NAEP Shifting
Tomorrow, the education world will get the results of the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress(NAEP), often referred to as the “nation’s report card.” The findings – reading and math scores among a representative sample of fourth and eighth graders – will drive at least part of the debate for the next two years, when the next round comes out.
I’m going to make a prediction, one that is definitely a generalization, but is hardly uncommon in policy debates: People on all “sides” will interpret the results favorably no matter how they turn out.
If NAEP scores are positive – i.e., overall scores rise by a statistically significant margin, and/or there are encouraging increases among key subgroups such as low performers or low-income students – supporters of market-based reform will say that their preferred policies are working. They’ll claim that the era of test-based accountability, which began with the enactment of No Child Left Behind ten years ago, have produced real
