A Test We Would all Fail

Interesting op-ed in the Washington Post by Gerald Bracey (a writer and researcher at Arizona State University) about the use of National Assessment of Educational Progress (known as NAEP) for comparing American students to other students.

From the article:

"5. What indicators of achievement have been rejected by the Government Accountability Office; the National Academy of Sciences; the National Academy of Education; and the Center for Research on Evaluation, Student Standards and Testing? The NAEP achievement levels: basic, proficient and advanced."

He goes on:

"So why does the government continue to report such misleading information? The "Leaders and Laggards" report illustrates why: The numbers are useful as scare techniques. If you can batter people into believing the schools are in awful shape, you can make them anxious about their future -- and you can control them."

Interesting. Maybe our kids aren't so bad off after all.

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