A new analysis of the National Assessment of Educational Progress(NAEP) results reveals some gratifying news for Maryland.

Maryland students improved their reading and math scores on NAEP exams between fourth and eighth grade at a rate greater than the national average.  

The Policy Information Center at the Educational Testing Service (ETS) analyzed NAEP scores using a value-added approach.  In its recent report, “Growth in Schools Revisited,” ETS researchers followed a cohort of students over a four-year period in an effort to determine how much is gained by schooling.  This may offer a more complete picture of educational improvement than other test score studies, which compare scores in the same grade over time.

“Although this [value-added] kind of NAEP cohort analysis is not frequently undertaken, it provides a different and important perspective on educational achievement,” the report says.  For Maryland schools, that perspective appears to prove that instruction is making a difference.

By following the same cohort between 1994 and 1998, ETS found that Maryland students gained 53.5 points in reading, compared to the national average of 49.1 points.  Maryland’s rate of improvement was the nation’s eighth best.  Cohort growth in mathematics was even more impressive.  The score went up 55.3 points in Maryland, compared to a national average of 52.1 points.  That was sixth best in the nation.

No other state had cohort growth ranked in the top eight in both subjects, according to the ETS study.

“Our students’ success in the NAEP assessments has been well documented, but this new research from ETS is particularly encouraging,” State Superintendent of Schools Nancy S. Grasmick said.  “The instruction our schools provide is making a big difference in the lives of children.”
 

The NAEP analysis also offers some insight by disaggregating test results, although it does not do so on a state-by-state basis.   Still, the results include some interesting data that indicate, in at least one subject, schools are helping to reduce the achievement gap. 

In reading, African American student achievement across the nation increased by 56 points between fourth grade and eighth grade, while Hispanic student scores jumped 54 points.  The average student gain was 50 points, with White students gaining 48 points and Asian students gained an average of 42 points.

Those same results cannot be found in mathematics, however.  Average scores jumped 52 points for all students between fourth and eighth grade, but just 46 points for African American students and 47 points for Hispanic students.

The complete report is available from the Educational Testing Service.  It can be found at www.ets.org/research/pic.

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