Shameful

Shameful – We Just Are Not Making Progress

SHAMEFUL – that is what the Connecticut State Education Commissioner, Stefan Pryor, call the results of Connecticut students on the 2011 NAEP test:

"In a state like ours they (the results, not the students – my clarification) are shameful and we must address it."

http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/State-ed-commish-calls-test-results-shameful-2248600.php#ixzz1gLacHl7N

Fourth Grade Math Results

YEAR                AVG SCORE    % At/Above
                                                       Proficient           

MATHEMATICS
2003	241		41*
2005	242		42
2007	243		45
2009	245		46
2011                    242		45

What does this mean?  No improvement in scores since 2000.  No improvement in students at or above Proficient since 2003.  And where Connecticut used to score well versus the rest of the nation, Connecticut’s results on this test and the other parts of the NAEP are now not statistically different than the national average for public schools. 

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/stt2011/2012451CT4.pdf

In case you don’t want to click on the link, let me relay some more bad news:

 In 2011, Black students had an average score that was 33 points lower than White students. This performance gap was not significantly different from that in 1992 (40 points).

In 2011, Hispanic students had an average score that was 31 points lower than White students. This performance gap was not significantly different from that in 1992 (34 points).

In 2011, students who were eligible for free/reduced-price school lunch, an indicator of low family income, had an average score that was 31 points lower than students who were not eligible for free/reduced-price school lunch. This performance gap was not significantly different from that in 1996 (33 points).

One bit of good news:

In 2011, male students in Connecticut had an average score that was not significantly different from female students.

As my daughter use to say: Why, why, why, why, why?

1.    Low standards – we’ve talked about that

2.    Poor priorities - ditto

3.    Bad curriculum

Bad curriculum?  Everywhere?  I spoke with administrators and reviewed websites from the top five districts (Newtown, Madison, Avon, Simsbury, Monroe) for 2011 performance on the 3rd-5^th grade CMT for math in the same demographic category as Greenwich (DRG-B), and four other Fairfield County districts (New Canaan, Wilton, Darien, Westport).  All use a reform math program, such as Everyday Math, TERC Investigations, and Growing with Math (except Madison, which now uses a homegrown curriculum, but previously used Growing with Math).

So can we blame everything on reform math programs?  I wish it were that simple.  We can probably attribute a good share of the problem of flat scores to these programs.  Maybe these programs can only get us so far in educating (and I use that word advisedly in relation to these programs) our children.  Is it time for something new?  Or maybe it is time for something old(er)?

Brian BTN