The most recent National Association of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading test results were released today, and the results are decidedly mixed.  First, some bad news: nationally, just 33% of fourth graders, and 32% of eighth graders, scored at or above a "proficient" level on the reading test.  The results were even worse for low-income students.  Only 17% of low-income fourth graders and 16% of low-income eighth graders scored at or above a "proficient" level.

The good news?  Fourth grade reading scores in some urban school districts--notably New York City--have risen over the past several years, and that trend continued in 2009.  Troublingly, though, this success has not spilled over into middle school.  Even in New York, eighth grade reading scores have remained depressingly low.

Today, PBS aired the final new episode of Reading Rainbow, the Lavar Burton show that aimed to impart a love of reading to young children.   My reaction upon hearing this news was fourfold, and can be adequately expressed using the emoticons that come with this blog platform:

Dust off your talking points, everybody!  The new federal National Assessment of Educational Progress test results were released this week, and everybody seems to have a take.   (For those of you who don't have the time to sift through the report, there's a good graphical summary here). 

To summarize: nationwide, math and reading scores are up a lot for 9-year-olds.  They're up less for 13-year-olds, and they remain unchanged (since the 1970s!) for 17-year-olds.  That's a good thing, says former Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, who notes that No Child Left Behind is "not about high school" and says the results "are affirming our accountability-type approach."  Not so, says Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, who argues that high schools are "educational dead zones." 

What about the achievement gap?  Well, good news!  Math and reading scores for racial minorities are up.  But--wait a minute--the achievement gaps persists, and, as The New York Times reports, No Child Left Behind does not appear to be closing a racial gap.  One goal of No Child Left Behind was to close the achivement gap, so that pesky little fact, at least, stands in contradistinction to Margaret Spellings's argument that "what we have paid attention to is working."

So, what's the takeaway?  Meh.  Either we're doing something right in elementary school, or we're doing something wrong in secondary education.  Either our focus on accountability is raising test scores across the board, or our schools are once again failing ethnic minorities.  And of course, anytime we have an issue with race and education, the New York Times thinks it's prudent to consult people like Freeman A. Hrabowski III, so that they can quote somebody as saying that smart isn't "cool" for black kids (or that it wasn't in the pre-KIPP, pre-No Child Left Behind, pre-Obama mid-1990s, when his book on the subject was published).  In short, educational test data is a Rorschach Test.  You see what you want to see--or at least, what your political ideology tells you to see. 

(As an aside, I will also note that these test results only deal with math and reading, not with social studies, science, art, physical fitness, or many of the other subjects that have been cut back to make room for supplemental reading and math instruction in many schools.  I'll have a lot more to say on that topic in the coming weeks, when I get around to discussing my piece in the Michigan Law Review on the potential illegality of these cutbacks vis-a-vis social studies). 

So, read the latest test results as you will--after all, you're probably going to anyway.  But for those searching for a takeaway from this week's data, here are my two cents:  The latest test scores show that educational accountability might be a good thing, but it's no panacea.  The challenges confronting our education system are quite pronounced across all grade levels, but we're really failing secondary students, and high school students in particular.  We need to do more to raise test scores for minority and lower-income students, and just telling schools to "raise them" apparently doesn't narrow the achievement gap.  And to do that, we need to give kids a wide-ranging and rich educational experience.  To the extent that minority kids don't think academic success is cool, maybe it's because academic learning has not yet engaged them.

At least, that's what I see in the inkblot.  Maybe somebody else can tell me why I'm wrong, or at least diagnose any personality disorders that might be apparent from my Rorschach results.

As former educators, we here at The Generation Project are ashamed to admit that we were unaware until recently that March is National Reading Month.¹  My own excuse is that I was always distracted by the fact that March is also National Screw Up Your Bracket By Picking Notre Dame To Go To The Final Four Month. 

Having discovered that March is National Reading Month, though, we thought we would take the opportunity to feature two reading-related gifts that donors have recently implemented through The Generation Project's pilot program. For those of you who don't know, our pilot program has been implementing a limited number of donor-designed gifts  in Detroit and New York City schools in advance of our official launch, and two of the March gifts implemented through the pilot program explicitly shared with students the gift of reading:

Amber Hermosillo--Gift of American Girl Books (Implemented in Mr. Piekara's Sixth Grade Class, Bronx, NY):
Growing up, Amber's favorite books were those in the American Girl historical fiction series. Because those particular books sparked Amber's passion for reading, she decided to purchase a complete set of American Girl books for a high-need urban classroom.  Amber's gift was implemented in Evan Piekara's sixth grade classroom at I.S. 162 in the Bronx.  Judging from the photographs that Mr. Piekara sent to us, it seems clear that there are a number of young readers in his class that share Amber's love of these particular books--and will hopefully go on to share Amber's lifelong love of reading.  Photographs of Amber and the kids, in montage form, below:

Duffy Fitzpatrick--Gift of Magic Tree House Books (Implemented at Wayne Elementary School, Detroit, MI):
When Duffy's son was in elementary school, she read through the Magic Tree House book series with him.  The series--which follows the time-traveling adventures of a brother-and-sister duo--teaches children about both literacy and history.  Having seen how her own son loved gravitated towards these books, Duffy decided to donate two full boxed sets of Magic Tree House books through The Generation Project.  Duffy's gift was implemented at Wayne Elementary School in Detroit.  Watch the video below to see how three third grade students think about reading--and why they are looking forward to the Magic Tree House books:

Both Amber and Duffy's gifts speak to a real need in many American schools.  It is virtually undisputed that reading is absolutely key to academic success--but students will never develop a love of reading if they aren't exposed to books that capture their attention and their imagination.  And, unfortunately, many schools simply don't have enough textual diversity in school or classroom libraries.  That's where donor-led philanthropy can come in: most people that love reading can name certain books that grabbed their attention growing up, and chances are, there's a kid out there who's going to gravitate towards those same books as well.  Donating a book, or a set of books, is an inexpensive way to make a personal and profound diffference in kids' lives.

Happy Reading Month from The Generation Project.