Richard J. Coley, Educational Testing Service
November 2003
This cohort analysis of 4th and 8th grade reading and math NAEP scores calls to mind the quip about the dog walking on its hind legs: the impressive part is not that it's done well, but done at all. This is not a true value-added analysis, since the cohort variables are too numerous and complex to be controlled for - starting with the fact that different youngsters take the tests - but it does track the NAEP scores of the classes of 2002 (in reading) and 2004 (in math) to gauge their gains over a four-grade span. Usefully, the scores are broken down by state and by racial and ethnic groups. The conclusions range all over the place. For example, in reading, gains from 4th to 8th grade are strongest among African-Americans and in high-minority jurisdictions like the District of Columbia - a useful retort to critics (like yours truly) who relish taking regular whacks at D.C. schools - and many high-achieving states actually have lower gain rates. In math, however, minority students don't gain as strongly as white and Asian students, and across the nation, the achievement gap remains way too wide. Let's hope that changes being considered in NAEP administration and scoring will make it easier, not harder, to do this kind of analysis, since part of what American education needs is for NAEP to become an even more precise instrument for value-added analysis. Check it out at http://www.ets.org/research/index.html.
"Value-added study finds NAEP gains for black students," by Karla Scoon Reid, Education Week, March 17, 2004