Feb. 4, 2014
READ Act and the staggering percentage
of 4th graders not proficient in reading
NAEP results for Colorado 4th
graders: achievement gap in reading remains among highest in nation
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In
its report on the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress,
the Colorado Department of Education states:
·
“In
2013, there is 34 points achievement gap in average score between Colorado
fourth grade White students and Black students (Whites = 237; Blacks= 203).
This gap was wider than that in 1992 (21 points).
·
“In
2013, there is 27 points achievement gap in average score between Colorado
fourth grade White students and Hispanic students (Whites = 237; Hispanics=
210). This gap was wider than that in 1992 (20 points).” http://www.cde.state.co.us/sites/default/files/Summary%20of%20Facts-2013%20NAEP%20Reading%20Grades%204%20and%208_PA_Sandoval_Nov%2713_0.pdf – page 4.
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“Losing Ground: Colorado’s Minorities presents a disturbing yet
compelling portrait of a state where black and Latino residents are falling
further and further behind their white counterparts. That state is Colorado.” http://inewsnetwork.org/series/losing-ground/
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The first play on offense for the Broncos last Sunday recalled
the important study by I-News last year:
Losing Ground. After the loss,
Peyton Manning was willing to use the word “disappointed.” But he was “irked” when
it was suggested the team should be “embarrassed.”
Over 110 million viewers watched that disaster. In contrast, I send this to just a few of you,
those of you with your eyes on a more important recent “score” than that 43-8 drubbing,
results that are, at the least, disappointing.
Perhaps we are no longer embarrassed as they look so familiar. When it comes to
the reading gap for our youngest readers, Colorado’s scores are again among the
nation’s worst.
This week’s four-day 2014 Conference on Literacy, from Wednesday
through Saturday at the Denver Marriott Tech Center, will offer 424 workshops.
I write this in the hope it can be useful to one of those workshops, and because it is a topic that relates—I
say presumptuously—to perhaps, oh, 423 other sessions. To implement HB-1238, the Reading to Ensure
Academic Development Act, with its welcome focus on K-3 students who struggle
to read, we must face up to a few hard truths. Only then will we be committed to make dramatic
change and improvement in reading instruction in the early grades.
Pam
Sandoval of the Colorado Department of Education will present our state’s 2013 performance
in reading on the national report card: NAEP—the National Assessment of
Educational Progress. Registration
material tells us that a central question of her workshop will be “How is Colorado
doing in comparison to other states?”
One side of the coin, the positive story, shows that reading
scores for Colorado 4th graders have improved since 2003 to 2013 (http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/):
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Reading – grade 4
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Average Scale Score
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At or above proficient
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2013
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227
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41
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2011
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223
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39
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2009
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226
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40
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2007
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224
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36
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2005
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224
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37
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2003
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224
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37
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The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Early Reading Proficiency in the United States
shows this is a 6% improvement from 2003 to 2013 – good to see, but no
better than the national average. In fact, 11 states improved by 10% points or
more; another 10 states improved by more than 6% points.
NAEP results - % of 4th graders at or above
proficient in reading
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2003
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2013
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Colorado
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37
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41
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National
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30
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34
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We know better than to trust a press
release. So we take CDE’s announcement
last summer of the NAEP results with a grain of salt. Happy news. Under Colorado Reading Highlights, Grade Four, we read:
There
were four states that outperformed Colorado in average scale score
(Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maryland and Department of Defense), 17 states
that were not significantly different than Colorado and 30 scored significantly
lower than Colorado.
CDE also created a 5-pager with a Summary
of Facts on Colorado’s results. More
good news on page 3:
Colorado
is one of only two states that narrowed the 4th grade White-Hispanic
achievement gap from 2011 to 2013. Colorado narrowed the gap by 6 points and
Indiana narrowed the gap by 9 points. http://www.cde.state.co.us/sites/default/files/Summary%20of%20Facts-2013%20NAEP%20Reading%20Grades%204%20and%208_PA_Sandoval_Nov%2713_0.pdf
But let’s turn the coin over.
Keep reading that Summary.
Finally, on page 4, we find the figures on the huge gap in reading—which
opened this essay—between white 4th graders and black and Hispanic
students. Nothing to celebrate here. A story in Chalkbeat
last November touched on the persistent achievement gap by race and ethnicity in
our state—including math as well as reading:
Achievement
gap: Colorado’s achievement gap between white and Hispanic students
remains larger than the national average in both levels of math testing….Between white and black students, the gap on eighth
grade reading, which grew this year,
is also wider than the national average.
