Improvements shown in the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) writing assessment, the first time eighth- and 12th-graders were tested in the subject since 2002.
The overall percentage of kids rated as “proficient” didn’t change, but both 8th and 12th graders saw upward movement on the percentage scoring at the lower “basic” level. “Large achievement gaps still persist, though,” notes the Christian Science Monitor “between white and minority students, higher-income and low-income students, and, far more than in other subjects, between girls and boys.”
“The overall improvement in 12th grade is the first good news out of high schools, and that’s great,” Ed Trust’s Amy tells the paper. “But our excitement about that is seriously tempered by the lack of national gap closing.”
In 2002, the average score for 12th-graders was 148; it’s up to 153 as of 2007. The percentage of students scoring at the basic level went from 74 percent to 82 percent. “The biggest gains among eighth-graders were also among low performers, with more students reaching the basic level. It’s a trend that has also emerged in NAEP tests on other subjects: the lowest performers are getting better, with little change at the middle or top,” reports the Monitor.
More coverage of the NAEP:
Los Angeles Times
California still lags in student writing skills
Denver Post
Students’ writing skills don’t change
Boston Globe
State’s 8th-graders score well in writing test, despite gender gap
New York Sun
Writing Mastery Eludes Majority In Eighth Grade
Detroit News
Wall Street Journal
Write Stuff Shown by More in Grades 8, 12
The New York Times
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