Public Education's hidden scandal; NAEP results discussed

Hoover Institute via Charlotte Observer ^ | Sept 27,2005 | PAUL E. PETERSON

[TaxRelief]

Schools often conceal high dropout rates for minority students.

Among the "talented tenth," those in the top 10 percent of test takers, reading scores have dropped four points since 1971 and math scores have not budged since first measured in 1978. So say the latest (2004) results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the nation's report card.

At the other end of the scale, dropout rates have actually increased since 1990, rising to 30 percent of all 17-year-olds.

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The article also goes on to cover dropout rates of Blacks (50-60%)

A glossy review of the current results can be found here:

http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/pubaffairs/dailyreport/

There does not seem to be any explanation of the decline in the "top tenth" other than some theorizing about lowered expectations. I suspect the tests are being scewed to lowere the scores of the "top tenth", while raising the scores of the lower middle group.

[Thebaddog]

Dude, I'm getting acronymed out. Where on earth did the NAEP come from and what is their credibility to making any claims. How long have they been in business?

[TaxRelief]

What Is NAEP?

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as "the Nation's Report Card," is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. Since 1969, assessments have been conducted periodically in reading, mathematics, science, writing, U.S. history, civics, geography, and the arts.

Under the current structure, the Commissioner of Education Statistics, who heads the National Center for Education Statistics in the U.S. Department of Education, is responsible by law for carrying out the NAEP project. The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), appointed by the Secretary of Education but independent of the Department, sets policy for NAEP and is responsible for developing the framework and test specifications that serve as the blueprint for the assessments. NAGB is a bipartisan group whose members include governors, state legislators, local and state school officials, educators, business representatives, and members of the general public. Congress created the 26-member Governing Board in 1988.

NAEP does not provide scores for individual students or schools; instead, it offers results regarding subject-matter achievement, instructional experiences, and school environment for populations of students (e.g., fourth-graders) and groups within those populations (e.g., female students, Hispanic students). NAEP results are based on a of student populations of interest.

National NAEP

National NAEP reports information for the nation and specific geographic regions of the country. It includes students drawn from both public and nonpublic schools and reports results for student achievement at grades 4, 8, and 12.

These assessments follow the frameworks developed by the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), and use the latest advances in assessment methodology. For example, NAEP assessments include a large percentage of constructed-response questions and questions that require the use of calculators and other materials. Innovative types of questions have been used in assessments such as the arts (theatre, music, and visual arts) and science to measure students' ability to perform hands-on tasks.

As the content and nature of the NAEP instruments evolve to match instructional practice, we reduce the ability of the assessment to measure change over time in student performance. While short-term trends can be measured in many of the NAEP subjects (e.g., mathematics, reading), the more reliable instrument of change over time is the NAEP long-term trend assessment.