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Thursday, November 7, 2013

NAEP? Nope: Why (Almost) Everyone Will Misread (Again) Data on Gaps | the becoming radical

NAEP? Nope: Why (Almost) Everyone Will Misread (Again) Data on Gaps | the becoming radical:

NAEP? NOPE: WHY (ALMOST) EVERYONE WILL MISREAD (AGAIN) DATA ON GAPS




Let the data orgy begin!
NAEP data have been released and I anticipate almost as much time and money will be wasted on the data as has been wasted on administering the tests, scoring the tests, and creating the handy web link to all that data—notably thepredictable link to gaps. [For the record, most of these data charts can be prepared without any child ever taking tests; just use the socioeconomic data on each child and extrapolate.]
Take a moment and scroll through the gray space between a myriad of groups in both math and reading.
There, enjoy it?
While you’re at it, look at the historical gaps between males and females in the SAT.
Males on average outscore females in reading and math (though females outscore males in writing, the one section of the SAT that doesn’t count for anything anywhere, hmmmm).
The problem, of course, is that standardized test data are simply metrics for social conditions that we pretend are