Second rate nation?

12th grade NAEP results were released this morning (see here and here) at a press conference filled with gloom and doom. The results aren't good--despite high school students taking more classes, harder classes and getting better grades, NAEP performance overall is down slightly and the achievement gaps aren't closing.

Panelists John Engler (former governor of Michigan), David Driscoll (Massachusetts Commissioner of Education), and David Gordon (Superintendent of Sacramento County Office of Education) all lamented the low standards that exist in some states, argued that courses must increase rigor and alignment with standards, and successful schools should be replicated. Driscoll in particular argued that states are taking positive actions and that there will be a lag before scores start to show the results. All the panelists used pretty strong language in talking about the results, with Driscoll asserting that we are "sleeping through a crisis."

After the presentation of the education morass came press questions, which were thankfully far more lively. My favorites:

1) From NBC: Has 12th grade performance peaked, and are we at risk if becoming a second rate nation?

2) From unidentified reporter: Why are Asian students outperforming others? Are they just smarter?

Other interesting nugget: Although advanced course-taking is strongly associated with higher NAEP performance (students taking more advanced math/science have higher NAEP scores), even among students in the same courses, performance varied by subgroup. White students had higher math scores than Black and Hispanic students taking the same math course. For example, Black students taking Algebra II scored an average of 127, while white students taking geometry (a lower level class), scored an average of 133. These results suggest that some courses are simply not as rigorous as they are labeled and/or some students may be receiving inferior instruction in their courses. See an interesting example of this in data from Illinois that Kevin analyzed recently. Look for more research to come on this "rigor gap."

Without actually advocating national standards, these scores do provide some ammunition to those who argue that many states have set standards too low. Then again, all NAEP results (and other education data) are used to show support for whatever position/reform/idea a group or individual advocates.

A few important caveats:

• These results are from a test administered 2 years ago (January-March 2005)
• The 2005 NAEP Math test is on a new scale and scores cannot be compared to previous years. The average score of 150 was set by design this year.
  
• NAEP is not actually the ultimate test of everything in education. While the results are bad and merit serious attention, a panel composed entirely of current and former members of the NAEP oversight Board cannot be expected to provide any critiques of NAEP or its standards. Others can and do.