Last week’s headline in Chalkbeat, reporting on a more detailed
study, was more direct: t
in the one of the largest in the
Colorado’s achievement gap in reading one of largest in the nation
Kate
Schimel’s piece stated:
The gap in reading ability between Colorado’s low-income and
affluent students is the seventh largest in the nation and growing, according
to a report released Tuesday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The report looks
at fourth grade proficiency in reading nationwide, based on this year’s
National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), released last November. (Jan. 28, 2014)
There she gave the data I pointed to earlier: the “34 percentage
point gap in numbers of students reading proficiently between Colorado’s high
and low-income students”; only “21 percent of low-income students proficient.”
If not news, still a jolt, given our tendency to hear this once a year—and then
brush it aside.
This report, Early Reading
Proficiency in the United States, provides a national map that, for all of
us in Colorado, is particularly disheartening. The heading reads: “Gap in Fourth-Grade Reading Proficiency
Scores Between Lower- and Higher-Income Students.” Go to - http://www.aecf.org/~/media/Pubs/Initiatives/KIDS%20COUNT/E/EarlyReadingProficiency/EarlyReadingProficiency2014.pdf - Figure 2, where you see
Colorado as the only state west of the
Mississippi with a gap in the highest category, 33 points or higher (published
by the Annie E. Casey Foundation).
Percentage of Fourth Graders Reading Below Proficient Levels, by
Family Income
Eight states with largest gap between % of 4th
graders reading BELOW proficient levels, by family income.
|
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Lower Income
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Higher Income
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Gap
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1.
Illinois
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84
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48
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40 points
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2.
Connecticut
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81
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43
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38 points
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3.
Massachusetts
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75
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38
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37 points
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4.
Rhode Island
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81
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45
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36 points
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5.
Virginia
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79
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44
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35 points
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6.
Maryland
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76
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42
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34 points
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7.
Colorado
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79
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45
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34 points
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8.
Tennessee
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82
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48
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34 points
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NATIONAL
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80
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49
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31 points
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SOURCE - U.S. Department of Education,
National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational
But NAEP is not our test – so why should we take this seriously?
Often
educators disparage “those tests”—international assessments (PISA[1] and TIMSS[2]), and a national test like
NAEP, as unconnected to our students, our standards, our curriculum. The sample of Colorado students who take these
tests is too small, they say, to have much value for us.[3] Besides, they consider NAEP’s definition of
“proficient” way too high. Only 41% of 4th
graders proficient in reading—are you
kidding? TCAP shows over two-thirds
of our 4th graders are proficient.
And as for our low-income students, NAEP says only 21% are proficient; that’s
hard to swallow, when TCAP reveals, in both 2012 and 2013, that close to 50% of
Colorado 4th graders eligible for free and reduced lunch read at
grade level.
OK—though
it makes us wonder if our scale is too
generous. But what about the achievement
gap? What if our own state reading
assessment—taken by virtually all 4th graders in our public schools,
echoes the NAEP findings? The data that follows will, I hope, keep us from
dismissing the darker message in the NAEP results, for it uses our tests on our expectations for reading proficiency and finds … much the same
gap.
First, an
overview: the past three years, roughly one-third of our 4th graders
were unable to perform at the proficient level on our state test.
CSAP/TCAP READING-% Unsatisfactory, Partially Proficient
(PP), and either Proficient or Advanced (P/A).
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TCAP
– READING – 4th grade
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||
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Unsatisfactory
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Partially
Proficient
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Proficient/Advanced
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2011
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11.2
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23.1
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65.3
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2012
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10.5
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22.1
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67
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2013
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11
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21
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68
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These
percentages stand for a huge number of students. In both 2012 and 2013, over 20,000 4th
graders were found to be NOT PROFICIENT in reading.
