The Brown Center Report on American Education

Wouldn’t it be useful to know how well our nation’s students are learning, stay on top of important trends and get a clear snapshot of what’s  working (and not working) in education reform? You can. This report from the Brookings Institution’s Brown Center has these and more answers.

Here’s a brief summary of the 2010 Brown Center Report’s research focus and key findings:

Part I  focuses on international assessments. Two myths of international assessments are debunked—the first, that the United States once led the world on international tests of achievement. It never has, writes Loveless, and beliefs about past U.S. achievement have skewed perceptions about current U.S. performance on PISA. The second myth is that Finland leads the world in education, with China and India coming on fast.  The upshot is that international test scores must be interpreted cautiously.

Part II looks at state test scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in light of the recent Race to the Top competition. Are states that won grants the same states that have accomplished the greatest gains in student learning? Not necessarily, finds Loveless. So, who’s winning the real race to the top? Both short- and long-term gains on NAEP are calculated with statistical controls for changes in the demographic characteristics of each state’s students to answer this question. Eight states—Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, District of Columbia, Kentucky, New Jersey, Hawaii, and Pennsylvania—stand out for making superior gains. At the other end of the distribution, Iowa, Nebraska, West Virginia, and Michigan stand out for underperforming. Loveless argues that the casual observer should not be fooled into thinking that the states that won the Race to the Top are the states winning the real race to improve student learning.

Part III analyzes the disconnect between the NAEP and the newer Common Core Standards in mathematics testing. How well does NAEP match up with the Common Core? By examining 171 public release items from the eighth-grade NAEP math test and coding them based on the grade level the Common Core recommends that the content be taught, Loveless finds that more than 90 percent of the items from the “number” strand (content area) cover material below the eighth grade. Also, almost 80 percent of the items assessing “algebra” are, in fact, addressing content in the curriculum that is taught before eighth grade. With Common Core assessments on tap to begin in the 2014–2015 school year, policymakers and analysts alike need to start thinking now about how NAEP and the Common Core assessments can be reconciled so as to inform, not to confuse, the public about student achievement.

An overarching theme of this year’s report is that events in the field of education are not always as they appear to be—and especially so with test scores. Whether commentators perpetrating myths of international testing, states winning races while evidencing only mediocre progress, or an eighthgrade test dominated by content below the eighth grade, the story is rarely as simple as it appears on first blush. This report tried to dig beneath the surface and uncover some of the complexities of these important issues.

For the full report (and more information), please click the link below.