A Closer Look at DC NAEP Scores

There have been many attempts to discredit Michelle Rhee's achievements in DC, so it's particularly interesting to see this analysis by Matthew Ladner, which shows that during her tenure the number of special ed and ELL students who didn't take the NAEP test dropped from 13-14% to 4%, which would obviously negatively affect the scores.  When Ladner excludes those students, we can see that DC's 4^th graders reading scores went up by 10 points – a full grade level! – in only four years, and that DC's 17-point combined 4^th and 8^th grade gains in reading tied for tops in the nation (with RI and CT):

In order to get a clearer picture on this, I decided to run 4th Grade NAEP scores for students outside of ELL or special education programs. This should minimize the impact of inclusion policy changes. Examined in this fashion, you get the following results:

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A Closer Look at DC NAEP Scores

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

http://jaypgreene.com/2012/01/12/a-closer-look-at-dc-naep-scores/