Group Rips Idaho ‘Proficiency Gap’

Idaho’s “cut scores” on standardized tests are far out of line with student performance, contributing to a “proficiency gap,” an education nonprofit group said Monday. The Foundation for Excellence in Education compared states’ grading criteria with their students’ performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP. The foundation dubbed the difference in scores the “proficiency gap,” and said Idaho had some of the largest gaps in the nation . For example, 90 percent of Idaho fourth-graders received a proficient score for reading, but only 33 percent replicated this performance on NAEP. This 57 percentage point gap ranked No. 48 in the nation. Idaho had similarly large gaps on fourth-grade math and eighth-grade reading (both ranked No. 49 nationally), and in eighth-grade math (ranking No. 43 nationally)/ Kevin Richert , IDEDNews.org. More here.