There wasn’t much to celebrate when the National Assessment of Educational Progress test results disclosed earlier this week.

The news wasn’t particularly good nationally, with scores that were largely flat as compared with the results two years ago, deflating some of the president’s arguments as America reconsiders the No Child Left Behind law…

There is one state that can look upon the results released this week with a great deal of pride and satisfaction, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. NAEP measures the scores in both reading and mathematics for the fourth and eighth grades…

The results are astounding. In all four categories, Massachusetts tops the list of all states, a feat never achieved by any other…

So is there some kind of “Massachusetts Miracle” to explain these impressive results? No, suggests Abigail Thernstrom, a former member of the Massachusetts Board of Education and co-author of No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning. Just hard work and honesty in testing.

In an e-mail from Ms. Thernstrom she said, “Massachusetts NAEP scores are no miracle. They reflect the policies of a board of education that has been dedicated to a rigorous curriculum, tough assessments, and transparent results. The first scores on the state’s exams were shockingly low, but the board stuck to its standards, insisting that students could meet them and that teachers themselves had to work harder and smarter. The result: the Commonwealth is first in the nation on the NAEP tests.”

Massachusetts demands that its high school graduates pass an exit exam, a requirement that enrages the powerful and growing anti-testing movement. But this sets a high bar and a clear goal.

Along the way, Massachusetts, like every state under the No Child Left Behind law, tests its children in grades three through eight. But unlike many other states, the Bay State is unafraid to align their tests with the tough standards set by NAEP.

Real reform begins with the truth, and in Massachusetts, that strategy pays dividends as this week’s NAEP results demonstrate…

Source: New York Sun, NY
http://www.nysun.com/article/63554?page_no=3