Achievement is slightly up: is it time to celebrate?

When the Nation's Report Card results from 2004 recently showed that American students were generally reading and doing math better than they were four years ago and three decades ago, particularly in the South, many people celebrated.

But the results of students ages 9, 13 and 17 on the National Assessment of Educational Progress Long-Term Trends in Academic Progress are not as brilliant as some say, according to Douglas Reeves, chief executive officer of the Center for Performance Assessment.

"To say we're not wretched is hardly a ringing endorsement," Reeves says. "I'm very troubled that we continue to see at the middle and high school level relatively stagnant results."

While white kids are achieving at higher rates, black and Latino students are also gaining some ground, results show. Average math scores for Hispanic students have risen since 1973 and 1999, for example, but only since 1999 has the increase been large enough to narrow the achievement gap.

NAEP's reading assessment started in 1971 and the math assessment started in 1973.

"These gains at the elementary school level are a real testament to the hard work of educators who have made raising achievement and gap-closing a priority," says Kati Haycock, director of The Education Trust. "This progress puts to rest the notion that achievement gaps are inevitable-expectations have increased and students of color are rising to the challenge."

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings attributed increases to the No Child Left Behind law. While some disagreed, Reeves says, "Frankly, she's right." "You hear people curse the U.S. Department of Education, but by the way, we really are paying more attention to this.... NCLB may be a blunt instrument, but the plain fact is that more kids are reading today than they were four years ago."

Russ Whitehurst, director of the Institute of Education Sciences and acting commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, presented the results in July. He says most gaps between white and minority students have narrowed, but sizable gaps remain.

Reeves points out that some districts are seeing better results in reading and math, even with large numbers of low-income kids, and the difference in their programs from unsuccessful programs lie in different time allocations. More time is going into reading. "It's a leadership issue," he says.

nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard

Statistics That Standout

U.S. teenagers say:

More than one-third of high school has been "EASY"

32% strongly agree they would work harder if high school had more demanding and interesting courses

66% of dropouts or potential dropouts say they would likely stay in school if they had personal attention

Source: National online survey of teenagers by the National Governors Association

Long-term Trend

Seventeen-year-old black students' average reading score was higher
in 2004 than in 1971, while white students' scores in 1971 were
not statistically different.

       White   Score gap   Black

1971    291       53        239
1980    293       50        243
1984    295       32        264
1990    297       29        267
1994    296       30        266
2004    293       29        264