WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, and U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), issued the following statement after the National Assessment Governing Board released its report on the 2009 12th Grade National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), which measures the progress of high school seniors across the country in math and reading. For the first time this year, the report showed the performance of high school seniors in 11 states. The report shows that 12th graders nationwide improved in math and reading since 2005, but the average reading score was lower as compared with scores from 1992.
“Nationwide, our high school seniors are not where they need to be in math and reading. It is hard to be excited about the small gains some students are making when we know that all students, in every state, in every school, need to be making gains for both their success in life and the future of this country,” said Miller. “This report makes it very clear that we need real change in our schools, so we can finally see real results on a national level. The case for dramatic education reform is written in the pages of this report. It is simply unacceptable for only a small demographic of students to progress.”
“Reports like these, while limited in fully evaluating how we educate our children, are informative. Because of the NAEP reports we know that our students have only made small gains in math. While I’m encouraged that New Jersey students are doing better in math relative to the national average, neither the state nor national assessment should be satisfactory to anyone,” said Holt. “We still must act aggressively to improve the math and science education that is critical to developing the technically sophisticated workforce that is in increasingly high demand in the 21st century.”
More information on the NAEP report
“Reports like these, while limited in fully evaluating how we educate our children, are informative. Because of the NAEP reports we know that our students have only made small gains in math. While I’m encouraged that New Jersey students are doing better in math relative to the national average, neither the state nor national assessment should be satisfactory to anyone,” said Holt. “We still must act aggressively to improve the math and science education that is critical to developing the technically sophisticated workforce that is in increasingly high demand in the 21st century.”
More information on the NAEP report
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