lower than English?

English results are climbing in part because of a big investment in early literacy and reading at the elementary level over the past decade, said Thomas Smith, dean of the graduate School of Education at UC Riverside.

Many math teachers aren’t used to the Common Core skills and concepts that the state test measures.

They need time and training to create teaching strategies that call on students to do more than memorize and follow simple procedures, he said.

“I don’t think it’s a minor shift for most teachers,” Smith said. “It’s rethinking what mathematics teaching and learning is. It’s a focus on conceptual understanding and problem solving.”

Q. What can be done to raise scores?

Giving all students access to the same technology can level the playing field, Smith said.

“Some districts have computers for every student; others don’t,” he said.

This matters because while most youths know how to use computers, they’re at different ability levels when it comes to using the devices to take tests, he said.

Also, teachers in many districts are using textbooks based on the previous academic standards. Until new textbooks and materials are in the classrooms, some teachers will have a hard time understanding and explaining the Common Core concepts, Smith said.

Q. Why did Riverside and San Bernardino counties lag behind the state?

Both counties have demographic challenges, officials say.

About two-thirds of Riverside County students and 71 percent of San Bernardino County students qualify for free and discounted lunches. About one-fifth of students in both counties are English learners.

Riverside County Superintendent of Schools Kenn Young said students must become fluent in English as soon as possible so they can graspmath and other subjects.

“The longer it takes them to acquire literacy skills in English, the more difficult it is for them to perform well on assessments like this,” Young said.

San Bernardino County faces similar hurdles, said Dan Evans, spokesman for the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools Office. Data show that highachieving students typically come from wealthier backgrounds.

“With nearly three-quarters of our population not in that category, that makes it challenging,” Evans said.