Swift & Change Able

Montogomery County, Maryland Superintendent Jerry Weast has some interesting things to say about NCLB, as we discussed yesterday.

In the same article in which Weast was quoted, Montogomery County’s Director of Academic Support, Chrisandra Richardson, expressed that the county would like to move beyond the basic skills targeted by NCLB and stress college preparedness.

Richardson: “No Child Left Behind uses the term proficient; Dr. Weast uses college-ready,” she said. “If you stop at proficient, you have more room to go.”

Richardson is right. But only in part.

No Child Left Behind does use the term “Proficient". But it also uses three other terms to describe student achievement: “Basic,” “Below Basic,” and “Advanced.”

“Proficient” is the target all students are expected to reach in math and reading by the Year 2014. This was seen as an appropriate goal for a law which is aimed at bringing all students to grade level competency in basic academic subjects.

But in order to do that, states must work with many children who are now (and/or were in 2002 when the law was signed) at “basic” or “below basic” levels of performance.

Data released last month for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the national test required under NCLB that most experts agree has much higher standards than state tests (and which is not a test students are taught to) shows that progress is being made in bringing students to proficient and beyond it. But there is a long way to go.

The Education Trust is the gold standard for data management with an attention to college-ready skills and the closing of achievement gaps (NCLB’s primary purpose). Their analysis shows that:

“Since 1996 the percentage of our nation’s fourth-grade students performing below the Basic achievement level in math has been cut in half, from 39 percent to 19 percent, with even stronger improvement among poor and minority students (from 73 percent to 37 percent for African Americans, 61 percent to 31 percent for Latinos, and 60 percent to 30 percent for poor students). At the same time, higher performers also posted significant gains, increasing the ranks of students at the Proficient and Advanced levels.”

The Ed Trust data shows that most minority students are at the basic level or below. And, in fact, by NAEP standards, even 58% of White students are at the “basic” or “below basic” level of performance in reading at 4th grade; 49% are at basic or below in math. So we, as a nation, have a little time left to worry about “stopping” at proficient. We have to get there first. And under NCLB, states and school districts have 6 more years to do so.

Kudos to Montgomery County for being ahead of the curve. As the nation’s sixth wealthiest county, it’s not surprising that they have the resources to aspire to the highest levels of achievement. That is a goal that we, as a nation, should have for all our children. And nothing in NCLB is stopping Montogomery County, or any other district, from moving its students to an “advanced” level of performance once they get to “proficient.” In fact, under NCLB and NAEP, they are encouraged to do so and are measured accordingly. But first things first.