ERIC EJ795871: Improving the Education of Children Living in Poverty

2007·0.12 MB·English

by  ERIC

08 5565-4 murnane.qxp 7/15/2007 7:36 PM Page 161
Improving the Education of Children
Living in Poverty
Richard J. Murnane
Summary
Richard Murnane observes that the American ideal of equality of educational opportunity has
for years been more the rhetoric than the reality of the nation’s political life. Children living in
poverty, he notes, tend to be concentrated in low-performing schools staffed by ill-equipped
teachers. They are likely to leave school without the skills needed to earn a decent living in a
rapidly changing economy. Murnane describes three initiatives that the federal government
could take to improve the education of these children and increase their chances of escaping
poverty. All would strengthen the standards-based reforms at the heart of the No Child Left
Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) by bracing the three legs on which the reforms rest: accountabil-
ity, incentives, and capacity.
Congress, says Murnane, should improve accountability by amending NCLB to make perform-
ance goals more attainable. The goals should emphasize growth in children’s skills rather than
whether children meet specific test score targets. Congress should also amend NCLB to de-
velop meaningful goals for high school graduation rates.
Congress should strengthen states’ incentives to improve the education of low-income stu-
dents. It should also encourage states to develop effective voluntary school choice programs to
enable students who attend failing public schools to move to more successful schools in other
districts.
Finally,Congress should use competitive matching grants to build the capacity of schools to edu-
cate low-income children and the capacity of state departments of education to boost the per-
formance of failing schools and districts. The grants would help develop effective programs to im-
prove teaching and to serve students who do not fare well in conventional high school programs.
Murnane estimates the annual cost of these three initiatives to be approximately $2.5 billion.
www.futureofchildren.org
Richard J. Murnane is the Thompson Professor of Education and Society at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He thanks David
Cohen, Michael Cohen, Richard Elmore, Nora Gordon, Harry Holzer, Julia Isaacs, Brian Jacob, Jack Jennings, Susan Johnson, James Kemple,
Daniel Koretz, Robert Linn, Lawrence Mead, Jal Mehta, Jerome Murphy, Thomas Payzant, Edward Pauly, Paul Reville, Robert Schwartz, Adria
Steinberg, David Stern, and William Taylor for valuable conversations about the topic of this paper. He also thanks Jesse Rothstein and the
editors of this issue for valuable comments on earlier drafts. Finally, he thanks Trent Kaufman and John Papay for helpful research assistance.
VOL. 17 / NO. 2 / FALL 2007 161
08 5565-4 murnane.qxp 7/15/2007 7:36 PM Page 162
Richard J. Murnane
E
quality of educational opportu- only 13 percent of children living in poverty
nity has been part of the rheto- achieved a score of proficient compared with
ric of American political life 40 percent of children who were not poor. Al-
for many years. Reality, how- most half—49 percent—of children living in
ever, does not match the rhet- poverty had scores below the threshold for
oric. Children living in poverty, dispropor- basic competency, compared with just 21
tionately children of color, tend to be percent of nonpoor children.4
concentrated in schools with inadequate re-
sources and poorly skilled teachers. Many of The differences in the mathematics and read-
these children are likely to leave school be- ing skills of eighth graders of different groups
fore earning a high school diploma. Even if translate into striking differences in high
they graduate, many leave school without the school graduation rates. Although about
skills needed to earn a decent living. three-quarters of white youth earn high
school diplomas on schedule, the correspon-
Equal access to a good education has become ding figure for black and Hispanic youth—
especially crucial over the past twenty-five who are especially likely to be living in
years, as a rapidly changing economy has poverty—is roughly half.5 These numbers
made skills and education ever more impor- provide striking evidence both that the
tant determinants of labor market outcomes. United States is far from providing equality
Figure 1 shows trends in the average hourly of educational opportunity and that improv-
wages of Americans with different educa- ing the education of children living in poverty
tional attainments. In 1979 graduates of a is critical to improving their life outcomes. In
four-year college earned 46 percent more this article I propose and defend a set of ac-
than high school graduates earned on aver- tions that the federal government could take
age. By 2005 that gap had widened to 74 per- to improve the education of children living in
cent. During that same period the average in- poverty.
