This coalition is diluting President Bush's education proposals by loosening requirements for annual testing in grades three through eight in reading and math, or eliminating the requirement to use the NAEP test. Either way, the effect will make it more difficult for public education consumers to ascertain how students and schools are measuring up to national norms. Delaware schools have used NAEP tests on a four-year cycle, with the last round given in 1998. It is working with the Bush administration to have the tests administered annually to improve the quality of information. There needs to be a clear way to determine how American schools are serving students regardless of what kind of testing is done locally.
Conservatives have considerable aversion to national norms.
Politicians and educators also worry that a test as rigorous as NAEP might upset parents when large percentages of children fail. The appeal of this method is that nobody looks too bad. If public school reform is to be accomplished in the United States, we need to know the unvarnished facts about where our children stand against standards. Watering down President Bush's education bill is a disservice. The inherent sluggishness of federal studies could be the key to scuttling the long-planned dredging of the Delaware River's main shipping channel.