NCLB Proficiency Illusion

Each year in my tiny state we see general trends with our NCLB assessment system. The Maine Educational Assessment Tests, or MEA’s, always show that students in the early grades are performing better relative to the grade level standards set for those grades than those in grades six, seven and eight perform relative to their respective grade level standards. This often raises eyebrows, as it should, and causes many to make a simple assertion:

As our kids progress in school they tend to perform worse instead of better.

As if that were not bad enough, the scores in math generally trail those for reading (changing in recent years at lower levels), again with the diminishing performance levels as students progress through the grades. This has caused a great deal of concern as well. Included in the math discussion is the prior assertion about diminishing returns as well as concerns about math instruction levels.

Study: Reading Tests Easier than Math

According to a recent study by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a Washington-based education think tank, the level that is labeled as proficient for math test results is typically harder than the level set for reading. Ironically, the findings by the federal government show that math scores are progressing more rapidly across the county than those in reading.

Michael Petrilli, the vice president for policy at Fordham, said this makes sense. If there are higher expectations for students in math then there will be more improvement in math.

The Fordham study also determined that many states’ grade level standards for the lower grades are simply too low, making it relatively easy for students in elementary school to meet standards but much hard for harder for those in middle-school.

To see the report, given the most provocative of titles, click on the Proficiency Illusion.