flation-adjusted earnings of high school
dropouts fell 16 percent.1 Recommendations
The federal government could improve the
Not surprisingly, the cognitive skills of stu- education of poor children and increase their
dents, even young students, predict accu- chances to escape poverty by taking three
rately how likely they are to graduate from steps. First, it could strengthen educational
high school, enroll in college, and get a four- accountability by amending the No Child
year degree.2 Inequality in mathematics and Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) to make
reading skills results in inequality in educa- test score goals attainable and to develop
tional attainment and inequality in labor mar- meaningful goals for increasing the share of
ket earnings. The best evidence on the read- students who graduate from high school. Sec-
ing and math skills of American children ond, it could address the problems of low-
comes from the National Assessment of Edu- income students by encouraging states to
cational Progress (NAEP), often called the strengthen high school graduation require-
nation’s report card. Math skills are particu- ments so that they better reflect the skills
larly important predictors of subsequent needed for success after graduation and by
labor market outcomes.3 On the 2005 assess- also encouraging states to develop voluntary
ment of the math skills of eighth graders, interdistrict school choice programs. Third, it
162 THE FUTURE OF CHILDREN
08 5565-4 murnane.qxp 7/15/2007 7:36 PM Page 163
Improving the Education of Children Living in Poverty
Figure 1. Real Hourly Wage for U.S. Workers, by Educational Attainment, 1973–2005
Hourly wage (2005 dollars)
35
30
25
Advanced degree
20
4-year college degree
15
Some college
10
High school diploma
5
Some high school
0
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Source: Based on Current Population Survey data from the Economic Policy Institute Data Zone (www.epi.org/datazone/05/wagebyed_a.xls).
could build the instructional capacity of should attract and support experienced,
schools to educate low-income children. skilled teachers committed to working to-
gether over an extended period to continu-
To readers familiar with the structure of ously improve instruction. School staff should
American education, it may seem odd to sug- monitor the learning of every student, inter-
gest that actions by the federal government vene rapidly at the first sign that a student is
would improve the education of disadvan- not making good progress toward mastering
taged children. After all, this country has his- critical skills, and provide alternatives when
torically left the governance of public educa- conventional pedagogies are not effective.
tion to the states, which in turn have And the school day and school year should be
delegated a great deal of responsibility and long enough that students can have extra
power to local school districts. Washington time to acquire critical skills if they need it.
has traditionally been relatively powerless to
affect what happens in American public But few children living in poverty attend
school classrooms. In recent years, however, such schools. Instead, they typically attend
things have begun to change. In the next sec- schools where leadership is weak, many
tion I describe these changes and explain why teachers lack critical skills, instruction is in-
federal actions can now influence the quality consistent, and learning problems are left un-
of education provided to children living in attended. A great many disadvantaged chil-
poverty. I then turn to the recommendations. dren thus leave school without the skills they
need to earn a decent living and to provide
The Federal Role for their own children.
From one perspective, improving the educa-
tion of children living in poverty is straight- The reasons why disadvantaged children typ-
forward. Policymakers should define clearly ically receive a poor education are numerous
the skills and knowledge students should and interrelated. Housing patterns leave poor
master at each grade level. Schools should be children, who have especially great learning
run by school principals who know how to re- needs, concentrated in particular schools and
cruit and support effective teachers and pro- school districts.6 Precarious and uncertain
vide them the tools to do this work. Schools city budgets prevent urban districts from hir-
VOL. 17 / NO. 2 / FALL 2007 163
08 5565-4 murnane.qxp 7/15/2007 7:36 PM Page 164
Richard J. Murnane
ing skilled teachers in a timely manner. Diffi- to all children—has been the most neglected
cult working conditions, combined with sen- part of standards-based reforms in most
iority provisions of collectively bargained states. By themselves, the first two compo-
labor agreements, leave low-performing nents—standards and incentives—will not
schools with the least teaching talent. improve student performance. Teachers
must know how to achieve the mandated out-
During the past fifteen years virtually every comes. But in most schools serving high con-
state in the country has adopted standards- centrations of poor children teachers lack the
based educational reforms, often called test- requisite skills and knowledge and have few
opportunities to acquire them. Building
teaching capacity is thus as critical to improv-
During the past fifteen ing student outcomes as appropriate stan-
dards and incentives are.
