NAEP scores show mixed results
There's really only one standardized test that has charted long-term trends in reading and math and the latest results are out today. Depending on who you are, you can find hope or despair in the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Released by the U.S. Department of Education, the assessment showed that 9-year-olds and 13-year-olds have made some significant strides in both reading and math since the early 1970s. Unfortunately, the same does not hold true for our 17-year-olds, whose scores remained relatively flat over the 35-year period. What's perhaps the most discouraging is that the best performance of this high-school age group was in the mid- to late 1990s.
Most encouraging, several education groups pointed out today that the achievement gap between whites and Hispanic and black students has been narrowing.
When you look at the trends in the past four years, the last time the test was administered, education groups say there's little to find encouraging except that 9-year-olds improved in math.
For those of you who might be confused, there are two NAEP tests given. The results released today include a version of the test that has remained relatively constant since the 1970s. Another NAEP, which does change over time, produces state data. That test is given this spring.
Fair Test, an organization that is opposed to high stakes testing and No Child Left Behind, said today the NAEP results are an indication of the failure of NCLB. "NCLB is demonstrably unable to produce sustained and significant improvements even on a standardized test in the two subjects on which it focuses, reading and math," the organization said in a statement.
Another national education group, EdTrust, said in a statement released today, that "Thirty five years of relative stagnation in reading and math achievement among high school students overall should be cause for great alarm." While reform of the elementary grades seems to have taken hold, it has not translated to the upper grades. And so high schoolers will be less prepared to enter a more complex world that holds fewer jobs for those without a college degree.
The number of students getting a college degree has gone up only slighly while twice as many jobs now require an undergraduate degree, according to EdTrust.
Baltimore City took a bold step and decided to take part in a NAEP test that compares urban school systems. City students will take the test in numbers that are large enough to allow the results to be compared to other students around the United States. Those results will be a good indication of just how Baltimore's school reforms are taking hold.
Baltimoresun.com's 
