Prepared for College? Massachusetts 12th Grade NAEP Results

There is a new measure from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tying 12^th grade results to college preparedness.  In 2009, for the first time, NAEP reported state results for 12^th Graders from 11 volunteer pilot states including Massachusetts, as well as overall national results.  At that time we once again crowed about how the Commonwealth was at the top of the list in both math and reading assessments.  Though justifiably proud of our statewide accomplishment it still felt to many like we were merely the best of a sorry lot.

Now with the release of the 2013 12^th grade NAEP assessments Massachusetts’ accomplishment is muted, not because we dropped in ranking (we are still barely holding on to that distinction in math and have lost first place in reading to Connecticut and New Hampshire).  Nor is it because our 2013 results in both math and reading were lower than in 2009 (they were and that alone is cause for concern).

The most alarming outcome is that when mapped against the new NAEP measure of college preparedness the results for 12^th graders fall far short of what we all want and expect.  As David Driscoll, Chair of the National Assessment Governing Board and former Massachusetts Commissioner of Education, says, “…unfortunately they are lackluster.”  Individual state results against the new college preparedness cut scores are not yet released but they can be inferred.  Anyway you look at it the message is that less than 1/2 of our 12^th graders are prepared to do college work.

Check out the 3 minute video from NAEP that tells this “lackluster” and disheartening story in a disarmingly understated manner:

Of course when you consider that high school dropouts are not captured in NAEP’s  12^th grade  assessments the picture of college as well as career preparedness in our high schools is that much grimmer.  (NAEP is still working on a parallel effort to measure preparedness for careers though that is harder to do given the wide range of vocations and training requirements.)

To its credit NAEP remains focused on its mandate to report real measures and real results with the hope that they can raise educational performance and convey the sense of urgency.  It’s our job to answer the wake-up call.

Joe Esposito is a member of the MBAE Board of Directors and the NAEP Business Policy Task Force.