years virtually every state in
the country has adopted Since the passage of the Elementary and Sec-
ondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), the
standards-based educational
federal government has provided funding to
reforms as its primary improve the education of economically disad-
vantaged children. Title I of this law has been
strategy for improving
the nation’s primary compensatory education
public education. program, distributing funds to school districts
on the basis of a formula that weights heavily
the number of children living in poverty.8The
based accountability, as its primary strategy most recent reauthorization of ESEA, the No
for improving public education. Although de- Child Left Behind Act of 2001, marked a sig-
tails vary greatly from state to state, all stan- nificant change in the federal role in public
dards-based educational reforms include K–12 education. The new law requires states
three components. The first is the standards to test annually the reading and mathematics
themselves: content standards that specify skills of all public school students in grades
what students should know and be able to do, three through eight. It also specifies that all
performance standards that describe how stu- schools are expected to make adequate yearly
dents should demonstrate their knowledge progress (AYP) toward ensuring that all
and skills, and assessments that measure the groups of students, including groups defined
extent to which students meet performance by race or ethnicity and poverty, reach profi-
standards. The second component is incen- ciency within twelve years (by 2014). School
tives to encourage educators and students to districts and schools that fail to demonstrate
devote the time and energy needed to meet adequate yearly progress for all groups of stu-
the performance standards.7 The final com- dents are subject to corrective actions that
ponent is teachers who have the knowledge, can ultimately include the replacement of
skills, and resources to prepare all students to staff and school reconstitution.
meet the performance standards.
One strength of NCLB is that it draws atten-
The third component—building capacity to tion to the academic skills of children from
deliver consistently high-quality instruction low-income families, children of color, chil-
164 THE FUTURE OF CHILDREN
08 5565-4 murnane.qxp 7/15/2007 7:36 PM Page 165
Improving the Education of Children Living in Poverty
dren whose first language is not English, and behavior will become increasingly dysfunc-
children with disabilities—groups that histor- tional and contrary to the interests of chil-
ically have not been well served by American dren. Skilled teachers, for example, will be
schools. The importance of creating incen- likely to leave schools serving high concentra-
tives for schools to pay attention to these tions of poor children. And some teachers
often forgotten groups cannot be overesti- will focus instruction unduly on test prepara-
mated. It is the primary reason that some tion.10 In addition, in a system in which a
civil rights groups have supported NCLB. great many schools, even those that have
made real progress, are labeled “under-
At the same time, several provisions of the performing,” it may be difficult to identify
new law create perverse incentives for states the schools most in need of intervention.
and for educators. One source of perverse in-
centives is the fact that the adequate yearly A second source of perverse incentives in
progress requirements are well beyond the NCLB is the fact that states are allowed to
reach of even the states that have made the choose their own tests and their own mini-
most progress in improving students’ reading mum scores for achieving proficiency. This
and math skills. North Carolina, for example, latitude, combined with the pressure of hav-
made the greatest gain between 1990 and ing to meet adequate yearly progress require-
2000 in the share of students who score profi- ments, encourages states to make their tests
cient or above on the eighth-grade NAEP relatively undemanding and to set low mini-
mathematics test. If North Carolina were mum scores. A look at how students perform
able to sustain this top-ranking rate of on state-mandated tests and on the National
progress, almost 60 percent of its eighth Assessment of Educational Progress high-
graders would earn scores of proficient or lights this problem. In 2003, 77 percent of
above by 2014—a remarkable accomplish- fourth graders in Alabama scored “proficient”
ment, but well short of the required 100 on the state Reading-Language Arts exam,
percent.9 but only 22 percent scored “proficient” on
the NAEP fourth-grade examination.11
A related problem is that the accountability
system has only two categories: schools that A third weakness of NCLB concerns high
make adequate yearly progress and those that school graduation rates. Although the law re-
do not. Thus a school in which a few students quires states to include graduation rates in
in one ethnic group in a single grade fail to setting adequate yearly progress goals for
make adequate yearly progress is not distin- high schools, it does not specify how they
guished from a school in which all ethnic must do this. In interpreting the law, the U.S.
