Scores at lowest end of 2015 Math Tests worse than 2013
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. Americas high school seniors math and reading test scores are barely holding steady or slumping according to recently released national standardized test results. Between 2013 and 2015 on average students dropped slightly in math and held steady in reading.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress known as NAEP is a test administered by the federal government. It is considered the gold standard in measuring what students really know because the results dont have consequences that could encourage teachers or test takers to game the process.
In math the average score dropped from 153 to 152 out of 300 points.
On the 500-point reading test scores dropped one point to 287 a decrease officials called statistically insignificant.
Were stalled. Thats the bottom line" said Mark Schneider a vice president at
the American Institutes for Research who used to run the government agency that administers NAEP. Were not making any progress."
The scores come as the country continues to teach and test
the Common Core State Standards a set of learning benchmarks intended to make school more demanding and lessons more consistent among states.
Officials are confident that the National Assessment accurately captured what students across the country are learning. They said they know that in part because the declines on math were consistent across the areas tested including geometry data analysis and algebra.
- In 2015 NAEP tested almost 19000 students in reading and 13000 in math.
- In both of those subjects 37 of students were deemed to be ready for college.
Scores on the lowest end of the reading and math tests were worse than they had been in 2013.
The gap between students who tested well and those who tested poorly concerns Peggy Carr acting commissioner of
the National Center for Education Statistics the government arm that administers the exam. We need to look at what it means she said.
There was one bright spot: In math the test scores of English language learners a key demographic in Texas increased by six points since 2013. But students with disabilities remained stagnant and students who reported that their parents didnt finish high school dropped by four points. And since 1992 black students dropped by eight points in reading.
The scores come against the backdrop of major change in the governance of schools: Late last year
President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act marking the end of
the No Child Left Behind Act the much-maligned federal law that required regular standardized testing and doled out consequences in accordance with test results.
As a result of the new law states must now devise a new way to rate its schools and communicate those ratings to parents.
