Grades are in
Posted on Monday, October 1, 2007
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Editorial/203064/
Perpetual Pollyannas that we are
when it comes to education—yeah,
right—we found two things to like after reading Wednesday’s lede story on the Northwest Arkansas page. Headline: “Pupils in state don’t advance on national test.” What’s to like about that discouraging news ? Like No. 1: The test in question is the National Assessment of Education Progress, and it’s given to schools in every state. Which means that Arkansas can compare the progress of its schools and students with those in Massachusetts or Minnesota or even (Thank God For ) Mississippi. That way, we don’t get a false sense of accomplishment if our kids score well on Arkansas-only tests.
In other words, the scores may be discouraging but at least they’re not misleading.
The national exam also lets the bigs at the state’s education department track whether the Arkansas-only tests are true tests—and not just intra-state gimmes that make everybody feel good.
For this, you can thank the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind Act—aka, the law educators love to hate. Why ? Because before No Child, etc., states weren’t required to administer the national test. It was voluntary. And so an easy out for states that feared an educational reality check. As an extra added non-bonus, those states that did take the NAEP had fewer other states to compare themselves to.
That was no way to measure, and improve, education in America.
Like No. 2: As the Democrat-Gazette’s Cynthia Howell reports, Arkansas’ fourth- and eighth-graders may not have made much progress in reading and math scores since last time, but over the years, we’re way ahead of the curve. Heck, we’re setting the curve. Which caught the eye of education junkies at the Education Trust, an outfit in D. C. that crunches numbers and follows trends.
Since 2000, Arkansas’ scores on math among fourth-graders have increased by a higher percentage than those of any other state. And the improvement of our eighthgraders in math is second only to Massachusetts’. Not bad. Or to quote the Trust’s Daria Hall: “Arkansas certainly started low and had a lot of room to grow, but you can’t discount the progress that’s been made.”
So is that Good News No. 2 ? Not entirely. The better news is that Arkansas’ education leaders aren’t satisfied. Listen to Ken James, the state’s education commissioner: “Arkansas students and teachers should be proud that the performance of our students at these grade levels has not declined, yet we must all be honest with ourselves that we are not yet where we want to be.”
Attaway, Commish !
You don’t get better by patting yourself on the back and admiring what you’ve accomplished in the past—or, worse, being proud of yourself for not slipping.
Lou Holtz, who coached football for a spell at the University of Arkansas, had a saying. Actually, Lou had a lot of sayings, but this one is worth repeating. He used to tell his players when they were particularly pleased with themselves: You either get better or you get worse. You don’t stay the same.
Translation: Satisfaction with the status quo ultimately results in failure.
That’s true in education, too. For if Arkansas stays the same on these scores, we’re gonna get passed by other schools in other states that get better and better.
Luckily, after the education battles and turf wars the whole state went through in the never-ending wake of Lake View, we all seem to finally understand that.
Repeat after us: When it comes to education, We. Can. Never. Be. Satisfied.