groups at every grade level fail to do so. Department of Education has allowed states
to measure graduation rates in a variety of
It makes sense to have ambitious perform- ways and to set their own goals for improving
ance goals. But an accountability system with those rates. Moreover, there is no require-
unrealistically high goals will not improve ment that goals be met for subgroups of stu-
public education. As educators become in- dents, defined by race and poverty. As a re-
creasingly aware that even consistently good sult, high school graduation rates, one of the
teaching will not allow their schools to satisfy most important indicators of school districts’
adequate yearly progress requirements, their success in serving students, play almost no
VOL. 17 / NO. 2 / FALL 2007 165
08 5565-4 murnane.qxp 7/15/2007 7:36 PM Page 166
Richard J. Murnane
role in the NCLB accountability system. One The assumption about governance structure
indication of the need to improve graduation is important because the current structure
rates is that among twenty-two industrialized limits the ability of federal policies to im-
democracies for which on-time high school prove the education of poor children. If the
graduation rates are available, the United governance of American public K–12 educa-
States now ranks nineteenth.12 tion were more centralized, the options for
federal policy would be quite different and
In summary, test-based accountability sys- closer to those that some other industrialized
tems introduced by states and the federal countries have adopted. They might include
government have had an impact on what hap- national content standards and national as-
pens in American schools, especially those sessments, a single set of training and licens-
that serve high concentrations of poor chil- ing requirements for all teachers, assignment
dren. The challenge now is to revise NCLB of teachers to particular schools in geo-
and state accountability systems so that chil- graphic areas encompassing many communi-
dren living in poverty make greater gains. ties, opportunities for students to attend a
The federal government can help make stan- wide variety of schools located in nearby
dards-based reforms a success by strengthen- communities, and a common strategy for
ing the foundation on which they rest, identifying students who are not making good
namely, accountability, incentives to serve academic progress and for consistently apply-
poor children, and the teaching capacity to ing intensive intervention strategies.
serve poor children.
In an important sense, the governance struc-
Before turning to my specific recommenda- ture of American public education is evolv-
tions, I want to make clear that they are ing. States play larger roles in determining
based on the presumption that the United curricular and testing requirements than they
States will retain its basic governance struc- did thirty years ago. NCLB marks a larger
ture for education. Local communities, oper- federal role. Nonetheless, local control re-
ating within boundaries set by states, will mains a central tenet of the educational gov-
make most of the decisions that determine ernance structure.
the day-to-day school experiences of chil-
dren. They will hire teachers and administra- Improve Accountability
tors, choose curricula, set the length of the Congress could improve educational ac-
school day and year, and invest in improving countability by amending NCLB to make test
the quality of instruction. Individual commu- score goals attainable and to develop goals
nities are responsible for educating all stu- for increasing high school graduation rate re-
dents living within their geographic bound- quirements.
aries; they have no responsibility to educate
students in neighboring communities. States, Make Test Score Goals Ambitious,
in their evolving role, will create content but Attainable
standards, choose tests to measure students’ Robert Linn, one of the nation’s foremost ex-
mastery of these standards, determine what perts on educational accountability systems,
requirements college graduates must meet to suggests several constructive changes in the
obtain a teaching license, and fund a signifi- adequate yearly progress provisions of
cant share of local school spending. NCLB.13 One, aimed at reducing the varia-
166 THE FUTURE OF CHILDREN
08 5565-4 murnane.qxp 7/15/2007 7:36 PM Page 167
Improving the Education of Children Living in Poverty
tion across states in the proficiency standard, meet targets by demonstrating growth in stu-
is to define the minimum score for profi- dents’ skills could also reduce the disincentive
ciency (often called the cut score) on a state for skilled teachers to work in schools serving
assessment to be equal to the median score high concentrations of poor children.15 The
of students in the state who took the test in Department of Education has shown itself
2002. Although in some ways an arbitrary open to such a change. In 2006 it approved ap-
choice, 2002 is the first year after passage of plications from five states to participate in a
NCLB. Linn also recommends requiring that pilot program in which schools could make ad-
the share of students scoring above that cut equate yearly progress by demonstrating gains
score increase by something like 3 percent- in the achievement of students scoring below
age points a year—so that the target for 2006 the proficiency cut score.16
would be 62 percent and that for 2014, 86
percent, rather than 100 percent. Judged Add Serious High School Graduation
against the fastest rates of improvement ob- Rate Requirements
served on NAEP tests, these targets would be Individual states now estimate high school
ambitious but, unlike the current targets, not graduation rates in many different, noncom-
unrealistic. parable ways. Given the importance of high
school graduation in determining the eco-
Linn also makes a suggestion in response to nomic future of the country’s youth, it makes
the problem that schools serving a greater sense to require that states, districts, and
number of the subgroups specified in the law schools measure graduation rates in the same
(including poor children, black children, His- way and that they meet common require-
panic children, and children with disabilities) ments for improving these graduation rates.
are more likely to fall short of adequate
yearly progress than schools serving a more In 2005 the nation’s governors signed a
homogeneous group of students.14 He would “Graduation Counts Compact” that commit-
amend the so-called safe harbor provision of ted their states to implementing a common
NCLB—an alternative way for a school to method for calculating their high school
satisfy AYP—so that when a subgroup of stu- graduation rates.17 By 2010 thirty-nine states
dents in a school falls short of adequate plan to report graduation rates based on this
yearly progress, the school as a whole can still formula. The Department of Education is
meet the target if the share of students in the providing competitive grants to state educa-
subgroup who score in the below-proficient tion departments to develop data systems to
category declines by at least 3 percentage track students over time and has already
points each year. This change could reduce awarded grants totaling more than $52 mil-
the disincentives for skilled teachers to work lion to fourteen states. It may thus soon be
in racially and ethnically diverse schools. possible to put in place meaningful accounta-
bility provisions to increase high school grad-
Linn also suggests modifying the safe harbor uation rates.
