Eliminating the Department of Education and NAEP nonsense

Yahoo

02-04-2025

The Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building pictured on Nov. 25, 2024. (Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)
Political and media blather about the potential demise of the Department of Education (DE) is continuous. Lacking empathy and understanding of the positive role of public education, the president is calling for the department's termination. Not surprising, as he has stated his love for 'the poorly educated.'
The lead mission statement on the DE website is 'Fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.' Federal policies and funding have helped create better opportunities for students with disabilities and others that require more resources for their education. Along with anti-DEI initiatives, many students of poverty and color will be denied equal access.
One of the self-created functions of the Department of Education has been the delivery of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). A standardized test titled as 'The Nation's Report Card', that assesses reading and mathematics nationwide at the 4th and 8th grade levels.
The NAEP claims to offer 'a common measure of student achievement' and 'offers a window into the state of our K-12 education system and what our children are learning.'
The NAEP's stated purpose of 'is to measure the educational achievement and progress of the nation's students …' NAEP results have been stagnant for decades. In 1992, 29% of students were considered proficient (or above) readers in both 4th and 8th grades. In 2024, proficiency levels were 31% for 4th grade and 30% for 8th grade.
'NAEP results also enable comparisons …, among various demographic groups, and over time.' NAEP test scores have accurately reflected demographic differences of school populations for decades. Schools, districts and states with lower family income levels, lower parent education levels, higher numbers of English language learners and special education students have lower test score averages. Year, after year, after year.
The Nation's Report Card is a political hoax; not an accurate measure of learning. Presumed to be a reliable measure of school quality; it is not. Differences in test score averages always reflect student demographics.
Educators (especially educational leaders) need to stop pretending that they have considerable influence over test scores. Standardized tests are designed to allow predetermined percentages of rank. If proficiency is set at the 60th percentile (a common standard), only 40% of students can attain proficiency. NAEP reading proficiency levels nationwide have never reached 40%.
Profound improvements in test score averages come about by changing the demographics of the student population tested or by 'cheating.' Retaining low level readers in 3rd grade changes the tested population in 4th grade. Removing failing students improves test score averages; regardless of curriculum or instructional method.
In Mississippi, NAEP 4th grade reading scores have increased from 21% proficient in 2013 to 32% in 2024. They attribute this 'Mississippi miracle' to 3rd grade reading instruction with increased emphasis on phonics and seem overly proud that still less than one third of their students are considered literate by this measure.
Mississippi began a retention policy during the 2014-15 for 3rd graders with low-level reading levels. Thus, removing 7 to 9% (2019-23) of failing students from the tested population of 4th graders.
It seems reading deficiencies are not the only academic shortcomings in Mississippi. Basic math skills seem to have eluded state policymakers. Simple statistical comparisons should embarrass politicians and educators in Mississippi.
They pretend to have nailed the 'science of reading' while lacking evidence linking phonics to improved 4th grade reading scores. There is a clear connection between the percentages of retained 3rd grade students and 4th grade proficiency levels.
There is no evidence that retention improves academic achievement in later grades or that retained students ever catch-up. There have been no sustainable gains in the reading ability of Mississippi students. 8th grade NAEP reading scores have declined, as have ACT scores, since the 3rd grade retention policy was adopted.
However, there is evidence that retention contributes to higher dropout and lower graduation rates. The threat of retention does not raise test scores.
It should be called the 'Mississippi mirage.' This false claim of success is just a matter of fudging statistics. An illusion that would not play well on the Strip. Nevada is on tap to follow the same failed 3rd grade retention policy (as Mississippi) in 2029.
Low-level readers are not lazy. They didn't choose to be in the bottom reading groups in first and second grades. If terminated, the NAEP would be missed only by politicians and media pundits that use test scores to unfairly denigrate public education and at-risk students.
Across the country, including Nevada, there is an obsession with the ill effects of the pandemic on academic achievement. There were no permanent effects on long-term academic outcomes and lives were saved by shutting down in-person classroom instruction. Test scores have mostly rebounded to previous levels with the same demographic gaps.
Spoiler alert for CCSD: Extended school days and longer academic years have never provided an effective solution to closing standardized test score gaps. There is a saturation point for learning. More of the same will not change outcomes.
Test scores have become the accepted measure for school success; despite a lack of evidence that differences in school settings and educational practices appreciably affect individual test scores. There is a continued fascination with comparisons of standardized test scores using the same tired statistical data when annual results are released. It is nonsense.