This reader points out that the leaders of New York State so not understand NAEP achievement levels. They are not grade levels. “Proficiency” on NAEP means superior academic performance. Please, someone, explain the levels to them :
“John King and Merryl Tisch continue to mislead the public or demonstrate a total lack of understanding for NAEP scores.
Today, Chancellor Merryl Tisch and Commissioner John King released a joint statement reiterating their belief that our public schools are faltering (http://www.oms.nysed.gov/press/naep-scores-2013.html). New York State Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch said. “I’m encouraged by the progress I’ve seen in classrooms around the state and the hard work educators are doing to help their students succeed. But the NAEP results for New York students confirm what we already know: our students are not where they should be… The NAEP results are consistent with the findings of several other measures of New York students, including the state’s measurement of college and career readiness (35 percent of students are college and career ready).
The problem is that the Chancellor and Commissioner’s definition of “proficient” is not synonymous with NAEP’s. NAEP defines proficient as solid academic performance and competence over challenging subject-matter knowledge, application of such knowledge to real-world situations, and analytical skills appropriate to the subject matter. They define basic as partial mastery of prerequisite knowledge and skills that are fundamental for proficient work at a given grade. NAEP’s basic is students achieving appropriate grade level performance. (http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/achievement.aspx)
Therefore according to NAEP scores 70% of our 4th graders and 76% of our 8th graders are performing at grade level in reading. In math, 82% of our 4th graders and 72% of our 8th graders are performing at grade level. These numbers are much more encouraging than the approximately 35% proficiency levels claimed by the new Common Core State Assessments.
Looking at this data I can draw two conclusions. Either our education officials do not understand what the NAEP scores mean or they are determined to misinform the public. Neither scenario is what I expect of the individuals chosen to lead our public schools. It’s time to stand up, ask questions and let our concerns be heard.
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
You misspieled Dork …
Thanks. I just spit my coffee everywhere.
😀
“Therefore according to NAEP scores 70% of our 4th graders and 76% of our 8th graders are performing at grade level in reading. In math, 82% of our 4th graders and 72% of our 8th graders are performing at grade level. These numbers are much more encouraging than the approximately 35% proficiency levels claimed by the new Common Core State Assessments.”
There was a time when a “C” was an average grade. Seems as though, it still is. Problem is, a lot of people think that “average” is equivalent to “failure.” We can’t all be brain surgeons.
“Either our education officials do not understand what the NAEP scores mean or they are determined to misinform the public.”
I’d say it’s the latter!
And the former!
Which means Tisch and King have no clue but they have cojones to lie with impunity.
Señor Swacker: sir, you are correct.
The exemplary model for the new “messed-up middle” argumentation of the rheephormistas is Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s speech to the April 30, 2013, annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. He was sternly, forthrightly and unbendingly for, against, and somewhat for/somewhat against high-stakes standardized testing.
Rheeally! Rheead it for yourself—
Link: http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/choosing-right-battles-remarks-and-conversation
Reminds me of an old children’s rhyme, adapted for the times: “I’m a rheephormista, short and stout, my mind’s so open, that my brains fell out!”
They are studiously uninformed, consciously seek out misinformation, and are deaf even to their friendliest critics.
That why we need this blog—and others like it—to point out their failure to grasp even the simplest things. Why? What is at stake?
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” [Voltaire]
The antidote to ignorance?
“No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.” [Voltaire]
Add to that:
“Assault the assault of laughter nothing can stand. ” [Mark Twain]
Mix together and you have:
“Diane Ravitch’s Blog A site to discuss better education for all.”
😎
These NAEP tests, it is my understanding, have nothing to do with new Common Core implementation, benchmarks, SLOs, etc. You can’t say, “see scores are going up on NAEP…we need to keep doing what we are doing.” There is no correlation. Am I wrong there?
You can’t explain things to people who refuse to listen .
Or as Upton Sinclair stated:
‘It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
Touche, Duane! (Pardon my French–no accent agoue sign {or italics, for that matter} available!)
It doesn’t matter, though.
Score gains means more market-based reform is needed and flat scores or losses also mean more market-based reform is needed.
What is the score scenario that would call for less market-based reform? There is no set of circumstances, right?
Chancellor Merryl Tisch and Commissioner John King are using flat or lower scores one way and Duncan is using higher scores the other way.
The answer to this question is always “more market-based reforms.”
“What is the score scenario that would call for less market-based reform? There is no set of circumstances, right?”
WIN-WIN for them…you are SO right, Chiara!
My answer: absolutely no. These two people apparently believe that state standardized test scores are comparable to NAEP scores, which is not. I think de Blasio should show them the door right away.
Chiara nails it!
Please give me your opinions on these articles posted yesterday in Tennessee. It seems that Mr. Duncan, Governor Haslam, and Commissioner plan to use this information to defend the RTTP initiatives and the new teacher evaluation models.
“State officials said the improvement is partially due to education reforms over the last few years including a tougher teacher evaluation process.”
http://www.newschannel5.com/story/23903439/tennessee-students-lead-nation-in-academic-growth
Bookworm,
I think that Governor Haslam and Commissioner Huffman are stating that the beatings will continue until test scores rise, and their theory was proven to work. What modern corporation succeeds by daily demeaning of its workforce?
Too true. Morale is TERRIBLE here; low teacher morale, and low student morale. Many of us predict the high school drop-out rate will rise in the upcoming years. For too many students, the school day has become nothing more than a drudgery at best. At worst, it’s a constant experience of struggle and failure. Who WOULDN’T want to get out of that environment at the earliest possible opportunity?
Opinion vs Facts? According to Common Core Standards…where is the evidence to support these claims? Let’s practice what we want our students to learn. We are requiring students to write and support their position with evidence. Our adults need to model these practices.
This is said with great sadness but it may well be that too many politicians really do not care about what research by experts say. Their jobs depend on appeasing their most ignorant constituents, not on the search for “truth”. This is true not only in education but in many other fields such as climate change.
Sadly the other educative force, the media, five corporations which control about 80% of the news which most people rely on for unbiased news, is concerned with their own narrow agenda: the bottom line being money, not for quality journalism or what is good for people and indeed our country.
When Congress has an approval rate approaching single digits our country is in deep doo doo. Propaganda supplants expert research.
The following is from the movie, “The Dictator.” (Sorry, I do not know how to italicize text here.)
“General Aladeen: Why are you guys so anti-dictators? Imagine if America was a dictatorship. You could let 1% of the people have all the nation’s wealth. You could help your rich friends get richer by cutting their taxes. And bailing them out when they gamble and lose. You could ignore the needs of the poor for health care and education. Your media would appear free, but would secretly be controlled by one person and his family. You could wiretap phones. You could torture foreign prisoners. You could have rigged elections. You could lie about why you go to war. You could fill your prisons with one particular racial group, and no one would complain. You could use the media to scare the people into supporting policies that are against their interests.”
I can see many policymakers taking the use of the phrase ‘partial mastery’ in the Basic definition to argue that proficiency is complete mastery, not partial. Thoughts on this?