NCES Finds States Lowered 'Proficiency' Bar
Results May Help Drive Common-Standards Effort
With 2014 approaching as the deadline by which states must get all their students up to “proficient” levels on state tests, a study released last week by the U.S. Department of Education’s top statistics agency suggests that some states may have lowered student-proficiency standards on such tests in recent years.
For the 47-state study , researchers under contract to the National Center for Education Statistics used student test scores to figure out where the proficiency levels on various state tests would fall on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Their results suggest that between 2005 and 2007, various states made their standards less rigorous in one or more grade levels or subjects in at least 26 instances. In 12 instances, particular states appeared to make their standards more stringent in one or more...
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