Test Rigor Declines

A study released two weeks ago by the U.S. Department of Education’s top statistics agency, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), suggests that in order to get all their students up to “proficient levels” some states may have lowered student-proficiency standards on state tests. Under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), states must show that their students have achieved proficient levels of performance in reading and math by the end of the 2013-2014 school year. As the deadline approaches, it appears that in order to meet this mandate some states are changing the bar. The results show that states vary widely in what qualifies a student as proficient and that many states set standards judged to be lower than the cutoff for "basic" performance as determined by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) board. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan stated that the NCES report “confirms what we’ve known for a long time: States are setting the bar too low.” Duncan said that states should be raising their standards and referred to the common-standards effort as a starting point. A link to “Mapping State Proficiency Standards onto NAEP Scales: 2005-2007” is provided at edweek.org/links.