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4th grade
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Total
# taking the test
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Unsatisfactory
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Partially
Proficient
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TOTAL
NOT PROFICIENT
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2012
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63,137
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6,650
(10.5%)
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13,969
(22.1%)
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20,619
students
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2013
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64,484
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6,733
(11%)
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13,716
(21%)
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20,449
students
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Now a closer look. Below you see the much higher percentage of
Hispanic, black, and lower-income 4th graders who have not tested as
proficient these past two years.[4]
2012 – TCAP – Reading - 4th
grade
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Unsatisfactory
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Partially Proficient
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Proficient (P)
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Advanced (A)
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P/A
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STATE
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11
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22
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63
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4
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67
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Hispanic
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18
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33
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47
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1
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49
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Asian
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9
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16
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67
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7
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74
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Black
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20
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29
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50
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1
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51
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White
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5
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16
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72
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6
|
79
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Free/Reduced Lunch Eligible
|
18
|
32
|
48
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1
|
49
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NOT Eligible F/R Lunch
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4
|
14
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74
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7
|
81
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Gap between white: Hispanic/Latino – 30% points
Gap between white: Black/African American – 28% points
Gap between student who are F/R Lunch Eligible and those who are
not eligible - 32% points
2013 - TCAP – Reading - 4th grade
|
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Unsatisfactory
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Partially Proficient
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Proficient (P)
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Advanced (A)
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P/A
|
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STATE
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11
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21
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63
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5
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68
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Hispanic
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18
3,784 students
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31
6,620 students
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50
10,520 students
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1
238 students
|
51
|
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Asian
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8
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16
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68
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8
|
76
|
|
Black
|
21
613 students
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28
833 students
|
50
1,483 students
|
1
35 students
|
51
|
|
White
|
6
|
15
|
72
|
7
|
79
|
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Free/Reduced Lunch Eligible
|
18
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31
|
50
|
1
|
51
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NOT Eligible F/R Lunch
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4
|
14
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74
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7
|
81
|
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Hispanic and Black students
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4,397
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7,453
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12,003
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273
|
|
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Hispanic and Black students
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11,840 – not proficient
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12,276 - proficient
|
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||
Gap between white: Hispanic/Latino – 28% points
Gap between white: Black/African American – 28% points
Gap between student who are F/R Lunch Eligible and those who are
not eligible: 30% points
Sadly, if we hope these gaps will diminish significantly by 10th
grade, the final year Colorado students take the TCAP, we see the gaps decline
only slightly. With only two years left in high school, roughly 45% of our black
and Hispanic students are not proficient readers. For low-income students,
almost the same percentages are not reading at grade level.
2012 –
TCAP – Reading - 10th grade
|
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Unsatisfactory
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Partially Proficient
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Proficient (P)
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Advanced (A)
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P/A
|
|
STATE
|
7
|
22
|
60
|
8
|
69
|
|
Hispanic
|
12
|
33
|
49
|
3
|
52
|
|
Asian
|
9
|
15
|
60
|
13
|
74
|
|
Black
|
14
|
33
|
46
|
2
|
49
|
|
White
|
4
|
16
|
67
|
10
|
77
|
|
Free/Reduced Lunch Eligible
|
13
|
33
|
49
|
2
|
51
|
|
NOT Eligible F/R Lunch
|
4
|
16
|
67
|
11
|
77
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Gap between white: Hispanic/Latino – 25% points
Gap between white: Black/African American – 28% points
Gap between student who are F/R Lunch Eligible and those who are
not eligible - 26% points
2013 -
TCAP – Reading - 10th grade
|
|
Unsatisfactory
|
Partially Proficient
|
Proficient (P)
|
Advanced (A)
|
P/A
|
|
STATE
|
7
|
21
|
59
|
10
|
70
|
|
Hispanic
|
12
|
32
|
50
|
54
|
54
|
|
Asian
|
9
|
13
|
59
|
17
|
77
|
|
Black
|
13
|
30
|
50
|
4
|
54
|
|
White
|
4
|
15
|
65
|
14
|
78
|
|
Free/Reduced Lunch Eligible
|
12
|
32
|
50
|
3
|
53
|
|
NOT Eligible F/R Lunch
|
4
|
15
|
65
|
14
|
79
|
Gap between white: Hispanic/Latino – 24% points
Gap between white: Black/African American – 24% points
Gap between student who are F/R Lunch Eligible and those who are
not eligible - 26% points
**
In short, we have to own this startling and, I believe, embarrassing
truth: over their first 4-5 years in our public schools, the number and
percentage of our black, Hispanic, and low-income students who do not achieve
proficiency is tragically high. Over 20,000 fourth graders. The READ Act
is one of several positive steps. But
let’s be clear, turning this trend around is critical. Let’s hope more than one out of the 424
workshops at this week’s literacy conference keeps this in mind.
We might also keep in mind the warning in Losing Ground:
The widening gaps, in most appraisals, do not bode well for
Colorado’s future…. Racial
inequality poses a threat to the future economic viability of
the state, (the Brookings Institution’s Alan) Berube said …. For others interviewed by I-News, the
inequities are a moral as well as an economic issue. If left unchallenged in
the coming decades, they threaten Colorado’s future.
[3] Colorado: 3,100 fourth-grade students in 118 schools
participated. 2,800 eighth-grade students in 111 schools participated. http://www.cde.state.co.us/sites/default/files/Summary%20of%20Facts-2013%20NAEP%20Reading%20Grades%204%20and%208_PA_Sandoval_Nov%2713_0.pdf
[4] One concern regarding the READ Act is that the number and
the percentage of students found proficient on our state test DECREASES from 3rd
grade (often 72%-74% proficient) to 4th grade (as you can see, of late it has
been between 67%-68% proficient). We
must hope that we are using more exact assessment tools (and perhaps less
lenient) than the 3rd grade TCAP to find and support those students who
are not proficient readers.
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