State Math, Reading Tests in 'Race to the Bottom'

• In 2005, Oklahoma’s reading and math standards were rated easier than average; by 2007, they decreased the rigor even more, making all their tests among the easiest to pass in the nation, and below the national standard of “basic” achievement.
• In 2007, Tennessee had the distinction of having the lowest standards in the country in eighth-grade reading, and in and grade math.
• Mississippi had the easiest test to pass in grade reading, followed by Oklahoma and Tennessee.
• North Carolina, which has long held itself out as a leader in education reform, had among the lowest standards in and grade reading.
• States that had set their test standards below the basic level in grade reading and math were Alabama, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Those that scored below basic in grade reading and math included Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
• Not all the news was bad. South Carolina was the only state to develop a fourth-grade reading test that met national standards for “proficient” achievement. South Carolina and Massachusetts were the only two states to create eighth-grade math tests that met the same high standard. Massachusetts also created the most rigorous grade math test in the country; South Carolina, the toughest eighth-grade reading test. Missouri’s tests were consistently among the top as well.
• To put the effects of these weakened standards into perspective, consider this: Arizona and Minnesota both announced that 66 percent of their graders had earned a “proficient” rating on their reading tests. However, based on national standards developed for the National Assessment of Education Progress, only 24 percent of Arizona’s students and 37 percent of Minnesota’s would have earned that kind of rating.

This latest study will no doubt increase pressure for a standards and testing overhaul. "I think this is going to create more displeasure with the current system, and more of an appetite for common standards, with the caveat that they be high standards," said Amber Winkler, research director of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. The group most likely to benefit from this growing sentiment: the Common Core State Standards Initiative, a joint effort by the National Governor's Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. The two groups' stated goal is to create a rigorous common core of standards for English and math for grades K-12 that are aligned with college and career paths. While states have long been resistant to federally dictated school standards, most of the 50 states have already agreed to work on this state-led effort that will indisputably move the country closer to national standards. The U.S. Department of Education is supporting the effort by proposing that states that win a piece of the $4.35 billion federal Race to the Top fund will need to embrace the new standards movement and work toward the development of new tests that align with them.