February 21, 2013 Test Scores of Hispanics Vary Widely Across 5 Most Populous States, Analysis Shows By MOTOKO RICH Of all the changes sweeping through the American public education system, one of the most significant is simply demographic: the growing population of Hispanic students. A new analysis released Thursday of nationwide test results in the five most populous states — California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas — shows that depending on where they live, Hispanic students’ academic performance varies widely. According to the report, which examines data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often cited as the most reliable standard in academic testing, Hispanic students accounted for more than half of all eighth graders in California in 2011, the highest proportion in the country. But only 14 percent of those students were proficient on eighth-grade reading tests administered by the United States Department of Education. In Florida, 27 percent of Hispanic students (who represent just over a quarter of its public school students) scored at the proficient level or above. And in Illinois, 23 percent of Hispanic eighth graders were proficient in reading. In mathematics, Hispanic eighth graders in California similarly underperformed their peers in other states, with just 13 percent hitting the proficiency mark, compared with 22 percent in Florida and 31 percent in Texas, where Hispanics make up more than half the eighth-grade student population. In prepared remarks for a panel to discuss the report on Thursday, Richard Zeiger, chief deputy superintendent of public instruction for the California Department of Education, pointed out that one in four students in California is an English-language learner, the highest proportion in the country. He said that in addition to the state’s demographic challenges, the schools had been hampered by “a sustained disinvestment in public education, made all the more severe by the Great Recession.” California’s struggles were not confined to Hispanic students. Over all, the state’s fourth and eighth graders underperformed the national average in reading, math and science. One bright spot in the state came from gains shown by black students in fourth-grade reading and math scores over two decades. The report examined data from the five largest states — which together enroll close to 40 percent of public school students in the country — across a range of factors, including the poverty status of students and improvements in test scores over two decades. Jack Buckley, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which compiled the report, said there was no “consistent pattern among these states,” adding, “each state seems to have areas where it shines and others where they lag behind its counterparts.” Florida led the five states in improving fourth- and eighth-grade reading scores between 1992 and 2011, although average reading scores among the state’s eighth graders just reached the national average in 2011. Florida’s fourth graders also led the five largest states in gains in math scores, while eighth graders still scored below the national average in 2011. These results “validate the efforts of Florida teachers and the focus the state has put on academic achievement in a state that is as diverse as this,” Tony Bennett, the newly appointed commissioner of the Florida Department of Education, said in a telephone interview. Mr. Bennett also acknowledged that while the state had outperformed other large states in pushing achievement among Hispanic and black students, white students either trailed their peers in the rest of the country or were just at the national average. “People look at these almost as a diagnosis, and I don’t see it that way,” he said. “I see this much more in terms of a checkup and where we have to go from here.” Texas showed the strongest advances in eighth-grade math scores since 1990, and was the only state among the five whose eighth-grade math and science scores were above the national average. In a statement, Michael L. Williams, commissioner of the Texas Education Agency, said the results “speak to an emphasis Texas has placed on a critical core subject.” In New York, fourth graders scored above the national average in reading in 2011. Eighth-grade scores were close to the national average but showed very little progress since 1998. Both fourth and eighth graders in New York lagged behind the national average on math tests. Ken Slentz, deputy commissioner for P-12 education at the New York Department of Education, said the percentage of children reaching proficiency in either math or reading was “unacceptably low.” New York students’ scores appeared to be influenced in particular by whether they were enrolled in city or suburban schools. In eighth-grade reading, for example, the percentage of urban students who were proficient was 26 percent, compared with 43 percent of suburban children. “The exposure that our urban children have to high levels of learning versus typical suburban students — there are marked differences,” Mr. Slentz said. “Whether it’s access to public libraries, to well-developed after-school programs, there is a difference between what the suburban kids have at their fingertips versus what urban kids have.”

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February 21, 2013, The New York Times

By MOTOKO RICH

Of all the changes sweeping through the American public education system, one of the most significant is simply demographic: the growing population of Hispanic students.

A new analysis released Thursday of nationwide test results in the five most populous states — California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas — shows that depending on where they live, Hispanic students’ academic performance varies widely.

According to the report, which examines data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often cited as the most reliable standard in academic testing, Hispanic students accounted for more than half of all eighth graders in California in 2011, the highest proportion in the country. But only 14 percent of those students were proficient on eighth-grade reading tests administered by the United States Department of Education.

In Florida, 27 percent of Hispanic students (who represent just over a quarter of its public school students) scored at the proficient level or above. And in Illinois, 23 percent of Hispanic eighth graders were proficient in reading.

In mathematics, Hispanic eighth graders in California similarly underperformed their peers in other states, with just 13 percent hitting the proficiency mark, compared with 22 percent in Florida and 31 percent in Texas, where Hispanics make up more than half the eighth-grade student population.

In prepared remarks for a panel to discuss the report on Thursday, Richard Zeiger, chief deputy superintendent of public instruction for the California Department of Education, pointed out that one in four students in California is an English-language learner, the highest proportion in the country. He said that in addition to the state’s demographic challenges, the schools had been hampered by “a sustained disinvestment in public education, made all the more severe by the Great Recession.”

California’s struggles were not confined to Hispanic students. Over all, the state’s fourth and eighth graders underperformed the national average in reading, math and science. One bright spot in the state came from gains shown by black students in fourth-grade reading and math scores over two decades.

The report examined data from the five largest states — which together enroll close to 40 percent of public school students in the country — across a range of factors, including the poverty status of students and improvements in test scores over two decades.

Jack Buckley, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which compiled the report, said there was no “consistent pattern among these states,” adding, “each state seems to have areas where it shines and others where they lag behind its counterparts.”

Florida led the five states in improving fourth- and eighth-grade reading scores between 1992 and 2011, although average reading scores among the state’s eighth graders just reached the national average in 2011. Florida’s fourth graders also led the five largest states in gains in math scores, while eighth graders still scored below the national average in 2011.

These results “validate the efforts of Florida teachers and the focus the state has put on academic achievement in a state that is as diverse as this,” Tony Bennett, the newly appointed commissioner of the Florida Department of Education, said in a telephone interview.

Mr. Bennett also acknowledged that while the state had outperformed other large states in pushing achievement among Hispanic and black students, white students either trailed their peers in the rest of the country or were just at the national average. “People look at these almost as a diagnosis, and I don’t see it that way,” he said. “I see this much more in terms of a checkup and where we have to go from here.”

Texas showed the strongest advances in eighth-grade math scores since 1990, and was the only state among the five whose eighth-grade math and science scores were above the national average. In a statement, Michael L. Williams, commissioner of the Texas Education Agency, said the results “speak to an emphasis Texas has placed on a critical core subject.”

In New York, fourth graders scored above the national average in reading in 2011. Eighth-grade scores were close to the national average but showed very little progress since 1998. Both fourth and eighth graders in New York lagged behind the national average on math tests.

Ken Slentz, deputy commissioner for P-12 education at the New York Department of Education, said the percentage of children reaching proficiency in either math or reading was “unacceptably low.”

New York students’ scores appeared to be influenced in particular by whether they were enrolled in city or suburban schools. In eighth-grade reading, for example, the percentage of urban students who were proficient was 26 percent, compared with 43 percent of suburban children.

“The exposure that our urban children have to high levels of learning versus typical suburban students — there are marked differences,” Mr. Slentz said. “Whether it’s access to public libraries, to well-developed after-school programs, there is a difference between what the suburban kids have at their fingertips versus what urban kids have.”