Study Finds NAEP Math Questions ‘Extraordinarily Easy’

The level of skill required to solve many of the math questions posed to 4th and 8th graders on the nation’s benchmark of academic progress is “extraordinarily easy,” asserts an analysis unveiled last week.

Conducted by the Brown Center on Education Policy, the study also concludes that middle school teachers of mathematics lack academic preparation in the subject and have too few professional-development options available that could help them improve their capabilities.

The report, “How Well Are American Students Learning?,” examines more than 500 questions from the math section of the National...