There are large disparities between students of different races and students with parents of different levels of education, but they haven’t changed much in recent years.
“We think there are a multitude of factors.” While the top performing group held steady or slightly improved, the lowest performers lost ground. Notably, in both reading and math, gaps between the highest and lowest performers have grown since 2013.
About 37% of high school seniors score proficient or advanced in reading. In reading, 12th grade scores are lower than they were in 1992, the first year the exam was given, and have barely changed since 2002. Overall, about one in four American high school seniors is proficient or advanced in math, while 40% have math skills considered “below basic.” (NAEP’s benchmark for proficiency is considered fairly high.) In math, 12th grade scores have not budged since 2005, the first year the exam was administered in its current form. Twelfth graders are usually only tested every four years and their results aren’t broken down by state, unlike the more frequent tests of fourth and eighth graders. Unlike many other standardized tests, it does not come with high stakes for students or schools. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, given to a sample of students across the country, is widely seen as one of the best benchmarks of student learning. The only piece of potential good news: it’s possible that the lack of progress is connected to rising high school graduation rates, which mean a bigger range of students are remaining in school to take the test in 12th grade. The scores, released Wednesday, offer a grim picture of American educational outcomes at a moment when the coronavirus pandemic is creating unprecedented new challenges for students.
0 kommentar(er)
