Still, the NAEP data suggests that even advantaged kids are suffering under the current regime. Kids with more highly educated parents are in a better position to pick up information about history, geography, civics, and a host of other things at home. But the testing pilot is small, and Baghian said 95% of Louisiana teachers often feel impelled to mimic the standardized reading test format in class.Īnd why, as one audience member asked Carr, do low-income students generally do much worse on tests than their wealthier peers? Carr didn’t have an answer, but others do: It’s not income itself that makes a difference, but higher levels of parental education-which, in our society, are closely correlated with income.

Nor do they have the knowledge to do well on tests in history, geography, and civics.Īs Baghian noted, Louisiana has tried to address this problem by experimenting with a reading test linked to the content of the state’s curriculum in both English and-importantly, given the NAEP results-social studies. The result is that many students never get a chance to acquire the background knowledge they need to understand the passages on reading tests and are therefore unable to demonstrate their skills. As schools have devoted more time to “test prep,” they’ve cut back on subjects like social studies. This leads to a vicious cycle that ends up depressing rather than boosting reading scores-as well as the scores released this week. Students get disconnected passages on topics they may know little or nothing about and try to practice the comprehension skills the tests purport to assess. Jessica Baghian, an assistant state superintendent of education in Louisiana, explained that in an effort to prepare students for state-mandated reading tests, teachers replicate their format in class. But why?ĭuring a panel discussion, only one participant provided real insight. You need those fundamental skills.” But when asked if students might therefore do better if the questions were read aloud to them, Carr demurred, saying the problem was that “students don’t know the content.” Yes. “If students struggle with reading,” she said, “they will struggle to understand these tests too. At the release event on Thursday, the federal official charged with announcing the results, Peggy Carr, at first suggested that the problem was reading skills.

Geography tests given to teens vox