4 ms·

Honestly, being flat speaks to a great deal of the success of Texas, since nationally, scores are decreasing: https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=38 h

Honestly, being flat speaks to a great deal of the success of Texas, since nationally, scores are decreasing: https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=38 https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=38

voxic11 1y ago
It could be they are adjusting the test to make it easier each year. So it being flat doesn't actually tell you anything.
- mox1 1y ago
  Texas is not, according to the article they are making it harder every year.
  - horsawlarway 1y ago
    I think the article is implying but not proving this statement. They are correctly pointing out that the test is essentially norm-referenced (by design) and that this matters if you're looking for improvement (it will mask that improvement) but it also doesn't imply that they're making the test harder. If anything - the flat line indicates that they're keeping it norm-referenced and that masks change in both directions. It could well be that they're actually making the test easier since covid, again - to keep the line flat and norm-referenced (hard to tell since a lot of the article's data stops in 2021). --- Essentially - this test is good for saying "How is this school performing vs its peers". It is not good for showing baseline improvement or decline across all schools. That distinction is important, but I'm also not sure that it matters that much in terms of funding allocation; I'm not deep in the weeds here, so it's possible Texas is missing on some upside, but generally... my assumption is that the "budget" for education is relatively fixed at both the state and federal level, and the goal is not to award states that improve baseline numbers ever increasing budgets, but rather to force states to allocate the fixed resources to schools that are over-performing compared to their peers. If that's the goal... a norm referenced test makes a ton of sense.
  - sorcerer-mar 1y ago
    No, it says the difficulty is adjusted every year. You'd see the same flatness whether the entire population was doing better or if they were doing worse. An alternative headline might read: "Texas’ annual reading test adjusted its difficulty every year, masking whether students are improving or getting worse"
hellisothers 1y ago
[flagged]
- bongoman42 1y ago
  Could also be Covid sequelae showing up. Many blue states significantly delayed opening up schools post Covid and the effects are only being apparent now.
  - garciasn 1y ago
    TIL sequelae: se·que·la; /sēˈkwelə/; noun; plural noun: sequelae a condition which is the consequence of a previous disease or injury. "the long-term sequelae of infection"
    - bongoman42 1y ago
      Sequel comes from the same root.
- MaxHoppersGhost 1y ago
  Closing down schools two years for covid will do that
- indoordin0saur 1y ago
  I have nephews/nieces in both NY and TX. This is just my anecdotal observations, but the educational experience in NY seems to have been much worse than in TX. NY's covid policies and the following hangover was a big part of it but TX seems to have some very good public schools (at least in middle class suburbs).
  - msgodel 1y ago
    Talking about schools at a state level seems really silly. I know in the state I live in there's an incredible variance in quality between counties and cities that probably mostly washes out the interstate differences. Most important things in the US are really like this.

voxic11 1y ago

It could be they are adjusting the test to make it easier each year. So it being flat doesn't actually tell you anything.

mox1 1y ago
Texas is not, according to the article they are making it harder every year.
- horsawlarway 1y ago
  I think the article is implying but not proving this statement. They are correctly pointing out that the test is essentially norm-referenced (by design) and that this matters if you're looking for improvement (it will mask that improvement) but it also doesn't imply that they're making the test harder. If anything - the flat line indicates that they're keeping it norm-referenced and that masks change in both directions. It could well be that they're actually making the test easier since covid, again - to keep the line flat and norm-referenced (hard to tell since a lot of the article's data stops in 2021). --- Essentially - this test is good for saying "How is this school performing vs its peers". It is not good for showing baseline improvement or decline across all schools. That distinction is important, but I'm also not sure that it matters that much in terms of funding allocation; I'm not deep in the weeds here, so it's possible Texas is missing on some upside, but generally... my assumption is that the "budget" for education is relatively fixed at both the state and federal level, and the goal is not to award states that improve baseline numbers ever increasing budgets, but rather to force states to allocate the fixed resources to schools that are over-performing compared to their peers. If that's the goal... a norm referenced test makes a ton of sense.
- sorcerer-mar 1y ago
  No, it says the difficulty is adjusted every year. You'd see the same flatness whether the entire population was doing better or if they were doing worse. An alternative headline might read: "Texas’ annual reading test adjusted its difficulty every year, masking whether students are improving or getting worse"

hellisothers 1y ago

[flagged]

bongoman42 1y ago
Could also be Covid sequelae showing up. Many blue states significantly delayed opening up schools post Covid and the effects are only being apparent now.
- garciasn 1y ago
  TIL sequelae: se·que·la; /sēˈkwelə/; noun; plural noun: sequelae a condition which is the consequence of a previous disease or injury. "the long-term sequelae of infection"
  - bongoman42 1y ago
    Sequel comes from the same root.
MaxHoppersGhost 1y ago
Closing down schools two years for covid will do that
indoordin0saur 1y ago
I have nephews/nieces in both NY and TX. This is just my anecdotal observations, but the educational experience in NY seems to have been much worse than in TX. NY's covid policies and the following hangover was a big part of it but TX seems to have some very good public schools (at least in middle class suburbs).
- msgodel 1y ago
  Talking about schools at a state level seems really silly. I know in the state I live in there's an incredible variance in quality between counties and cities that probably mostly washes out the interstate differences. Most important things in the US are really like this.