Mark Schneider, Commisioner, National Center for Education Statistics, summarized data February 22, 2007, in the release of two reports by the National Assessment of Educational Progress:

The Nation's Report Card: 12th-Grade Reading and Mathematics 2005
Students’ performance in the 2005 reading assessment ... shows a decline in the average score in 2005 in comparison to 1992, and no significant change in comparison to 2002. Results from the 2005 mathematics assessment could not be compared to those from previous years because of changes in the assessment content and administration. In 2005, 61 percent of twelfth-graders performed at or above the Basic level in mathematics and 73 percent performed at or above Basic in reading.

America's High School Graduates: Results from the 2005 NAEP High School Transcript Study
2005 graduates earned approximately three more credits (about 360 additional hours of instruction during their high school careers) than their 1990 counterparts. In 2005, the overall grade point average (GPA) was approximately a third of a letter grade higher than in 1990. Graduates with stronger academic records obtain higher NAEP scores.

The commissioners say that the results of these two studies contradict each other. I wonder, if teachers continue to engage in grade inflation or dumbing down courses, or if maybe students arrive in classes with more course content related background. I think I'll review these reports to test these null hypotheses.

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