provision to allow schools to make adequate
yearly progress if their students make speci- Create Incentives for States to Act
fied gains in achievement over a school year Congress could create incentives for states to
rather than reaching specific achievement lev- strengthen high school graduation require-
els, as under current law. Allowing schools to ments to reflect the skills that students need
VOL. 17 / NO. 2 / FALL 2007 167
08 5565-4 murnane.qxp 7/15/2007 7:36 PM Page 168
Richard J. Murnane
for success after graduation and to promote content standards in the earlier grades to
voluntary interdistrict school choice programs. prepare students to do more demanding high
school work. The variation across states in
Strengthen High School Graduation standards and assessments would likely di-
Requirements minish. Moving toward a common set of na-
Today twenty-two states require high school tional standards and assessments makes sense
students to pass exit exams in mathematics in a country with a mobile population and an
and English language arts to earn a high increasingly integrated economy.
school diploma.18 But passing these exams
does not mean that students are ready either Care must be taken in determining precisely
for college or for the demands of jobs with which skills are important for success after
promising futures. Although more than 70 high school graduation. The tendency is to
percent of high school graduates enter two- ratchet up standards in areas such as mathe-
and four-year colleges, more than a quarter matics, where skills are relatively easy to
must take remedial courses in English and measure, and to neglect skills such as oral
mathematics before registering for courses communication, teamwork, and job search
that provide college credit, and the share is and interviewing that are critical to success in
much higher for disadvantaged students. postsecondary education and work but are
More than 60 percent of employers rate high hard to measure.20
school graduates’ skills in writing and basic
math as only “fair” or “poor.”19 A ten-year study of career academies illus-
trates the importance of skills other than
To give educators and students clear signals reading and math to success after high
about the adequacy of the work they do to- school. Career academies are small learning
gether in high schools, states should align communities embedded within a larger high
high school standards, assessments, and grad- school, whose students take classes together
uation requirements with the knowledge and for at least three years from a team of teach-
skills needed for postsecondary education ers drawn from different disciplines. The
and work. Public colleges and universities academies offer a college preparatory cur-
could create incentives for high school stu- riculum with a career theme, which enables
dents to master the more demanding skills students to identify relationships among aca-
required for high school graduation by com- demic subjects and understand how they are
mitting to base college course placement on applied in a broad field of work. The acade-
students’ scores on recalibrated state exams. mies generally include partnerships with
Knowing that scoring well on high school exit local employers, who provide work-based
exams would guarantee acceptance into col- learning opportunities for their students.
lege courses that count toward a degree (as
opposed to being funneled into “develop- In 1993 MDRC, one of the nation’s leading
mental courses,” which do not) would en- contract research firms, undertook an experi-
courage students to do the hard work needed mental study of the effect of nine career acad-
to master important skills. emies serving large shares of students living in
poverty. Because there was excess student de-
States that strengthen high school graduation mand for all nine academies, lotteries deter-
requirements would be likely to strengthen mined which interested students were offered
168 THE FUTURE OF CHILDREN
08 5565-4 murnane.qxp 7/15/2007 7:36 PM Page 169
Improving the Education of Children Living in Poverty
places. Both the students who were offered already begun work. Through the auspices of
places (the treatment group) and those who the American Diploma Project (ADP), a
lost out in the lottery and enrolled in other project of the organization Achieve, five
school programs (the control group) were fol- states worked together in 2003–04 to develop
lowed through high school and for four years benchmarks describing the specific English
after graduation. A variety of indicators of and mathematics skills needed for success in
success (reading and math scores, course postsecondary education or in jobs with
grades, on-time graduation, college enroll- growth potential. Thirty states are now work-
ment and completion, labor market earnings) ing to align high school standards with the
were measured for all participants.
The findings of the evaluation are striking. In More than 60 percent of
both treatment and control groups, academic
employers rate high school
skills, high school graduation rates, and col-
lege enrollment rates were higher, on aver- graduates’ skills in writing
age, than the national average for students
and basic math as only
with similar demographic characteristics.
