No Progress in Test Results
No Progress in Test Results
The NAEP results just came out. The huge importance of these tests is that there is no way to prepare for them because they are given only to a small portion of students who are chosen at random. The results also carry no consequence to the schools or the students. Thus the tests measure what students actually have learned in the course of their studies.
The 2013 results were exactly the same as 2009. In math, 26% of all students scored at or above proficient. In reading, 37% did. Results are graded at three achievement levels: “basic,” “proficient,” or “advanced.” Gaps between white, Hispanic and black students also stayed consistent. The results are only marginally better than when the tests stared in 1992 for reading and 2005 for math. These are lousy results.
It’s hard to escape the conclusion that the interventions aimed at improving math and reading results simply haven’t worked. Let’s be clear that this isn’t an indictment of the common core, which has yet to be implemented. But it clearly is testifies to the futility of the approach embodied in No Child Left Behind and the current administration’s policy of Race to the Top. These results should give educational policy makers serious pause about pushing their high stakes testing agenda. Only I’m pretty sure it won’t.
Jared Gellert is the Executive Director for CITE. CITE is the Center for Integrated Training and Education in NY. CITE trains teachers, administrators, and counselors in NYC and Long Island (including Suffolk). Sign up for info!
