Lori Severino

Too many in education try to confuse the issue of what reading skills students really need to be successful in modern society with the "what grade level means" discussion. It's a misguided, and incorrect, argument. Who cares what the current average reading level is if it isn't preparing students adequately to succeed in life. For a number of years, Kentucky offered a unique and data-rich opportunity to study this issue, at least for Grade 8 NAEP Reading. The Bluegrass State was testing all students in selected grades with several different tests from ACT, Inc., the EXPLORE Test and the ACT college entrance test. Those ACT tests provided scoring linked to actual performances in college freshman classes. Comparing the state's NAEP "Proficient" statistics to the EXPLORE's and ACT's Readiness Benchmark statistics was quite illuminating, as you can read here: storage.ghost.io/c/53/d3/53d…. Whether we consider overall student results, results for different racial groups, results for poor students, or those with an IEP, and even separate NAEP results for the Jefferson County Public School System, the NAEP Proficient standard compares remarkably well with evidence from ACT's tests about what is needed for college readiness (see one example of the agreement below -- more are in the linked report). The agreement looks even better once the sampling errors in the NAEP scores are considered. In addition, other research from ACT, Inc. indicates that the skill levels needed for college success now are the same skills business and industry say are needed for non-college track living wage career entry. So, NAEP "Proficient" actually sets a pretty good standard for both college and career readiness, one that states should mirror in their state assessment programs, but few do. Those who argue that the NAEP Proficiency standard is simply set too high just don't understand what is really important. And, you're unlikely to solve a problem if you don't understand how big an issue it truly is. Bottom line: @NationalParents is rightly concerned. Far too many students in the US are not being adequately prepared.