New York Tests Rate a C+ On Grade Inflation

By ELIZABETH GREEN, Staff Reporter of the Sun
May 13, 2008

New York State's standardized tests are getting low marks due to grade inflation.

Using test scores from 2007, two researchers — an education policy professor at Harvard University, Paul Peterson, and a Washington policy analyst, Frederick Hess, of the American Enterprise Institute — compared the percentage of students judged "proficient" by state tests to the percentage that met the same designation on a respected national test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

New York received a C+, putting it at the middle of what researchers called a fairly dismal — and in some cases, "laughable" — list, grading states from A to F.

The grade is a notch higher than New York's grades in previous studies of 2003 and 2005 data, when the state got C grades.

Because the report works on a curve, the improvement means either that New York's standards got slightly tougher or that they held their ground as other states' standards dropped, Mr. Peterson said.

The report appeared in the journal Education Next, which is published by the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

The grade comes as the state Board of Regents is completing its first comprehensive review of standards since 1999. The review is aiming first at English standards and then will target other subjects.

A spokesman for the state Education Department, Jonathan Burman, said the push aims "to ensure that achievement continues to rise."

Mr. Peterson said New York would do well to follow the example of Massachusetts, which got the second-highest score of all the states, an A.

He said the state's high standards have paid off; Massachusetts students improved more on the NAEP between 2003 and 2007 than did students in any other state.

Mr. Hess said the discrepancy between state and NAEP results should be acknowledged when school districts report their scores.

"They should constantly be measuring performance not just against New York standards, but reminding teachers and parents of how they're failing against a more demanding set of expectations," Mr. Hess said.