Future Retirement Success
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks

Future Retirement Success

Investing

NAEP Is Worth Exploring, But Educational Freedom Is More Important

by January 29, 2025
January 29, 2025
NAEP Is Worth Exploring, But Educational Freedom Is More Important

Colleen Hroncich

Standardized testing isn’t the be-all and end-all of education. Still, the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), known as the Nation’s Report Card, show important educational trends. Unfortunately, today’s (Jan. 29) release of the latest results isn’t showing good trends, although results aren’t as bad as some predicted coming out of COVID-19.

But not as bad doesn’t mean good. In reading, results show the largest percentage of eighth graders scoring below NAEP Basic in the assessment’s history; for fourth graders, the percentage scoring below NAEP Basic was the largest in 20 years. Only around 30 percent of students in either grade performed at or above the NAEP Proficient level in reading.

Math results weren’t much better. While there was a slight uptick in scores, only 28 percent of eighth graders and 40 percent of fourth graders performed at or above NAEP Proficient.

While these overall numbers are concerning, digging deeper shows more troubling results. The gap between the highest- and lowest-performing students has continued to grow. In math, student scores in the top quartile improved while those in the bottom quartile fell for eighth grade and remained stagnant for fourth. In reading, both age groups had bigger drops for lower-performing students compared to the higher-performing students.

It’s worth noting that these worrying results come after billions of dollars in federal funding to schools that were specifically earmarked for efforts, such as tutoring, that were meant to address the learning interruptions during the pandemic. They say money can’t buy happiness; apparently, it can’t buy better test scores either.

The Nation’s Report Card is useful for taking a broad look at educational achievement throughout the country, including by state, district, school type, and various demographics. But it’s an aggregate measure. It doesn’t tell us about individual children and their educational needs. And it doesn’t offer solutions for how to ensure those needs can be met.

NAEP scores will receive lots of media attention in the coming days. Based on history, there’s no reason to think that attention will do much to improve the educational experience for kids. Sure, parents can look and see if their district or state improved across various metrics. But that information doesn’t equip them to choose other options for their children.

Parents need educational freedom more than they need NAEP scores. The spread of school choice programs that allow funding to follow students to a variety of educational options is helping parents choose where and how their children are educated. This is crucial considering test scores are just one of many things parents and children care about when it comes to education—and they tend to be pretty low on the priority list. School choice lets families factor in things that are more important to them, such as safety, values, and environment.

So, by all means, dig into the NAEP results and see where scores are improving, falling, or staying flat. But don’t forget that the bigger picture is really the smaller picture—the individual students who should have access to educational options beyond their assigned schools.

0
FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
previous post
How DOJ Helps Federal Prosecutors Escape Accountability & Evade Public Scrutiny
next post
MuxCap.com Reviews | How Safe Are the Platform Traders? Is There Room for Improvement at MuxCap?

You may also like

Pharmaceutical Pricing Around the World

September 27, 2024

Friday Feature: Victory Christian Enhanced Learning Center

February 21, 2025

Jack Dorsey on Why Social Media’s Future Should...

May 21, 2024

The Fed Should Continue to Hold Steady

July 12, 2023

New Jones Act Ship Offers Cautionary Tale of...

July 13, 2023

Youth Online Safety Bills and the First Amendment:...

October 26, 2023

Trump’s Toast, Folks

August 16, 2023

Brookings Paper Is Not Concrete Evidence That a...

June 1, 2023

Ballot Measures: A Preview

October 13, 2023

U.S. Ranks 17, Hong Kong Plummets, Argentina in...

December 19, 2023

    Get free access to all of the retirement secrets and income strategies from our experts! or Join The Exclusive Subscription Today And Get the Premium Articles Acess for Free

    By opting in you agree to receive emails from us and our affiliates. Your information is secure and your privacy is protected.

    Recent Posts

    • Iran regime escalates repression toward ‘North Korea-style model of isolation and control’

      July 4, 2025
    • UK revealed as Europe’s worst country for commuters in new ranking

      July 4, 2025
    • This July 4th, a family waits: American hostage’s father pleads for son’s freedom from Hamas terrorists

      July 4, 2025
    • $88m methane-tracking satellite lost in space, dealing major blow to climate monitoring

      July 4, 2025
    • New US visa rules will force foreign students to unlock social media profiles

      July 4, 2025
    • The real Formula 1: British Grand Prix highlights UK’s £16bn motorsport economy

      July 4, 2025

    Categories

    • Business (8,393)
    • Investing (2,102)
    • Politics (15,945)
    • Stocks (3,189)
    • About us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions

    Disclaimer: futureretirementsuccess.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2025 futureretirementsuccess.com | All Rights Reserved