Critique of the Sam Dillon Piece, 'Students Ace State Tests, but Earn D's From U.S.'

Check out Jerry Bracey's critique of the recent Sam Dillon piece on testing that appeared in the NYTimes titled, 'Students Ace State Tests, but Earn D's From U.S.' on November 26, 2005.

Also, check out other critical writings by him at his official website, EDDRA.

-Angela



From: GERALD BRACEY
To: letters@nytimes.com
Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2005 8:36 AM
Subject: NAEP achievement levels

Sam Dillon makes a fundamental error in his article about discrepancies between state tests and NAEP. He assumes the NAEP achievement levels are valid. They are not. Ideologues who wished to sustain the sense of crisis created by "A Nation At Risk" created them in the 1980's.

The NAEP levels are impossibly high. For example, In the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, American 4th graders finished 3rd among 26 nations in science. Yet NAEP said only 30 percent of them were proficient or better in science. Similar results occurred in math. Little wonder, then, that the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Education, the Government Accounting Office and the Center for Research in Evaluation, Student Standards and Testing have all rejected the NAEP levels. They continue to exist only because there is so much political hay to be made from saying that American schools and students stink.

Sincerely,

Gerald W. Bracey
1797 Duffield Lane
Alexandria, VA 22307
703-317-1716
gbracey1@verizon.net