by the Way . . .

Let's see how your acuity stacks up against that of the various state school officials. In order to get federal funds, schools must increase the percentage of students demonstrating proficiency each year, and have to get to 100% by 2014. Now here is the acuity part. You, the state, not only get to define what "proficiency" is, i.e. the number of correct answers required, but you also get to make up the test.

Did you pass? Most states did. For example, Tennessee proficiency this year was in the high 80s in both math and reading, for both fourth and eighth grades. Two bits says they will increase that every year, and reach 100% on schedule. Well, yes, there is a slight fly in the ointment, NAEP. That is the National Assessment of Education Progress given by the feds. It doesn't count, of course (states' rights you know), its only purpose is to let policy makers see how things are going, or should we say, what is going on.

Turns out the NAEP scores are a bit lower than the state test results. How about mid 20s for Tennessee, and Texas around 30% instead of where the state test put it in the 80s? Margaret Spellings (pictured), U.S. Secretary of Education, and a former Assistant to President Bush who helped draft the No Child Left Behind Act, says the comparison will "shine a light", but declines to criticize. "We're not going to sit up in Washington and look at all those moving parts [left to the states]." She did have a suggestion. The Assessment classifies students as "advanced", "proficient", and "basic", the later meaning sort of partial mastery of the requirements. Many score below basic, but that is not considered an "achievement level". When the results were released, Ms. Spellings urged reporters to compare the state "proficiency" percentages to the federal "basic" percentages. That helped, but it was clear that the feds need to recognize a lower "achievement level", perhaps "sub-basic" to really clear up the problem.

Some officials liked that idea, but most didn't think any comparison was helpful. A spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Education agreed that the fed basic "is comparable to our proficient", and added "nobody here would say we have a perfect test". But the Alabama spokesman, where 83% became 22%, said any comparison is not fair. "Making comparisons to the NAEP becomes very difficult without giving the impression that some states are not measuring up to the others or to the nation." The Georgia spokesman, where 83% became 24%, explained that "Kids know the federal test doesn't really count".

Not every state official passed. The South Carolina state test was so rigorous that some scores were below those on the NAEP. Naturally, state legislators are demanding the necessary adjustments. While the previous misjudgment should make it easy to show the year to year improvement required, the legislators need to be careful. You wouldn't want to show all the improvement in one year.