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September 26, 2007
NAEP Scores Prove PositiveEvery two years those in the education community eagerly await to see of how well our nation’s students perform on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) also referred to as The Nation’s Report Card. Although NAEP has been administered since the 1970s, the passage of the controversial No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2002 has escalated its importance. Since it is the only assessment that measures the reading and math skills of all students throughout the country both proponents and critics of NCLB look to NAEP results to argue their positions on whether NCLB is working or not and this year was no exception.
President Bush noted “These scores confirm that No Child Left Behind is working and producing positive results for students across the country.”
While Fairtest, an organization critical of NCLB and standardized testing, stated that “NAEP shows educational improvement across the nation slowed significantly since NCLB went into effect.”
While NAEP scores are an important tool in determining the impact NCLB is having on our nation’s schools, it should be just that a tool. NAEP provides a great view from 30,000 feet but it is those working closest to schools that know the real impact NCLB is having on our nation’s schools. It is the students, the parents, the teachers, the administrators and the school board members that Congress need to listen to as they debate reauthorizing NCLB.
As the debate rages over what impact NCLB is having on our schools, what should not get lost in the discussion is that schools keep getting better and better.
Black and Hispanic students have made significant gains since 1990 in both math and reading while white students continued to improve as well.
Schools have been especially effective in math where fourth-graders improved by 27 points and eighth-graders improved by 19 points between 1990 and 2007.
In reading schools are doing a better job with their struggling readers. The scores of those students scoring at the lowest 10 percent increased by 15 points between 2000 and 2007.
The results show that schools are at least on the right track on improving student achievement. While achievement gaps persist, schools are more effective educating their minority students than they were seventeen years ago when the student population was less diverse. The progress schools have been making over this time should not be overshadowed by the debate over NCLB.
For more information on the NAEP results visit The Center for Pubic Education.
Posted September 26, 2007 3:21 PM | No Child Left Behind
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