NAEP Results: Educator Critique
This October, The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released the results of its 2022 Mathematics & Reading Assessments. While the results revealed decreased academic performance, many educators believe the takeaways are more nuanced and highlight inequities that were present prior to the pandemic as well as an over-reliance on state testing. Educators are also speaking out against public criticism due to the scores.
“The declines don’t mean that students failed to learn anything or forgot things they already knew between 2019 and 2022. Rather, students did learn over that period, but progressed at slower rates than their peers had in prior years.” —Middle School Educator in Colorado
“In response to the national report card data, you’re going to hear folks blame attempts at making schools more equitable for lower test scores. This is racism. This is ableism. This is the point.” —English Teacher in Texas
“Another release of test scores, another erasure by some pundits of the many students and teachers who showed up in person all through 2020-21. Let’s not pretend everybody was remote with sweeping statements about policies and impacts.” —English Educator
“I’m refusing to accept the narrative that these NAEP scores are a big deal. The last three years have been bonkers & the students lost a few percentage points off an optional test. Everything will be okay.” —Middle School Teacher in Georgia
“How many people will take the NAEP discourse and further sow distrust in our schools? Instead of trying to improve pedagogy, create equitable learning conditions, and eradicate child poverty, our society’s going to settle for more testing drills and tutoring. I reject this. The ‘gaps’ were already widening before the pandemic. Many of us didn’t need to look at a national test to tell you that something is deeply wrong with the education our children are receiving across the board. It ain’t the test. It’s the process. Society’s failing our children. As more studies come out about the NAEP, keep in mind that we’ve now had about two decades of overemphasis on testing with – at best – modest gains on achievement. We need a whole rethink about our education process that truly builds for democracy and our futures.” —Educator in New York
“The accounts of people who are education-adjacent and are smugly posting about NAEP scores for students they didn’t teach (because they don’t) and blaming teachers as if a massive societal disruption/upheaval wasn’t occurring during those kids’ development- whew. Embarrassment.” —High School Teacher in Virginia
During October, conversations involving “standardized testing” and “assessment” increased 41.33% from September. This includes spikes on October 24th and 25th, directly following the NAEP results release.
October 2022:
September 2022:
Methodology: These charts represent a sample of conversation volume among 5,000 teachers on Twitter from October 2022 compared to September 2022.