Florida Students – and Education Policies – Shine in New NAEP Reading Results

Lindsey Burke / March 25, 2010

Results from the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading assessment have just been released and are, well, uninspiring. Reading achievement, despite significant increases in spending over the past few decades and increasing federal policy intervention in the past decade, has remained flat.

The lackluster results indicate that the top-down approach of federal policy, characterized by No Child Left Behind and the current administration’s policy, has not led to significant increases in student achievement.

But, despite the bad news, there is an outlier among the states– Florida. The Sunshine State’s results are a bright ray:

Reading scores for all students. While 4th grade reading across the country remained flat, 4th grade reading in Florida rose two points and 8th grade reading role 4 points over 2007 figures.
Although these gains are good, the improvements made by sub-groups (special needs students, African American students, Hispanic students, English language learners, and low-income students) are the most impressive. (more…)