Many states mislead the public about whether students are proficient

[Igel]

1. TX doesn't do a completely abysmal job.

At least not at the 4th/8th grade levels.

But they did better with "truth telling" before the STAAR test. That's at least partly an artefact. The test was new and they were calibrating it. They set the bar for "proficient" low because teachers weren't up to teaching to that particular test yet. It's like the current HS biology STAAR test. 38% is required for passing, not just terribly far above random chance.

Making it worse is the strategy that they've said they have on the STAAR: 1/4 of the questions are "entry level," things that most kids should be able to do really well on. 1/2 are at the level they want kids to be at. 1/4 are a bit more challenging, so that "recommended" or whatever the above-average category is really does mean "above average."

I look forward to the 2015 NAEP results, and might take the time to look for the HS-level results.