Nation's report card - still waiting for improvement

Published May 2, 2016

by Bob Luebke, Civitas Institute, April 29, 2016.

Earlier this week the National Center for Education Statistics released results of the Nation’s Report Card for 12thgrade math and reading tests.  The Nation’s Report Card summarizes data from the National Assessment of Education Progress (Ntests.What did they find?

  • Nationally, the average math score in 2015 was lower while the average national reading score was about the same.
  • Nationally the percentage of twelfth graders at or above “proficient’ in reading in 2015 was 25%; about the same as 2013 when the figure was 26 percent.
  • The percentage of twelfth graders at or above “proficient” in math was 37 percent; in 2015; about the same as 2013 when the figure was 38 percent.

Not much change but still a startling to realize 75 percent of twelfth graders were not proficient in reading; along with 63 percent of twelfth grade math students.

Also released were 8th Grade reading and math scores for North Carolina students.    It’s easy to get lost in the data…. Here are a few of the big take aways:

8th Grade Reading – North Carolina

  • Scores declined 4 points from 2013; the new scores are 3 points below the national average (264).
  • The distribution of reading achievement levels remained largely unchanged from 2013>

Below Basic – 28 percent

Basic – 41 percent

Proficient- 27 percent

Advanced – 3 percent

  • The biggest development was the increase in the percentage of 8th graders “below basic”, rising from 24 percent (2013) to 28 percent (2015)

8th Grade Math- North Carolina

  • The average 2015 Math score in North Carolina (281) was the same as the average math score nationally (281).
  • The average math score of 281 represents a 5 point decline from last year (286); when the average math score in North Carolina was two points above the national average (284)

Math Achievement:

  • Like reading, the percentage of 8th Grade Math scores “below basic” also increased. In 2013 the percentage was 25 percent; in 2015 the number increased to 31 percent.

Basic – 31 percent

Basic – 37 percent

Proficient- 24 percent

Advanced – 9 percent

Aside from those changes, in 2015 there was little change in the distribution of achievement levels.

There is a lot to digest here – and not a lot to like.  Add to that years of promises from Common Core advocates that new math and English Language Arts Standards would better prepare our children for college and the work force and you have a compelling argument why we need real education reform.

https://www.nccivitas.org/civitas-review/nations-report-card-still-waiting-improvement/

May 2, 2016 at 2:02 pm
Richard L Bunce says:

Government school apologists want the discussion to be about teacher pay... not about government school performance. Provide the resources for relatively low income parents to have a real education choice for their children as relatively high income parents have and take great advantage of for their children. 20th Century government education factories where children are assigned and managed by government education bureaucrats is the problem.

May 2, 2016 at 2:19 pm
Richard L Bunce says:

2015 Data... http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/states/

NC 8th grade - math = 281, reading = 261, per-pupil expenditures: $8,306

DC 8th grade - math = 263, reading = 248, per-pupil expenditures: $21,347