Published Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Georgia 8th grade scores up in math

By Winston Skinner

The Newnan Times-Herald

Georgia eighth graders showed marked improvement in mathematics on the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress, but Coweta County students were not among those tested for NAEP last year.

Dean Jackson, public information officer for the Coweta County School System, explained NAEP uses "a rotating sample" in evaluating how schools across the country are progressing. "Every two to four years, a school system will be asked to choose a school," he explained.

In that school, students in a specific grade and subject will be tested for NAEP. During the last testing cycle, seniors at East Coweta took NAEP. Jackson said they were tested in either math or science.

"Georgia is one of just 15 states to show significant improvement in eighth-grade mathematics" on the most recent NAEP test, according to Matt Cardoza of the Georgia Department of Education.

Even though Coweta students did not take the test, NAEP results are designed to examine how well a subject is being taught throughout a state. "The results of the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress are the first national results that show the impact of Georgia's new mathematics curriculum," Cardoza said.

NAEP is given to a representative sampling of students from each state across the nation. The test is scored on a scale from 0 to 500 and is also broken down into four scoring categories: below basic, basic, proficient and advanced.

Nearly all eighth grade students who took the NAEP last school year had been taught using the Georgia Performance Standards in mathematics for three years. Coweta's students are using the GPS curriculum.

"This is the first evidence we have that the GPS is helping our students be more competitive at the national level," said Georgia School Superintendent Kathy Cox. "I am confident this is just the beginning of the gains our students will show on national tests as our new curriculum takes hold."

Georgia's eighth grade scores on the NAEP have also shown a higher rate of growth than the nation over the last several years. In 2003, Georgia's score of 270 was six points lower than the nation. This year's results show the gap between Georgia and the nation has decreased to just four points.

"Since I became superintendent in 2003, my focus has been on implementing a more rigorous curriculum and requiring higher expectations of all students," Cox said.

NAEP results for mathematics were released Wednesday in grades 4 and 8. Fourth-grade scores on the Mathematics NAEP differed little from the 2007 numbers.

On the national level, some concerns were expressed about the lack of gains in fourth grade scores. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the results mean "the status quo isn't good enough." The results "are a call to action for reforms that will prepare our students to compete in the global economy," he said.

Tom Loveless, an education expert at the Brookings Institution think tank, told Associated Press the results really were not much different from 2007. It will take another four to six years to see if fourth-grade progress has truly stalled, he said.

"Each of these is kind of like a public opinion poll -- it's an estimate," Loveless said. "I think people rush to take each release of test scores far too seriously and try to explain every little wiggle in the data."

Loveless said it is impossible to explain exactly why fourth-grade scores did not budge. "Scientifically, you cannot explain in education why a phenomenon did not happen," he said.

NAEP results in other subjects, including reading, will be released in the coming months. The test is taken "in the fourth, the eighth and the 12th grade," Jackson said.