(These credentials reflect the greater than “fair” or “poor.”
average motivation of students who wanted
to enroll in career academies.) However, at
the end of high school the math and reading demands of postsecondary education and
skills of students in the treatment group were work, and a dozen are also upgrading their
no higher, on average, than those in the con- high school graduation requirements.22
trol group. Nonetheless, young men who had
been offered places in a career academy In most states realigning high school gradua-
earned $10,000 (18 percent) more than men tion requirements will entail redesigning exit
in the control group during the four-year fol- examinations. As is almost always the case
low-up period after high school. The labor when new exams are introduced, scores will
market benefits were especially large for initially be poor but will improve as educators
male students who were at risk of dropping learn to prepare students for them. The
out of high school as the experiment began. question will inevitably arise whether im-
The explanation for this striking pattern is proved exit exam scores reflect better prepa-
that enrollment in career academies and the ration of students for postsecondary educa-
associated opportunities for workplace in- tion and work or simply score inflation
ternships and jobs enabled students to ac- resulting from narrowly focused test prepara-
quire skills that were important to labor mar- tion. To answer this question, it is necessary
ket success even though they were not also to align the twelfth-grade NAEP English
captured by scores on standardized reading language arts and mathematics examinations
and math tests.21 with the skills needed for postsecondary edu-
cation and work and require all states to ad-
Congress could provide funding to help minister these examinations.
states strengthen high school graduation re-
quirements when it reauthorizes the Higher Today the federal government requires states
Education Act or NCLB. Some states have to participate in the NAEP assessment of the
VOL. 17 / NO. 2 / FALL 2007 169
08 5565-4 murnane.qxp 7/15/2007 7:36 PM Page 170
Richard J. Murnane
English language arts and mathematical skills Some readers may wonder why states do not
of students in grades four and eight. As simply require that students score above pre-
noted, comparisons of the performance of determined cut-offs on redesigned twelfth-
students on the NAEP tests and on manda- grade NAEP tests in order to receive a high
tory state tests have revealed how undemand- school diploma. In other words, why not get
ing many state tests are and how low many high school students to take the NAEP tests
states have set their thresholds for profi- seriously by making the scores count? There
ciency. It is important to have similar nation- are two complementary answers. First, the
ally comparable benchmarks against which to NAEP uses a matrix sampling design under
judge states’ high school graduation require- which different students are asked to answer
ments, including their exit examinations. Re- different questions. The design permits reli-
quiring all states to administer twelfth-grade able estimation of the extent to which groups
NAEP tests could provide these benchmarks of students have mastered a much broader
if two challenges can be overcome. The first range of skills than would be the case if all
is to redesign the NAEP tests to be sure they students answered the same questions. But
reflect the skills needed for postsecondary as a consequence, scores are not computed
education and work. Progress on this front is for individual students. Second, critics of
under way. In August 2006 the National As- test-based accountability often complain that
sessment Governing Board, the group that test score gains on high-stakes tests stem
sets policy for the NAEP, voted to redesign from extensive drilling and do not reflect in-
the NAEP twelfth-grade mathematics exami- creases in students’ mastery of the relevant
nation in accord with skills necessary for subject domains.25The only way to assess the
postsecondary education and jobs with extent to which this is true is to compare
growth potential.23 In taking this action the score trends on the high-stakes test with
board accepted advice requested from those on a different, broad-based examina-
Achieve, sponsor of the American Diploma tion. The NAEP tests are designed to serve
Project (ADP). The revised NAEP twelfth- this audit function.
grade math examination will thus likely be in-
formed by the work of the ADP. Promote Interdistrict School Choice
No Child Left Behind requires school dis-
The second challenge is to convince twelfth- tricts to give students the option of transfer-
grade students to make their best efforts in ring to a more successful public school if
answering questions on the NAEP examina- their own school fails to make adequate
tions when their scores not only have no con- yearly progress for two years in a row. And
sequences for them but are never even the law gives low-achieving children from
known to them. Only if the students give low-income families priority in requesting
their best effort will the scores serve as a transfers. To date, however, this school
useful audit of the consequences of revising choice option has been little used, for several
high school graduation requirements. reasons. Successful public schools, especially
Whether it is possible to elicit the full atten- in urban areas, rarely have empty seats and
tion and effort of twelfth-grade students often have long waiting lists.26 And many
under those circumstances remains to be school superintendents give parents little or
seen, though several recent experiments no information about the school choice op-
show some promise.24 tion. Finally, scores on state tests taken in the
170 THE FUTURE OF CHILDREN