WP: U.S. high school seniors slip in math and show no improvement in reading
* Unless you adjust the scores for race, such results are meaningless. The headline might as well have been “U.S. high school seniors slip in whiteness”.
“In math, for example, 47 percent of Asian students and 32 percent of white students scored proficient or above, compared with 7 percent of black students and 12 percent of Hispanic students.”
So in order for the overall average math scores to slip a couple of points, all it takes is a very slight shift in the population distribution towards the brown.
“The students at the lower end are getting worse,” said Peggy Carr, acting commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which is responsible for administering the NAEP. “That’s something we need to think about.”
To think about, but not do anything about.
