Thompson: The NAEP-NCLB Proficiency Mess
Mark Schneider, of the American Institutes of Research, tells us that the correlation between NCLB test scores and NAEP scores is .20 which is statistically insignificant.
Schneider cites NAEP scores from the TUDA where students in 18 districts were 67% proficient across state assessments but where only 24% were proficient under NAEP. That is consistent with my state's pattern with 8th grade reading scores. While Oklahoma's AYP for black middle school students has increased by 22% over three years, longterm NAEP reading scores have declined by 4 points.Other places are even worse. Schneider describes the 70 point gap between state and NAEP scores in Baltimore and Detroit, and characterizes NCLB testing as a "mess," a product of its generous exclusion rate among
