There was some good news from this year’s edition of NAEP. It is encouraging that three jurisdictions that have been among the most committed in recent years to standards based reform and accountability – the District of Columbia, Tennessee, and Indiana – were among the best gainers in student achievement. With that important news acknowledged, it is also clear that this year’s results should cause great concern.
Politically, even for these winners, there is a huge push back to the reforms that helped generate the gains. It’s as if adult politics matter more than student gains and what it takes to produce them. Look, too, at the states that were awarded the most outrageous waivers from the requirements of NCLB. Of these states, virtually all were below average in their 2013 NAEP results.. Three of them — Kansas, Alabama, and South Dakota — were among the worst in the nation in losing ground for their students.
For the nation as a whole, while there are some marginal gains, the trajectory that has been significantly up since 2000 has flattened out. This is tragic. Look at fourth grade math. Black scale scores rose from 203 to 222 from 2000 to 2009. They have risen only 2 points since then. Scores for Latino fourth-graders rose from 207 to 227 from 2000 to 2009. They’ve risen only three points since then. While there was some improvement in eighth-grade reading, we see recent stagnation in the other categories after years of solid gains, especially in fourth grade reading.
As for my home state of Texas? My heart hurts. Black, Latino, and White eighth-graders improved in each and every administration of the NAEP from 1990 to 2011. All three groups fell in 2013. In fourth grade math, the scores of each subgroup rose dramatically from 1992 to 2005. All three subgroups have been flat since then, with Blacks actually falling for the first time in 2013. The same sort of recent stagnation shows in fourth grade reading.
I never thought I would hear and believe the dreaded words, “Texas is in decline.” I hope these recent trends don’t continue and bring that terrible disappointment.
The nation generally, with just a few notable exceptions, is moving away from standards based reform and accountability. Our young people are beginning to pay the price for that adult folly. Let us get back on track before these fresh bad omens play out fully in even worse results in the future.