Debate over NAEP: too easy?A study of the nation's report card, or National Assessment of Educational Progress The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as "the Nation's Report Card," is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. , contends that math problems for fourth- and eighth-graders in 2003 were just too easy, in part because they only tested student skills using whole numbers , and not enough fractions and decimals. The Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution Brookings Institution, at Washington, D.C.; chartered 1927 as a consolidation of the Institute for Government Research (est. 1916), the Institute of Economics (est. 1922), and the Robert S. Brookings Graduate School of Economics and Government (est. 1924). , a Washington think tank, reveals that while fourth- and eighth-graders show progress in math over the same grades 10 years ago, the questions for both grades, including algebraic 1. (language) ALGEBRAIC - An early system on MIT's Whirlwind. [CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959)]. 2. (theory) algebraic - In domain theory, a complete partial order is algebraic if every element is the least upper bound of some chain of compact elements. questions, test skills taught in lower grades. Problem solving problem solving Process involved in finding a solution to a problem. Many animals routinely solve problems of locomotion, food finding, and shelter through trial and error. on NAEP NAEP National Assessment of Educational Progress NAEP National Association of Environmental Professionals NAEP National Association of Educational Progress NAEP National Agricultural Extension Policy NAEP Native American Employment Program is also not very challenging, at least not in the arithmetic required, the study states. More than 43 percent of problem solving items on NAEP's fourth-grade test are on par with first or second grade levels. And most fourth-graders miss the average item pitched at this level, the study states. Eighth-grade items are only slightly more difficult than those on the fourth-grade test, the study reveals. Almost four out of 10 items require arithmetic taught in first and second grade, or six years below the grade level of the test-takers. And the percentage of eighth graders answering problem solving correctly is only 41 percent. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) was founded in 1920. It has grown to be the world's largest organization concerned with mathematics education, having close to 100,000 members across the USA and Canada, and internationally. staunchly disagrees, claiming the report is "extremely misleading," according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. President Cathy Seeley. The National Assessment Governing Board, which sets policy for NAEP, recognizes students need to know more than just arithmetic, but also geometry, statistics, data analysis, algebra and problem solving, for example, she says. The point of NAEP is to keep arithmetic at a "lower level" than the question to reveal if a student "knows the math" behind the target of the question. "It's important to recognize that NAEP is an extremely comprehensive test," she says. "In general, it's fair to say NAEP assesses an appropriate range of math at an appropriate level. We should feel good that the scores are improving while also recognizing that we are no where near where we need to be. We have a long way to go." |
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