Learn From Can-Do Schools

Even though many of them began school with economic and language difficulties similar to those of many California public school students, Texas fourth-graders scored better than the national average on a federal math test that measures educational progress. California fourth-grade students continued to rank among the worst nationwide.

When the math test scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) were broken down by race and ethnicity, white fourth-graders who attend public schools in Texas tied for first place with white students in Connecticut. African American and Latino fourth-graders in Texas, though largely far from proficient, had mastered the basics. They led the nation for their groups, as they did four years ago.

California’s fourth-graders made slight and encouraging progress in math but remained near the bottom of the rankings on the NAEP, which is taken by 44 states and is the only national source of comparable state-by-state data on student performance and progress. Although 54% of California’s fourth-graders scored at or above the national average in math on the Stanford 9 test, California’s respectable gains did not keep pace with states like Texas, where the best, worst and average students all have made dramatic progress.

In California, 48% scored “below basic” on the NAEP; in Texas, only 23% tested in the lowest category on the nation’s report card, which was released earlier this month. “Texas had outstanding success moving students from the ‘below basics’ level to the ‘basic’ level. That’s what Texas has held its schools accountable for,” said Amy Wilkins of the Education Trust, a Washington advocacy group. “The passing level on [the state’s own test] is roughly equivalent to the basic level on NAEP.”

Texas also did better on one of the most difficult educational challenges, reducing the huge achievement gaps on standardized tests between white and Asian students on the one hand and black and Latino students on the other. California can learn from the success in Texas because the two large states have similar demographics in race, ethnicity, poverty and English proficiency. There are, however, some differences.

Delaine Eastin, California superintendent of public instruction, points out that while one in four limited-English students takes the NAEP test (in English) in California, only about one in 10 does so in Texas, and an even smaller percentage is in the national sample on which NAEP results are based. She also explains that few of California’s state education reforms have been in place as long as progressive changes in Texas.

Sacramento is responding with more training for teachers, especially those who are unprepared to teach math. That’s good, because California is running out of excuses. Tests results are not everything, but in the competitive world that awaits today’s children, scores do matter.