What if you suddenly found out that half of the eighth-graders in Wisconsin, all kids you thought were highly rated readers, really didn't merit being called proficient? That instead of four out of five being pretty decent in math, it was really two out of five?
"...kids statewide won't be rated using the current measuring stick, beginning next year. They'll be rated by the standards used by the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). And NAEP is a much tougher grader."
Eighth-grade reading: Using the WKCE measuring stick, 86% of students were rated as "advanced" or "proficient." Using the NAEP measuring stick, it was 35% - a 51-point difference. At least as vivid: Using the WKCE measure, 47% of eighth-graders were "advanced," the top bracket. Using the NAEP measure, it was 3%. Three percent! In other words, only a handful of kids statewide would be labeled advanced under the new system, not the nearly half we're used to.This could further expose the issue of grade inflation, which has reached alarming levels in the Sun Prairie Area School District.
The article is worth a read.
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