The 2024 test results from the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as “The Nation’s Report Card,” show a depressing, continuing downward spiral in American education. But, as first reported in The Daily Signal, the states of Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee are bucking the trend and showing continuing improvement.
Education experts say much of this is about getting back to basics in how these subjects are taught, while maintaining tough standards for students and teachers.
Results from the quartet of states in 4th and 8th-grade reading and math begin here:
Tennessee credits its Comprehensive Assessment Program, which tests third graders to ensure they are reading proficiently before they can advance to fourth grade. Students who do not pass are offered free interventions, such as summer school or after-school tutoring. The Volunteer State also implemented an “Educator’s Bill of Rights”, designed to improve transparency, discipline, and safety in the classroom.
Jonathan Butcher, director of The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy, also credits two other southern states for their commitments to educational progress:
“The Mississippi improvement started a decade ago. They’re one of the states that has the fastest gains of any state in the country, and right along with them is Louisiana.”
Indiana is among an increasing number of states either implementing or updating bans on cellphones in classrooms to limit distractions during learning time.
“These states in particular have very strong school accountability systems,” Christy Hovanetz, senior policy fellow for ExcelinEd, commented. “They have high expectations for students and historically have been very transparent in how they report data and information.”
Kansas outcomes declining on NAEP
Kansas NAEP results in 4th and 8th grade math and 4th and 8th grade reading did not show significant improvement in recent years. Hovanetz pointedly criticized the decision recently by the Kansas Board of Education to reduce proficiency standards to artificially show improvement.
“Don’t sell our kids short—if we set high expectations, kids will rise to meet them,” Hovanetz said. “I’m disappointed in actions that have been taken in Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Illinois, and most recently Kansas to lower expectations on what students should know and be able to do.”
She added: “If we lower the bar to meet them where they are now, post-COVID, we’re never going to get back on track and improve.”
