The NAEP Indictment of Corporate Reform
On October 28, 2015, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released the 2015 “Nation’s Report Card”– the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores.
Students across the nation are randomly selected to complete the NAEP, which is given approximately every two years in two areas (reading and math) in grades 4, 8 and 12. The primary focus is on NAEP results for grades 4 and 8, since NAEP participation for grades 4 and 8 became a federal mandate for states as a result of George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001.
These two files include state and national NAEP scores from the early 1990s to the present:
The above files as well as other NAEP data tables can be found using the search engine at the bottom of this link. Available tables include those for NAEP reading and math scores in select, large districts.
The short story regarding the 2o15 NAEP results are that they are a lackluster indictment of the test-score-driven reforms that have plagued the American public schools for the past 15 years.
A lot is being written (and spun) regarding these scores. Two articles in particular capture well the unmistakable failure of test-centric, corporate reform. The first is this October 28, 2015, post by education historian, Diane Ravitch. Here is an enlightening excerpt:
Sometimes events happen that seem to be disconnected, but after a few days or weeks, the pattern emerges. Consider this: On October 2, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that he was resigning and planned to return to Chicago. Former New York Commissioner of Education John King,The NAEP Indictment of Corporate Reform | deutsch29: