Tests are getting tougher, according to a new federal report, writes Mikhail Zinshteyn on The Educated Reporter. Common Core adopters Kentucky, New York and North Carolina joined Texas, which rejected the Core, in raising expectations for fourth and eighth graders.
Overall, states are asking more of students, but most set proficiency cut scores at a lower level than the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). In 25 states, what’s considered “proficient” fourth-grade reading is equivalent to “below basic” performance on NAEP. Only New York and Wisconsin matched NAEP’s definition of proficient in fourth-grade reading and only New York matched in eighth-grade reading.
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“Proficient” students are on track to be ready for college, according to NAEP.
Many states are “living in a Lake Wobegon fantasy where they say the students are above average when they’re not,” said Gary Phillips, American Institutes for Research vice president. “The rigor of the grade-four standards in the highest achieving states may be comparable to the rigor of the eighth-grade standards in the lowest achieving states.”
In four states (Alabama, Maryland, Georgia and Idaho), the proficient level was below NAEP’s basic cut score for fourth-grade math, according to the study. Five states had fourth-grade math proficient levels at the NAEP level.
