Thompson: NAEP Scores Indict NCLB
The dropoff in 
NAEP Reading scores of 8th graders as opposed to 4th graders provides the best single indictment of No Child Left Behind. Sheila Valencia, an education professor, "said 'the Bush administration’s $1-billion-a-year reading initiative, Reading First, ... helped young students increase their ability to read words, but not their capacity for comprehension.'" Tom Loveless of the Brookings Institution is half right when looking at fourth grade scores and concluding "our worst readers are getting better, but our best readers are staying about the same." The scores of 8th graders in the bottom 10th percentile have dropped by one point since 2002.
From 2002 to 2009, on the other hand, Catholic schools' 8th graders maintained their scores at 281. During the
From 2002 to 2009, on the other hand, Catholic schools' 8th graders maintained their scores at 281. During the