Thompson: NAEP Exclusion Rate Ridiculousness This Week In Education

This Week In Education

Thompson: NAEP Exclusion Rate Ridiculousness

by john thompson

EdWeek's Catherine Gewertz raises the question of whether Kentucky’s success in being the only state to increase NAEP reading scores between 2007 and 2009 deserves an asterisk.
Sure enough, Kentucky excluded 48% of its 4^th grade students on IEPs, and 55% of its 8^th grade special education students. This contrasts with the national exclusion rate of 29% for 4^th graders, and 28% of 8^th graders on IEPs.
The same question might be asked about the District of Columbia. The Washington Post's Jay Mathews recently noted that "A 5-point score jump (in NAEP 4th grade scores) at a time when the national scores are flat is more than enough to keep