Newsday.com: US Schools Suspected of Inflating Reading Test Scores

BY JOHN HILDEBRAND
john.hildebrand@newsday.com

February 22, 2007, 9:31 AM EST

Twelfth-graders show no improvement in reading skills on the latest national tests, but their grades continue to climb, according to federal officials who suspect the nation's schools are inflating grades.

Suspicions that teens' rising grade-point averages are unmerited were fueled by two national reports released Thursday morning at a Washington, D.C., news conference. Both reports are from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a U.S.-sponsored program that tests students in academic subjects.

The latest test results -- in 12th-grade reading -- have hit their lowest point nationwide since assessment in that subject first started. On average, according to a new report on reading achievement, students scored 286 on a scale of 0 to 500 in 2005, down one point from 2002 and six points from 1992.

Meanwhile, grade-point averages have risen steadily nationwide, according to a companion report on high-school transcripts. In 1990, that typical student grade average in English was 2.52 out of a possible 4.0, or the equivalent of a C-plus. By 2005, the typical grade average was 2.82, equivalent to a B-minus.

Federal authorities say they can't be sure whether this reflects a conscious effort by schools to puff students' achievements, or whether other factors such as teacher inexperience in grading also may be responsible.

"What we're saying is that grade inflation is one of a variety of factors that could be at play here," said Stephanie Germeraad, a spokeswoman for the National Assessment of Educational Progress's appointed governing board. "We need to find out what's going on in classrooms."

This marks the first time that National Assessment has drawn such a sharp contrast between declining student achievement and inflated transcripts. However, sponsors of private national testing programs such as the SAT have expressed concern over the same phenomenon for years.

On Long Island, educators say inflated grades are an inevitable result of the pressures felt by students to win admission to selective colleges.

"I think grade inflation has in recent years been endemic to every high school, especially to those that are college-prep institutions," said Jeff Rozran, an English teacher at Syosset High School. "Obviously, the pressure from parents and administrators to keep grades high is very real. But I don't think there's any conscious effort to give higher grades."

Rozran, who is a director of New York State United Teachers, a statewide faculty union, adds that declining reading levels also are inevitable in a world given over to video games.

"When children don't read for recreation, naturally reading scores are going to decline over time," he said. "I don't think there's anything surprising about this, except that none of us know how to address it."

Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.