Charts: Improving NAEP Scores Cut Both Ways

This chart from Mother Jones' Kevin Drum shows that NAEP scores are rising, which Drum suggests shows us that doomsayers are overstating their case (a point Slate's Matthew Yglesias echoed over the weekend).  But the chart also illustrates that reform hasn't ruined American education, either, which suggests that those who are opposed to mainstream reform might be overstating their, case, too.  Like I often say:  They're both wrong. If only Drum could make that point, too.  

Comments

[john]

Alexander,

I don't understand your logic. Even Duncan says that 9-year-old test scores do not an education make. If they had evidence that increased learning was maintained through high school, then that might mean something.

And are you saying that reformers have not failed because, after wasting tens of billions of dollars, they haven't driven scores down, so they succeeded?

Those of us in the classroom see, daily, the real harm they have done - in addition to wasting the billions we might need someday if we try to really improve schools. Unless you want to say that we teachers and students aren't sentient beings, you shouldn't discount the harm tha

[Sarah]

The chart suggests to me that education as a whole is improving, if it suggests anything. There’s a greater disparity between math and reading education than there once was, as well, which I find interesting.