The NAEP scores problem

11-19-2010

Blog by Valerie Strauss/Washington Post

When you live by test scores, you run the risk of dying by them too -- or, at least, the policies that dictated their importance should. Education Secretary Arne Duncan issued a statement Thursday after the release of 12th grade reading and math scores on the National Aassessment of Educational Progress, the test sometimes called “the nation’s report card,” that said in part: "Today’s report suggests that high school seniors’ achievement in reading and math isn’t rising fast enough to prepare them to succeed in college and careers. Reading results have improved since 2005, but are still below the level of 1992. Math scores also show only incremental gains over four years ago.” My colleague Nick Anderson reported that reading scores for 12th graders since 2005 rose two points on a 500-point scale, and math scores rose three points on a 300-point scale. The translation: Thirty-eight percent of seniors demonstrated proficiency in reading and 26 percent reached that level in math. Reading scores remain lower than they were in 1992. And there was essentially no progress in closing achievement gaps that separate white students from black and Hispanic peers.” Closing the achievement gap was the goal of President Bush’s No Child Left Behind law, which has defined the school reform movement for most of this decade and which was focused around a system of school assessments based on standardized tests. (more…)

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