The 2013 NAEP results were released today. Once again, these data affect a local school district with the same impact as the National Transportation Safety Board’s report on highway fatalities. The big picture is nice to know, but what is happening at the local level matters here. How are local children performing on bellwether assessments and how many died on our county roads? In both arenas, our locale is faring very well. High school seniors are scoring well above state and national math achievement statistics in all disaggregated groups on assessments that can be correlated with NAEP and there were few highway deaths in our county last year.
https://www.ntsb.gov/safety/safetystudies/SIR0101.html
Atop today’s national educational journals, the headlines read “No Change in 12th Grade Performance on NAEP Math, Reading.” Read on. There has been little to no change in the NAEP stats for 12th graders in math and reading since 2009. I am moved to ask, “And, what was the expectation?” What has changed in the patterns of high school student persistence in math courses over the past four years that would lead us to believe that achievement patterns would change? Which promising instructional strategies have been exploited between 2009 and 2013 to cause us to look for changes in achievement? Nada and nada.
On the local level, several school districts increased the number of math credits required for high school graduation. Causation possibilities! As a result, all students are taking and passing, some on a second try, an increased number and variety of advanced math courses in these local high schools. The students of interest in this matter will be the eighth grade cohort who will experience the increased math graduation requirement.
In this same time frame, professional development for math teachers has stressed metacognitive problem-solving. In addition to the accuracy of their math problem solutions, students must explain their pre-analysis of each math problem, their choice of solution strategies, and their processes for reaching a solution. A local analysis of advanced math course completions against exiting 12th grade math assessments will become noteworthy. As will a sub-analysis of student achievement on math problems that require an explanation of mathematical processing. It will take several years for the eighth grade cohort to move through high school and present their exit assessments. Consequently, any smiling or frowning about 12th grade math achievement will be on hold for a while.
Like any educational news junkie, I read every report and article that comes my way. However, knowing what is important what is not allows this junkie to keep his pants from bunching whenever the NAEP results are released. I leave it to partisan politics to swoon over broadsided data releases.