Report: Don’t shoot the messenger! Heed NAEP’s message about Kentucky’s education performance

(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) – Math and reading results from the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are expected to be released next Monday, Oct. 24. Thanks to the pandemic, it’s anticipated the scores will be lower than in 2019, the most recent Main NAEP results, This makes it likely that the ongoing dispute involving the importance and meaning of the NAEP will increase in volume.

Given the low proficiency rates NAEP has consistently reported, including the 2019 public school nationwide white eighth-grade students’ math proficiency rate of just 43% and Kentucky’s notably lower white student rate of 32%, emotional defenders of the nation’s public schools already have been engaging in “shoot the messenger” activities with NAEP, trying to discredit the unwelcome news from the federal testing program.

A new Bluegrass Institute Policy Point – “Is NAEP’s ‘Proficient or Above’ Achievement Level Valid?” – provides important evidence indicating that those trying to discredit the NAEP’s standards for math and reading proficiency are off-target.

Whether overall average scores or student subgroup performances are considered, the Policy Point finds remarkably good agreement between the percentages of students the NAEP assessments report as “Proficient or Above” and those of the same cohorts of students two separate tests from ACT Inc. reported were on track to be ready for either college or a working wage career in the same subjects.

At the same time, the study shows notable scoring gaps between the NAEP and the state's assessment, the Kentucky Performance Rating for Educational Progress (KPREP). KPREP reports Kentucky's students are performing at significantly higher levels than indicated by the more-reliable national tests.

NAEP indicates a whole lot of students simply aren’t getting the education they need to survive and thrive in adulthood. It’s time to stop paying attention to those who would shoot the messenger and come to grips with the serious messages from the NAEP, instead.

Contact Bluegrass Institute staff education analyst Richard Innes at dinnes@freedomkentucky.com or (859) 466-8198 or CEO Jim Waters at jwaters@freedomkentucky.com or 859.444.5630 (office) or 270.320.4376 (cell).