No Child Left Behind is focusing so much attention on the 4th and 8th grade results that American students (and states) get on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) that a lot of people scarcely remember that NAEP also tests 12th graders. Sure, everyone dimly knows that 12th grade NAEP results cause an occasional stir, such as when they demonstrate that high-school seniors know next to nothing about U.S. history, that a non-trivial fraction of them can scarcely read, or that 12th grade black students' scores aren't much different from those of white 8th graders.
After the tut-tutting and tsk-tsking, however, 12th grade NAEP slips back into obscurity. One reason is that there have never been state-by-state results for 12th grade NAEP assessments. (These are now mandated for 4th and 8th grade reading and math.) Another is that, when NAEP budgets are tight, the Education Department and National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) tend to skimp on the senior year. There's the concern that NAEP's 12th grade results may not be terribly accurate, due to shaky test participation rates by high schools and their seniors and the suspicion that even those 12th graders who sit for the assessments don't take them seriously, are not moved to do well on them, and may just fool around with their test booklets and answer sheets. And there's the problem that neither the "frameworks" by which the tests are created nor the standards (basic, proficient, advanced) by which their results are reported are aligned with actual expectations of employers or colleges.
In fact, 12th grade NAEP has long been a problem, at least since my time on NAGB in the late Middle Ages (1988-96).
To address that problem, in early 2003 NAGB empanelled a blue-ribbon "National Commission on NAEP 12th Grade Assessment and Reporting," a diverse 18-member group co-chaired by NAGB veterans Mark Musick and Michael Nettles. Last week, its report was released. It's a cogent and concise document that deserves the attention of serious education reformers.
The panel calls for fundamentally "redesigning" 12th grade NAEP, contending that it "has the potential to supply crucial information about student achievement" that cannot come from any other source, but that it needs big changes to boost its "relevance and usefulness."
Three reforms are key.
First, the Commission urges that state-level results be regularly obtained and reported for 12th grade NAEP. This, after all, is the culmination of a state's primary-secondary education system and the locus of mounting high-school reform efforts and innumerable accountability policies (such as stiffer graduation requirements and exit tests). "State education leaders said that they want a periodic, external measure of 12th grade student achievement," reports the Commission. "They want to compare 12th grade achievement results and performance standards of their state . . . with those of other states and the nation and use the results to help make informed decisions about state-based high school improvement and reform initiatives. . . . They recognize NAEP's unique capability to serve as a trustworthy, stable, independent means of monitoring 12th grade progress over time."
Second, 12th grade NAEP results should henceforth be reported in terms of "students' readiness for college-credit coursework, training for employment, and entrance into the military." This means changing how NAEP's frameworks and test questions are formulated and how its reporting standards are set. Today, 12th grade NAEP (like 4th and 8th) seeks to reflect what is taught in today's schools rather than what the post-secondary world requires of its entrants. In the Commission's words, it looks "backwards" to the schools rather than "forecasting" their graduates' prospects for success in the stages to come. This the Commission wants to change. (Though the panel made no specific mention of the American Diploma Project, the latter's new report urges that 12th grade NAEP be aligned to the math and English "benchmarks" that it set for high-school graduation based on recommendations from colleges and employers.)
Third, the Commission makes many suggestions for boosting the lackluster 12th grade NAEP participation rates of states, schools and students: an imaginative array of requirements, incentives, rewards, sunlight, and jawboning. Panel members would compel states to participate in 12th grade reading and math and encourage them also to take part in science and writing by having Washington cover their costs. (Other 12th grade NAEP results, such as history and geography, would be reported only at the national level.) The commission believes it's possible to boost students' motivation by, for example, augmenting the Pell grants of (eligible) NAEP participants, giving discounts in college bookstores, even at record stores and movie theaters.
Sound recommendations, all. Yes, making them happen will take some money, some legislation, further research, and a lot of energy sustained over several years. One can already hear the grumbling of commercial test-makers, overburdened high-school officials, and test-weary parents, not to mention the usual chorus of test-haters and both fringes of Congress. One also wonders whether the Bush Administration, blinded by NCLB, will pay attention, exert the requisite effort, or earmark the funds.
You can help. Read the report and see if you agree with its analysis and proposals. (Being a thoughtful person, you probably will.) Then use your own networks, contacts, publications, and megaphones to spread the word. This sort of thing gets overlooked by the mainstream media (especially in an election year) because at first glance it appears obscure and technical. We know better.
"12th Grade Student Achievement in America: A New Vision for NAEP," National Assessment Governing Board, March 5, 2004
"American Diploma Project," Achieve, Inc.; The Education Trust; and the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, February 2004
"Creating a high school diploma that counts," by Michael Cohen, Chester E. Finn, Jr., and Kati Haycock, Education Week, March 10, 2004
