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Federal study shows only a few states set high proficiency bar

Most states have set low cutoff scores for their schools

June 7, 2007 - Most states have set cutoff scores for their homegrown school accountability tests that are lower – dramatically lower, in most cases – than South Carolina’s, according to a long-awaited research study released today by the federal government.

 

In half the states, fourth-graders who scored Proficient on their 2005 state reading tests would have been rated “Below Basic” on federal standardized NAEP tests mandated by No Child Left Behind.  But in South Carolina, Massachusetts and Wyoming, proficiency levels on the state and federal tests were similar. That means that cut scores for Proficient in most states would be equal to Basic or Below Basic levels in South Carolina.

 

Improving student proficiency has become a major theme in American K-12 education in recent years.  NCLB requires all students to be “proficient” in math and reading by 2014, but the federal law allows individual states to determine their own definitions of proficiency.

 

(Click here to be taken to the South Carolina Department of Education site for the rest of the article...)