Dismaying news from the latest round of National Assessment of Education Progress reports on student performance: "National average scores from the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) did not change from 2009. Among the 11 volunteer pilot states that participated in both the 2009 and 2013 assessments, 4 made gains from 2009 in mathematics and 2 made gains in reading."
Or, as Education Week reports more bluntly:
High school seniors' performance in mathematics and reading has stagnated since 2009, according to a new round of results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
The achievement data from NAEP, known as "the nation's report card," show that 12th graders' average math score remained at 153, on a 300-point scale, when comparing the 2013 results with those from 2009. Just 26 percent of students scored at or above the proficient level in math—again the same as four years ago.
In reading, the national average stayed flat at 288, on a 500-point scale, with 37 percent of students scoring at or above proficient, according to the new NAEP report, issued May 7.
When it comes to global educational performance, stagnation means actually falling behind. As the OECD's Program for International Student Assessment for 2012 documented, countries from Asia to Europe to South America are making rapid progress in educational achievement, specifically mathematics, many overtaking the United States: "[Since] their first participations in PISA, France, Hong Kong-China, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Macao-China, Poland, Portugal and the Russian Federation have been able to increase the share of top performers in mathematics, reading or science, indicating that education systems can pursue and promote academic excellence..."
Contrast that to the key findings for the United States:
Among the 34 OECD countries, the United States performed below average in mathematics in 2012 and is ranked 27th (this is the best estimate, although the rank could be between 23 and 29 due to sampling and measurement error). Performance in reading and science are both close to the OECD average. The United States ranks 17 in reading, (range of ranks: 14 to 20) and 20 in science (range of ranks: 17 to 25). There has been no significant change in these performances over time.
Surveys and focus groups tell us that the American public doesn't like to be told that we're not measuring up to the rest of the world. But, the fact is we're not, and underperformance in education has serious consequences not only for students whose adult livelihoods will suffer, but also for U.S. global economic leadership.
Business struggles to find employees with the skills for even entry-level technical jobs, confronting shortcomings especially in the STEM fields, i.e., science, technology, engineering and mathematics. One solution -- and certainly not the only one -- is adoption of Common Core State Standards, rigorous and internationally benchmarked educational standards for English and mathematics. Again, PISA:
Students in the United States have particular weaknesses in performing mathematics tasks with higher cognitive demands, such as taking real-world situations, translating them into mathematical terms, and interpreting mathematical aspects in real-world problems. An alignment study between the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and PISA suggests that a successful implementation of the Common Core Standards would yield significant performance gains.
When it comes to education, when it comes to anything, the United States should strive for more than stagnation.
From the BRT: