Louisiana students score near bottom on national test

Students in Louisiana showed slight improvement in reading but still lag most of their counterparts in the United States in both reading and mathematics, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Education. Louisiana ranks near or at the bottom of 50 states, the District of Columbia and Defense Department schools.

Progress for Louisiana students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress test was mainly flat, with the exception of eighth-grade reading scores.

Louisiana Education Superintendent John White used the report to reiterate his push for the Common Core national education standards, which have come under attack in recent weeks. While Louisiana students have steadily improved on the high-stakes LEAP tests, as recent statewide results show, those achievements have not translated to the more stringent National Assessment of Educational Progress, White said.

'The growth this year was moderate. If we want to see something beyond incremental growth, we've got to raise our standards, and the Common Core standards is the best way to do that,' he said.

White said the Common Core standards are modeled after the National Assessment of Educational Progress exam. 'Our own growth, our own progress within Louisiana doesn't mean as much if we're not really competitive with our peer states,' White said.

While supporters of the Common Core say the nationally aligned standards will raise student achievement and let Louisiana compare its students' academic progress to other states, critics say the state is rushing the move and has ill-prepared its teachers for the change, and that adoption of the standards is a move to a nationalized education system.

The ranking released Thursday comes from the performance of fourth and eighth graders in math and reading on what is commonly called the 'nation's report card.' According to those results, Louisiana fourth graders scored 231 out of a 500-point scale in math; the national average is 241. In reading they scored 210, while the national average is 221.

Among eighth graders, Louisiana scored 273; the national average is 284. In reading, the Louisiana students scored 257, an increase of two points from 2011 but still below the national average of 266.

In reading, fourth graders ranked above their counterparts in Washington D.C., New Mexico and Mississippi. The state's fourth-grade math score tied it for last place with Mississippi.

Eighth graders' math scores ranked above Alabama and D.C., while its reading score bested those of students in New Mexico, Mississippi and D.C.

Since the test was first administered in 1990, however, student achievement in Louisiana has improved. In the past decade, for example, the percentage of fourth graders scoring at or above basic in math improved from 57 in 2000 to 75 in 2012, according to the report. The percentage of students scoring proficient also increased, from 14 to 26, as did the percentage scoring advanced, from 1 to 3.

There continues to be a large score gap between higher performing students, those listed in the 75th percentile, and those in the lower 25th percentile. In 1990 there was a 44-point difference, compared to 42 points this year.

The new report is part of a series of statistical data that will be released over the next few months detailing student achievement based on the National Assessment of Educational Progress scores. The latest test was given earlier this year to 377,000 fourth graders and 342,000 eighth graders around the country.

The test was given to students at public and private schools. However, the state scores only include the results of public school students because the private school samplings are too small to produce reliable results, according to the report. The schools and students were selected to represent the country's diverse student population.

Overall, national student achievement has increased slightly, according to the report.

In math, fourth and eighth graders gained one point over 2011's result, increasing to 241 and 284. In reading, the national score increased one point to 221 for fourth graders and two points for eighth graders, to 266.

Long-term, the average math scores for fourth and eighth graders in 2013 are 28 and 22 points higher than in the 1990 assessment, according to the report.

Student performance is reported in two ways: scale scores and achievement levels. The 500-point scale score is designed to indicate what students know and can do. The proficiency score is an indicator of what students should know and be able to do based on standards developed by the National Assessment Governing Board.

For each subject and at each grade level, the board established achievement levels for basic, proficient and advanced performance.

'Ultimately, the goal is to have all students performing at or above the proficient level,' said Jack Buckley, commissioner for the National Center for Education Statistics. 'Students who reach the proficient level display solid academic performance, or, as we often say, they demonstrate competency of challenging subject matter.'

Louisiana is among 11 states that had lower percentages at or above proficient in both grade levels for math. It is one of 14 states that had lower percentages at or above proficient in both grade levels in reading.

In math, 41 percent of fourth-grade students nationally scored at or above proficient, compared to 26 percent in Louisiana. Among eighth graders, the national rate was 34 percent, the state rate 21 percent.

In reading, 23 percent of Louisiana fourth graders were rated at or above proficient, compared to 34 percent nationally. For eighth graders, 24 percent were rated at or above proficient versus 34 percent at the national level.