Something I saw for the first time with the release of the NAEP Grade 12 results for 2015 was information about how the NAEP scoring scale relates to college readiness. The folks who run the NAEP have been researching this since 2008, and while the results are still “Provisional,” as research is continuing, the National Assessment Governing Board has determined tentative scores that show readiness for college without the need for any remediation are:

Math – 163Reading – 302

But, here is the interesting thing. The scores below are what NAEP is currently using to show “Proficient” performance at the 12th grade level.

Math – 176

(Go here and click on the “Proficient?” symbol on the top graph)

Reading – 302

(Go here and click on the “Proficient?” symbol on the top graph)So, when we are talking about 12th grade NAEP reading, what is scored as “Proficient” is also what is currently considered to be ready for college reading work.

However, in math, what NAEP says is Proficient work at the 12th grade is a score above 176 but students are currently being declared college ready with a notably lower score of only 163.

Will the NAEP change its 12th grade math proficiency cut scores to match the current research on college readiness?

Will this be reflected in math proficiency cut scores for Grades 4 and 8 as well?

Of course, the lower grade NAEP math frameworks were not changed in 2005 like happened with the 12th grade frameworks, and the lower grades even use the older 500-point scoring scales instead of the new 300-point scale for the 12th grade NAEP.

Furthermore, research I have been doing since 2007, comparing Kentucky’s NAEP Grade 8 Math proficiency rates to the percentages of the same Kentucky students scoring at or above the ACT, Inc.’s EXPLORE test results for college readiness, shows that at least the eighth grade NAEP proficiency rate might be set just about right, now.

In any event, with all the emphasis at present on college readiness, I am confident we’ll be hearing more about NAEP scores relating to readiness in the future. As the National Assessment Governing Board says, what they are reporting now is only “Provisional.”

But, it is already interesting.

And, only about one in three seniors is being declared ready for college by the NAEP.