Report cites big gaps in state, U.S. test scores

WASHINGTON -- A report on student testing released Thursday finds big gaps in most states between the percentage of students shown to be proficient in reading and math on state tests and the much lower number found to be proficient on a national benchmark test.

Dozens of states -- including Arkansas -- showed significant gaps between their state tests in the 2013-14 school year and the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress on tests of reading and math in fourth and eighth grades.

In Arkansas, there was a 51-point gap between the 83 percent of the state's fourth-graders who scored at proficient or better on the state Benchmark test in literacy in 2014 and the 32 percent of Arkansas fourth-graders who scored proficient or better on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which is given to a sample of students in every state.

The Arkansas gap was 36 points in eighth-grade math. Sixty-four percent of the state's eighth-graders scored at proficient or better on the state math test, while just 28 percent did the same on the national test.

The picture across the nation is expected to change in upcoming years because many states have raised their academic standards and started using new tests to measure them this year. Results will be available in many states in the fall.

Arkansas has now phased in the more challenging 2010 Common Core State Standards that are used by a majority of states. Arkansas also replaced this year the old Benchmark and End of Course tests with the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers exams. The PARCC exams are based on the new standards. The results from that new test are expected in October or November.

"Too many states are not leveling with students or parents. They're being told students are proficient, but by external benchmarks they're not prepared at all," said Michael Cohen, the president of Achieve, the education policy group that conducted the survey. Cohen added that improvements are expected with the new tests.

Achieve helped the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers develop the Common Core, the standards that define what students should know and be able to do in math and English in each grade.

Many states adopted new tests to measure the new standards. Cohen called it a "multiyear, multistate effort to raise expectations."

Georgia, for example, began its new Georgia Milestone tests this year. The state had some of the biggest gaps that Achieve found on last year's tests: 60 percent more scoring proficient in fourth-grade reading on the state test than on national assessment; a 43 percent gap on fourth-grade math; a 65 percent gap on eighth-grade reading; and a 53 percent gap on eighth-grade math.

The report also found some states had a narrow gap. For example, in eighth-grade math, 14 states showed their state proficiency levels differed from the national assessment by 15 percentage points or fewer. Two states had higher scores on their state tests than on the national benchmark test: New York, 10 points higher, and Massachusetts, 3.

The others, which had higher state scores by 15 percentage points or fewer, were Utah, Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Nevada, Alabama, Colorado, Minnesota, Wyoming, Washington, Kentucky and West Virginia.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress, sometimes known as the "nation's report card," is the only consistently used national measure of all students. It's given every other year to a sample population.

Achieve's report found that more than half the states had a gap of 30 percentage points or more between the higher percentages of students scoring proficient on state tests compared with the lower number hitting what the national assessment tests deem as proficient in 2013-14. It called the discrepancy an "honesty gap."

"My hope is we will see closing of the gap, if you will, the next time states report their results and NAEP reports its results," said Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican, who participated in the briefing.

"This is a time to stay the course even in the face of political pressures we know are out there," he said, a reference to social conservatives' opposition to the Common Core.

Opponents view the new standards as an example of federal overreach. They were developed by state governors and school officials, but the Education Department encouraged states to adopt them by making higher standards part of the qualifications for competitive grants.

Information for this article was contributed by Cynthia Howell of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Metro on 05/26/2015

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