Kentucky set low bar on state reading assessments

The National Center for Education Statistics just released a report on how states are gaming their state tests to look good under No Child Left Behind. The comparison metric was the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Here is a Wall Street Journal graphic sourced to the US Department of Education which shows those states that are playing games by setting the state standard for proficiency below what the NAEP calls “basic” performance (which is only partial mastery of reading).

Note that Kentucky is one of the many states, shown in light blue, that are “cheating” on this measure.


Of course, this is old news to our readers. We developed our “NAEP Ruler” several years ago to show the exact same thing.

Now, what was that again about those high Kentucky testing standards?