Sounds like the "no child left behind" policy really means every child is behind.

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State's kids rate low on reading test
National exam results disappoint after schools' efforts to improve
- Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, October 20, 2005

California has been unable to raise students' reading scores from near the bottom nationally despite a decade of trying, including overhauling the way children are taught to read.

The 2005 results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, released Wednesday, show that California's fourth-graders scored an average of 207 out of 500 points on a reading test last spring -- tying for next-to-last place with students in Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico and falling well below the national average of 217. Only fourth-graders in Mississippi and Washington, D.C., scored lower.

Eighth-graders, the only other students tested on the exams sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, scored higher than the younger children in reading. California again was near the bottom, however, its eighth-graders scoring an average of 250 points, 10 points below the national figure.

Students in Hawaii and Washington, D.C., were the only ones to average a lower score than California eighth-graders, at 238 points.

California students fared slightly better in math. The fourth-graders scored 230, tying with Arizona, Hawaii, Louisiana and Nevada to beat out Mississippi, Alabama, New Mexico and Washington, D.C. The national average was 237.

California eighth-graders scored 269 in math, topping children in Hawaii, Alabama, Mississippi and Washington, D.C. The national average was 278.

"It is clear that California must do more to improve student achievement," state schools chief Jack O'Connell said. "The scores released today are not surprising and are another indication of the challenges we face."

But O'Connell also questioned the fairness of state-by-state comparisons that make California schools look like slackers despite years of trying to raise test scores and improve instruction.

He said California had the nation's highest proportion of English learners, which can bring reading scores down. About one in every four California students is an English learner. The highest scorers in the country -- Vermont and New Hampshire among the fourth-graders, and Massachusetts among eighth-graders -- have relatively few students learning the language.

In addition, only a sampling of students in each state takes the test, and while California excused about 12 percent of its English learners, O'Connell said Texas excused 37.5 percent and New York 29 percent.

The superintendent also pointed out that California's instruction is aligned to its own state exam, on which students have improved. He said the national test contains material with which students may not be familiar.

But Russlynn Ali, executive director of the Education Trust West, an Oakland think tank devoted to closing the academic achievement gap among ethnic groups, dismissed O'Connell's remarks as excuses.

"No matter how you cut it, it is not OK that California, the fifth-largest economy in the world, is only doing better than poor (places) like Alabama and Mississippi and Washington, D.C.," Ali said. "It's simply not tolerable."

Ali said her group had crunched data showing that even California's white children, traditionally among the highest-scoring groups, were among the worst reading and math students in the country.

Hopes in California had been high that 10 years of intense efforts to improve kids' academic skills would pay off on the national test.

In 1994, fourth-graders' bottom-of-the-barrel performance on the same national test embarrassed California's education leaders into eliminating the then-popular "whole language" approach to reading instruction -- which, among other things, embraced the practice of "inventive spelling." Many whole-language advocates believed that requiring children to put letters in their proper order would prevent them from learning to enjoy writing.

Since then, the state has spent millions of dollars on phonics instruction, and a few textbooks are regarded almost as bibles for academic improvement. The state Board of Education also approved academic standards it called rigorous and "world-class." Texts, instruction and state exams have all been aligned to those standards.

Math instruction underwent a similar overhaul as the state adopted a strong focus on back-to-basics instruction and specific expectations established for each grade.

Have such changes led to higher scores for California students?

In math, the answer is yes. Fourth-grade math scores rose 21 points in the last decade, while eighth-grade scores rose 6 points. Both increases are considered statistically significant.

The news is worse in reading, although the fourth-grade score of 197 that spurred the state to action in 1994 has risen to 207. Fourth-graders' scores, however, have hovered around that level for several years, and eighth-grade reading scores have remained virtually flat.

"This calls for some investigation," said Mike Kirst, a Stanford University education professor and former president of the state Board of Education. "Our reading instruction is clearly not paying off as well as what we're doing in math. We need to know more about what's going on, and we probably need to focus more on English-language learners."

With its periodic testing of students in each state, the National Assessment of Educational Progress -- sometimes called the Nation's Report Card -- provides a rich source of information about how well students are reading and writing all across the country, including rare data on private Catholic schools.

Here are some of the nationwide highlights from the latest report:

-- Math scores in grades 4 and 8 are higher than ever, at 237 and 278 points, respectively.

-- Black fourth-graders scored higher than ever in both subjects, with 199 points in reading and 220 points in math.

-- Black eighth-graders scored higher than ever in math, with 254 points.

-- Latino fourth-graders scored higher than ever in both subjects, with 201 points in reading and 225 in math.

-- Latino eighth-graders scored higher than ever in math, with 261 points.

-- Catholic school fourth-graders posted 234 points in reading and 244 points in math, well above the national averages for public schools.

-- Catholic school eighth-graders posted 280 points in reading and 290 points in math, also far higher than the national averages for public schools.

To see the full report, go to nationsreportcard.gov.



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National exam results

The National Assessment of Educational Progress is a 500-point exam of reading and math that every few years tests a sampling of 4th- and 8th-grade students in each state and Washington, D.C. Here is how 4th-graders in each state fared on the 2005 test in both subjects.


Low and high reading scores:


Worst : 191-200

Best : 221-231

National average 217

District of Columbia 191

ALASKA: 208

N.M.: 207

MONT.: 225

NEV.: 207

CALIF.: 207

WYO.: 223

ARIZ.: 207

COLO.: 224

N.D.: 225

MINN.: 225

LA.: 209

WASH.: 223

VA.: 226

N.Y.: 223

PA.: 223

MISS.: 204

MAINE: 225

N.H.: 227

VT.: 227

DEL.: 226

CONN.: 226


Low and high math scores:

Worst: 211-220

Best: 241-247

National average: 237


LA.: 230

HAWAII: 230

ALASKA: 208

District of Columbia: 211

N.M.: 224

NEV.: 230

CALIF.: 230

IDAHO: 242

ARIZ.: 230

N.D.: 243

S.D.: 242

KAN.: 246

MINN.: 246

OH.: 242

MISS.: 227

ALA.: 225

N.H.: 246

VT.: 244

N.J.: 244

CONN.: 242

MASS.: 247



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Reading score over time
Here is how California 4th-graders have scored on the national reading test in the last decade:


'92 202*

'94 197*

'98 202

'02 202

'03 206

'04 207


Math score over time

Here is how California 4th-graders have scored on the national math test in the last decade:


'92 208*

'96 209*

'00 213*

'03 227*

'05 230


* Score represents a statistical difference from the 2005 score.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences