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MarylandCAN releases analysis of NAEP results; proficiency rates down in all subject areas
Baltimore, M.D.—MarylandCAN: The MarylandCAN Campaign for Achievement Now yesterday released analysis of Maryland’s NAEP test results. Also known as the Nation’s Report Card, NAEP tests offer a trusted, consistent and objective measure of student achievement that allows for apples-to-apples comparisons of proficiency across the country. Overall, Maryland students’ proficiency rates are slipping—achievement gaps are widening rather than shrinking for most student groups.
Other key findings include:
- Across all subjects, overall student proficiency rates are no higher than 40 percent.
- Across all subjects, more white, black, Hispanic, and low-income students are doing worse than they were two years ago.
- Proficiency gaps are still too wide – in math, there is a 35 percentage point gap between white and black students – and those gaps are growing for more black, Hispanic, and low-income students.
“Baltimore and Maryland’s results on the 2015 NAEP confirm unequivocally that we are not educating our children of color or children from low-income households. The inclusion of more children with disabilities is commendable and may have had an impact on Baltimore and Maryland’s scores. But, if children who do not have disabilities—who make up the vast majority of our student population—were making the progress they need, we would have seen an uptick in scores, or at worst, flat scores. The fact that almost all achievement gaps have widened, and that narrowed gaps are due to a decrease in performance by white and non-low-income students shows that we are failing to lead our students, especially those who have been historically underserved students, from reaching their full potential,” says MarylandCAN executive director Jason Botel.
“I hope Marylanders will take advantage of several opportunities—including the new Maryland College- and Career-Ready Standards, the PARCC assessments, the selection of our next State Superintendent of Schools, and the election of the next Mayor of Baltimore—to put policies in place that will get more resources, and the power to use them, out of bureaucracies and into schools and classrooms. It’s what we need to set our kids up for success.”
For interviews with MarylandCAN Executive Director Jason Botel or for more information, please contact Udeitha Srimushnam at udeitha.srimushnam@50can.org or (408) 655-7775.
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MarylandCAN: Launched in January 2012, MarylanCAN: The Maryland Campaign for Achievement Now, is a 501(c)3 nonprofit education reform advocacy organization building a movement of Marylanders with the political will to enact smart public policies so that every Maryland child has access to a great public school.