With the common core standards seemingly on their way to mass adoption it's time for us to turn our eyes to the next step of the Common Core: national assessments, which should be in place for the 2014/2015 school year. Similar to state standards, state assessments vary in difficulty. According to our 2007 report The Proficiency Illusion many states sacrifice standards for inflated proficiency rates.
The findings of this inquiry are sobering, indeed alarming. We see, with more precision than previous studies, that
Only a handful of states peg proficiency expectations consistently across the grades, with the vast majority setting thousands of little Susies up to fail by middle school.
?proficiency? varies wildly from state to state, with ?passing scores? ranging from the 6th percentile to the 77th. We show that, over the past few years, twice as many states have seen their tests become easier in at least two grades as have seen their tests become more difficult. And we learn that only a handful of states peg proficiency expectations consistently across the grades, with the vast majority setting thousands of little Susies up to fail by middle school by aiming precipitously low in elementary school.
-Saul Spady, Fordham Intern