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Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Education Study Results Mixed

By Zsombor Peter
Journal Staff Writer
      When President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act in early 2002, the sweeping education reforms it ushered in promised performance gains for even the nation's lowest achievers.
    But more than six years on, a lower rate of New Mexico's 11th graders are reading proficiently, according to a new report that looks at reading and math performance across the country.
    Compiled by the nonprofit Center on Education Policy, the study looks at state and national test scores at the elementary, middle and high school levels since NCLB took effect.
    Except for eighth-grade reading scores, proficiency rates are rising in most states, according to the report. Performance gaps among various subgroups also appear to be narrowing, especially for African-Americans and low-income students.
    “We still have a lot of work to do, but every now and then it's nice to take a look at what you've been able to do,” Center President Jack Jennings said Tuesday.
    The report draws attention to some less flattering trends as well, namely that the positive trends taper off at the higher grades.
    New Mexico tends to follow those trends. Except for 11th-grade reading scores, the number of students reaching proficiency rose at all levels, if very modestly in some cases. Most achievement gaps also narrowed in elementary school but were at least as likely to widen in middle and high school.
    The authors measured scores on the state's annual standardized tests in grades four, eight and 11. To avoid comparing significantly different versions of the test, they looked only at results after 2004. And for grades four and eight, they corroborated their findings with results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
    While the results were decidedly “mixed,” New Mexico Education Secretary Veronica Garcia said, “I'm pleased to see we're making progress and closing the achievement gap” in some areas.
    The report offered no explanations for the drop in the upper grades. Garcia suspects a lack of motivation.
    “In elementary school, kids tend to be more compliant,” she said. “By middle school and high school, kids start thinking, 'Well, what's in it for me?'”
    Without class grades or a high school diploma riding on the results, she said, students might not be trying very hard. The state is trying to change that.
    In April, Gov. Bill Richardson said students would have to start scoring at least near proficient on the state test in eighth grade to be eligible for a driver's license. The state will also be making a yet-to-be-determined score on the test in high school a graduation requirement.
    The report's authors stopped short of categorically attributing what gains they saw to NCLB. “We can't stand here today ... and give you the reasons, because we didn't go behind the data,” Jennings said.
   

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