The Proficiency Delusion

Isn't It Time to Leave Some Tests Behind?

By Mark Schneider

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 set as a national goal that all children would be proficient in reading and math by 2014. But perhaps reflecting bruising battles over President Bill Clinton’s proposed “voluntary national test” in the late 1990s, the law left both the design of the tests and the setting of “cut scores” to the states. The dubious outcome of this choice is well documented: States set their cut scores so low that large numbers of students were judged proficient even though they lacked basic skills.

When the National Center for Education Statistics mapped these state proficiency standards onto the National Assessment of Educational Progress scale, it found that in 2007, seven states had set their 4th grade math proficiency standards below NAEP’s basic level. Only Massachusetts had set its proficiency standard equal to NAEP’s. Using different data, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute found similar results, calling its findings “The Proficiency Illusion.”

NAEP’s recent Trial Urban District Assessment , or TUDA, covering math in 18 cities presents another window into this illusion. Given the concentration of low-performing students in large urban districts and the need to radically transform their education, the stakes in accurately measuring student skills and progress in these school systems are profound. The following overview of findings from the TUDA study focuses on the 4th grade math results, but those for the 8th...