Innovation
Elementary School Test Scores
Description: The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s Report Card, provides measures of the performance of students in grades 4 and 8 on national standardized tests in four subjects: mathematics, reading, writing, and science. Results for other grades and subjects are available only for the nation. The tests are not administered on a consistent schedule, by subject or by grade.
On the dashboard, the results for Arizona are compared to the national average for all tests that have been administered in Arizona, dating from 1990 through 2007. The results are expressed on the basis of two achievement levels: (1) basic or higher, and (2) proficient or higher. Basic is defined as partial mastery of prerequisite knowledge and skills that are fundamental for proficient work. Proficient is defined as solid academic performance.
Rationale: Innovation requires the steady input of human capital into the workforce and into institutions of higher learning. Academic performance, in comparison to national norms, is a useful proxy for measuring human capital at early stages of development. Also, performance on standardized tests may be used by innovators contemplating relocation to Arizona when evaluating the quality of the elementary and secondary school system for their own children.
Data Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/states. The national data can be accessed from http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard.
Comments on the Quality of the Data: Arizona students compare less favorably to the national average on the NAEP test than on other tests, such as TerraNova or Stanford 9. The NAEP is administered to a small sample of students. The sample size in Arizona is approximately 1/100 that of other tests and thus is much more subject to sampling error. In addition, the NAEP test is not given under the same circumstances from state to state. All students must take the test in English in Arizona due to a voter-passed initiative, while in a number of other states, English language learners may take the test in Spanish.
