New Research Finds Test Score Growth Slowed Under NCLB

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

American Educational Research Association

News Release

Date: Release Date
Media Contact: Helaine Patterson <mailto:hpatterson@aera.net>
(202) 238-3200

Print Version of this Release 
<http://www.aera.net/uploadedFiles/News_Media/News_Releases/2007/NR-Fuller073007.pdf> (PDF)

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New Research on Achievement
Test Scores Slow Under No Child Left Behind Reforms, Gauged by States 
and the Federal Assessment

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WASHINGTON, D.C., July 30, 2007 - As Congress reviews federal efforts to 
boost student performance, new research published in Educational 
Researcher (ER) reports that progress in raising test scores was 
stronger before No Child Left Behind was approved in 2002, compared with 
the four years following enactment of the law.

The article "Gauging Growth: How to Judge No Child Left Behind?" is 
authored by Bruce Fuller, Joseph Wright, Kathryn Gesicki, and Erin Kang, 
and is one of four featured works published in the current issue of 
ER--a peer-reviewed scholarly journal of the American Educational 
Research Association.

Bruce Fuller, lead author and professor of education and public policy 
at the University of California, Berkeley, noted that the strong 
advances in narrowing racial and income-based achievement gaps seen in 
the 1990s have faded since passage of 'No Child'. "The slowing of 
achievement gains, even declines in reading, since 2002 suggests that 
state-led accountability efforts--well underway by the mid-1990s--packed 
more of a punch in raising student performance, compared with the 
flattening-out of scores during the 'No Child' era," he observed.

"We are not suggesting that 'No Child' has dampened the earlier progress 
made by the states," Fuller said. "But we find no consistent evidence 
that federal reforms have rekindled the states' earlier gains. Federal 
activism may have helped to sustain the buoyancy in children's math 
scores at the fourth-grade level, seen throughout the prior decade."

The researchers pushed beyond earlier studies by tracking progress in 
both state and federal test scores in 12 diverse states, going back to 
1992 in many cases. This approach captured the generally positive 
effects of maturing state-led accountability programs in both reading 
and math, gauged by state officials and the National Assessment of 
Educational Progress (NAEP).

Using this longer time span as the baseline, annual changes in student 
performance generally slowed after 2002, as gauged by state and federal 
testing agencies, and the earlier narrowing of achievement gaps ground 
to a halt (NAEP results), according to the study.

The university team focused on 12 states, including Arkansas, 
California, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New 
Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, and Washington. They selected 
these states because they are demographically diverse, geographically 
dispersed, and were able to provide comparable test score data over time.

Following passage of the 'No Child' law, federal reading scores among 
elementary school students declined in the 12 states tracked by the 
researchers - after climbing steadily during the 1990s.

The share of fourth-graders proficient in reading, based on federal NAEP 
results, climbed by one-half a percentage point each year, on average, 
between the mid-1990s and 2002. But over the four years after the 
legislation was passed, the share of students deemed proficient declined 
by about one percent.

The annual rise in the percentage of fourth-graders proficient in 
mathematics improved slightly in the same 12 states, moving up from 1.6 
percent per year before 'No Child' was signed to a yearly growth rate of 
2.5 percent following enactment of the law. This is the one out of six 
federal gauges where a post-NCLB gain was observed by the research team, 
tracking NAEP results.

The researchers simultaneously tracked achievement trends gauged by 
state and federal testing agencies over the 14-year period. "The 
correlation between the two barometers was close to zero," Fuller said. 
"We worry about the capacity of states to report unbiased test score 
results over time. But even state results generally confirm the more 
reliable NAEP pattern showing that progress in raising achievement has 
largely faded since 2002."

The authors urged Congress to improve the capacity of states to reliably 
track the performance of their students over time. "The fundamental 
principles of transparency and simplicity might guide state and 
congressional leaders," Fuller said. "The hurdles defining basic and 
proficient student performance between federal and state assessments 
should become more consistent."

Fuller added that "state and NAEP officials could do more to inform the 
public on how student demographics are changing, and achievement trends 
should be interpreted in this context."

The article is based on studies of accountability policies that Fuller 
directs with grant support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation 
and the Noyce Foundation.

--AERA--

Editor's Note: The full text of Fuller's study, "Gauging Growth: How to 
Judge No Child Left Behind?" is posted on the AERA Web site: 
www.aera.net <http://www.aera.net/>
http://www.aera.net/uploadedFiles/Publications/Journals/Educational_Researcher/3605/07EDR07_268-278.pdf

To interview Professor Fuller, call (510) 643-5362 or (415) 595-4320.

To reach AERA Communications, call (202) 238-3200; Helaine Patterson 
(hpatterson@aera.net <mailto:hpatterson@aera.net>) or Lucy Cunningham 
(lcunningham@aera.net <mailto:lcunningham@aera.net>).

The American Educational Research Association (AERA) is the national 
interdisciplinary research association for approximately 25,000 scholars 
who undertake research in education. Founded in 1916, AERA aims to 
advance knowledge about education, to encourage scholarly inquiry 
related to education, and to promote the use of research to improve 
education and serve the public good.