I stand corrected: It is not a "race to the bottom," it's a "walk to the middle"

That's one of the conclusions of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute's new report on the states' response to No Child Left Behind.

Here's another one.

States are aiming too low on state school tests, painting an unreliable picture of academic achievement and setting up elementary students to fail.

How about these?

• State tests vary greatly in their difficulty.
• Improvements in passing rates on state tests can largely be explained by declines in the difficulty of those tests.
• Mathematics tests are consistently more difficult to pass than reading tests.
• Eighth-grade tests are consistently and dramatically more difficult to pass than those in earlier grades (even after taking into account obvious differences in subject-matter complexity and children’s academic development).

Or this...

It is "crazy not to have some form of national standards for educational achievement -- stable, reliable, cumulative, and comparable," Chester E. Finn Jr., the institute's president, and Michael J. Petrilli, vice president for national programs and policy, wrote in the study. "What is the meaning of measurable academic gains . . . if the yardstick is elastic?"

“America is awash in achievement ‘data,’ yet the truth about our educational performance is far from transparent and trustworthy. It may be smoke and mirrors,” the study says.

That's why an independent assessment watchdog is a timely idea for Kentucky. It's also important that the Kentucky Board of Education clearly inform the public about where they are headed with student assessment; assuming they know.

I hate to say I told you so, but ...

I worried that we would get to this mess several years ago when President Bush was first comtemplating NCLB. The federal measure layered one accountability system on top of another, confusing its purposes and ultimately, it's methodoloy.

On January 27 2001, in the Herald-Leader, Bob Sexton expressed his concern, and I expressed my fears this way:

"The focus on academic achievement, measurable results and no excuses for poor performance is right on target and very similar to what we've been working on in Kentucky," Sexton said. "What we have to avoid is having two different sets of accountability. Kentucky's going to have to fight to be able to use its own testing system."

Richard Day, principal of Cassidy Elementary School in Fayette County, fears another test will create a "crazy quilt of assessment.""I would like to see a seamless, comprehensive testing system that flows from local to state [to] federal levels; that doesn't interfere with each other," Day said. "I'm afraid that what we're going to get instead is just another test layered on top of what we already have."

In Fayette County, the district has implemented math and reading tests three times a year in addition to the state assessments already required."Another test on top of what we are presently doing would be a brick on the load that we just don't need," Day said. "We'll have gone too far and begin hurting children."

The Proficiency Illusion

"The Proficiency Illusion" reveals that the tests that states use to measure academic progress under the No Child Left Behind Act are creating a false impression of success, especially in reading and especially in the early grades.

The report, a collaboration of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and the Northwest Evaluation Association, contains several major findings:

States are aiming particularly low when it comes to their expectations for younger children, settingelementary students up to fail as they progress through their academic careers.

The central flaw in NCLB is that it allows each state to set its own definition of what constitutes "proficiency."

By mandating that all students reach "proficiency" by 2014, it tempts states to define proficiency downward.

Although there has not been a "race to the bottom," with the majority of states dramatically lowering standards under pressure from NCLB, the report did find a "walk to the middle," as some states with high standards saw their expectations drop toward the middle of the pack.

...As a result, students may be performing worse in reading, and worse in elementary school, than is readily apparent by looking at passing rates on state tests.

This from the Fordham Foundation.

This from the Washington Post.