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Board Policy Student Handbook

Understanding the Numbers in 4th Grade Reading

By Dr. George Griffith, Superintendent Trego County USD 208
After watching “This Week in Kansas” this past Sunday, I had to take a look at the numbers presented by Dave Trabert, President of the Kansas Policy Institute.  Mr. Trabert indicated that Kansas schools were not performing well because only 36 percent were identified as proficient or above on the National Assessment of Educational  Progress (NAEP) assessment also known as the “Nation’s Report Card.”  Governor Brownback also indicated this 36 percent was unacceptable.  Yes only 36 percent of Kansas fourth graders are proficient or above on the NAEP Reading Assessment.  I will agree that the number these two individuals indicated were correct but that is only a small part of the story.  As I learned while working on my Ph.D.; data taken out of context can be misleading so I feel it is important to look at this information in a holistic manner and in the context it should be used.

First of all I will defend Kansas schools and students because they are performing well and continue to improve.  For example in 2006, 79.5 percent of fourth graders across the state scored proficient or higher on the state assessment and this past spring the percent of fourth graders meeting the standards or above was 89 percent.   This increase is the result of the dedicated focus by educators on helping all students achieve at their best.  The NAEP is what is known as a “norm referenced” assessment something most of know as a test with a bell curve with most scoring around the average.  The expectations for this type of test is for only about half of those students tested to score at or above average and the other half of the tested students scoring below average based on a comparison of each student to other students.  The Kansas Computerized Assessments (KCAs) also called the Kansas State Assessments are known as “criterion referenced” tests.  The KCAs measure what students know compared to what we want them to know and not compared to how well their peers score.  The KCAs measure how well the students understand the subject matter found in the state education standards.  The state education standards were developed by a large group of educators across Kansas and are based on what these educators feel our students should know to be successful.  With 89 percent of our students meeting the standards or above on the fourth grade reading assessment, it is clear our Kansas teachers and students continue to perform at a high level.

As for the scores on the NAEP, in fourth grade reading there are only seven states that had a significantly higher average score than Kansas while 22 states as well as the nation had a significantly lower average score in fourth grade reading than our Kansas students.  For a difference to be significantly different, it must be large enough that it could not be attributed to chance alone. As for the percentage of students who were proficient or higher on the fourth grade NAEP, only seven states had a significantly higher percentage than Kansas with 18 states having a significantly lower percentage of students scoring proficient or higher.  The remaining states in both categories are not significantly different; however, Kansas did have a higher percentage meeting proficient or higher than 18 of these remaining states and the nation, a lower percentage than two other states, and identical percentage as the remaining three. 

As for the states that out-performed Kansas on the NAEP, they spend more money per student than Kansas does ranging from 11 percent to as much as 64 percent more per student.  Although Kansas is ranked 26th in the nation on the amount spent per pupil; our state is ranked tenth in the country when all scores on the NAEP are combined while Florida that is often cited as the best “reform state” is ranked 31st.   However if funding is not restored to previous levels, Kansas children and schools could face a decline in the achievement we have worked so hard to improve.  Over the past  four years Kansas schools have had their funding cut and districts are running on financial fumes.  If the trend to underfund schools does not change, it could have a negative impact on our students’ future performance and be even more costly to recover from.