In the July 22, 2010 column, this columnist argued that lower standards, due to the ceiling effect, can give the appearance of closing the gap between the lowest performers and their higher performing counterparts.
An August 15, 2010 column in the New York Times, by Sharon Otterman and Robert Gebeloff starkly illustrates the validity of the arguments put forward in this column. A few years ago, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was at the forefront of the “narrowing the achievement gap” bandwagon. Now, after New York implemented new requirements intended to correct for years of overblown results, test scores have plummeted and the closing of the achievement gap has all but disappeared in that proverbial puff of smoke.
Maryland is no stranger to claims of closing the achievement gap. In a July 30, 2010 bulletin, the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), asserted that the 2010 Maryland School Assessment (MSA) exam results demonstrated that:
• “In elementary reading, the gap in achievement between students coming from circumstances of poverty (receiving free and/or reduced price meals) and those that do not has been reduced by 19.1 points over the past seven years”;
• “In middle school reading, the gap in achievement between African American students and White students has decreased 17.2 points since 2003. The gap between Hispanic students and White students fell 15.7 points over the same period”;
• “The gap in elementary mathematics achievement fell 14.9 points between English Language Learners and native English speakers.”
There may be a number of reasons which may place the conclusion of a narrowing gap in jeopardy.
First, as the Baltimore Sun reported in 2008, “State education officials acknowledged … for the first time that they had changed the Maryland School Assessment this year in a way that experts say contributed to an unusually large rise in student test scores.” Consequently, it would be hard to justify a comparison between 2010 scores and those prior to 2008.
Second, as this column has repeatedly asserted, and studies have confirmed, Maryland’s curricular standards with which the MSAs are aligned are abysmally low. A low test ceiling, as this column pointed out, and the New York experience demonstrated, creates a false sense of closing the gap.
Claims about closing the gap cannot be sustained unless demonstrated through multiple academic indicators. Consider the 2009 NAEP performance data for the State of Maryland in Grade 4, Mathematics. As the graphic shows, the gap between students identified as Black and White has been increasing.
The Common Core Standards Initiative, while seemingly a panacea for all that ails the educational bureaucracy, is unlikely to solve anything, unless it is seen by visionary educators as a vehicle to demand more of both our students and teachers.
Bring back those days when teachers prided themselves in producing a body of students with the knowledge and the skills to apply their subject matter to broaden their intellectual and educational horizons. Value teachers with both the knowledge of the subject matter and have the skills to teach. More importantly, focus on the goal of making all our children competitive in the global marketplace.
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