Results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science test were released yesterday. Similar to last year’s NAEP reading results, 4th grade students had an average scale score that was equal to the national average. 4th grade students have a higher average scale score in math, according to last year’s results.
8th grade students had an average scale score of 144 on the science test, lower than the national average of 147. While North Carolina’s 8th graders hold their own in math, their reading scores are troubling. 8th grade reading scores are lower than the national average and have been in decline since 1998. Put simply, the low science and reading scores suggest that our middle schools are in trouble. Although DPI had admitted as much, they have done little to address the problem.
According to DPI, black eighth graders posted average science scores that were lower than those of white students by 33 points, and Hispanic eighth graders’ average scale score was 23 points lower than white students’ average score. DPI also reported that, at the fourth grade level, black students had an average scale score that was lower than that of white students by 31 points, while Hispanic fourth graders had an average scale score that was lower by 23 points. These are unbelievable achievement gaps, and DPI’s response was predictable,
“Science teachers in North Carolina are participating this summer in a variety of professional development activities to enhance their science instructional strategies.”
Similar to the response to the low reading scores, DPI believes that professional development can solve its problems. Yet, anyone who has ever attended a professional development seminar knows that they are a waste of teachers’ time and taxpayers’ money. I once attended a required PD seminar on stress that was “led” by a local chiropractor and his staff. I learned that if I went to the chiropractor, he would take my stress away. They gave us free pens and notepads.
