Reading and math scores for Oregon fourth and eighth graders held steady in the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress, in contrast to slight declines nationally, according to test results released Wednesday.
Advertisement
Female students score significantly higher than male students in reading, six points in fourth grade and nine points in eighth grade.
Approximately 2,300 Granite State students in each of the two grade levels were randomly selected by contractors working for the federal Department of Education. Between 50 percent and 73 percent of black students reached that standard. The state is also moving toward a new weighted education funding formula that will give schools more money for each student who’s at-risk or has special needs.
Polikoff notes that more detailed student-level data from these tests will be released in the coming months.
New Hampshire placed third after Massachusetts (54 percent) and Minnesota (53 percent), and well above the national average of 39 percent.
The national testing program defines proficiency as “solid academic performance … over challenging subject matter, including subject-matter knowledge, application of such knowledge to real-world situations, and analytical skills appropriate to the subject matter”. NAEP, he said, “is another bit of information to help us solve the puzzle”. In 16 states, scores dropped. Fifty-seven percent of white Virginia fourth graders earned proficient or advanced scores, compared with 25% of blacks, and 29% of Hispanics. The state did not have a sufficient black population to register in the statistics. Many states are now adopting new tests that reflect shared standards, potentially allowing for more detailed and frequent comparisons of students across the country. “What we know is that reading matters, and reading does impact a student’s achievement over their lifetime”. We now outscore four states, up from only one in 2013. Scores in the Nutmeg State remain roughly at the national average for math.
Wright bragged Wednesday because Mississippi was the only state to see significant improvement in both math and reading scores for 4th graders. Just 31 percent of the state’s fourth-graders were proficient or above in reading in 1992 compared to 43 percent this year.
The truth is it’s hard to determine exactly why scores on the test go up or down – which is why every time the scores come out, groups pushing various education policies can use the National Assessment of Educational Progress to argue that their policy preferences are superior. “We may be in a place where a few of the questions that are asked on this national test aren’t being taught at the same time they were being taught before”.
After years of Maryland being ranked among the highest in the nation for education, the results of the assessment – also known as the “Nation’s Report Card” – put the state in the middle of the pack nationwide. Thirty-two percent of eighth-graders performed at the NAEP Proficient level in math, down from 38 percent in 2013. Oregon’s average score was statistically on par with scores in 23 other states, higher than scores in eight states and lower than 20. Math proficiency dropped from a 47 percent to 40 percent pass rate this year.
Advertisement
“We still have progress that we want to make, particularly fourth-grade reading is a concern to us”, Haslam said. Eighth-grade scores declined as well.
