The Problem With “Proficiency”
Limitations of Statistics and Policy Under No Child Left Behind
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9735450 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andrew Dean Ho (ANDREW DEAN HO is an assistant professor in Psychological and Quantitative Foundations at the University of Iowa, 316 Lindquist Center, Iowa City, IA 52242; . His research interests are in statistical methods and conceptual frameworks for validating test-score gains under high-stakes accountability systems), Andrew Ho (0000-0003-1287-9844, ACT Foundation, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 351-360 |
| Publication date | 2008-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Educational Researcher (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0013-189X • E-ISSN: 1935-102X |
| Publisher | American Educational Research Association (AERA) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.3102/0013189x08323842 |
| OpenAlex | W2099441957 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 26 |
| References cited | 16 |
The Percentage of Proficient Students (PPS) has become a ubiquitous statistic under the No Child Left Behind Act. This focus on proficiency has statistical and substantive costs. The author demonstrates that the PPS metric offers only limited and unrepresentative depictions of large-scale test score trends, gaps, and gap trends. The limitations are unpredictable, dramatic, and difficult to correct in the absence of other data. Interpretation of these depictions generally leads to incorrect or incomplete inferences about distributional change. The author shows how the statistical shortcomings of these depictions extend to shortcomings of policy, from exclusively encouraging score gains near the proficiency cut score to shortsighted comparisons of state and national testing results. The author proposes alternatives for large-scale score reporting and argues that a distribution-wide perspective on results is required for any serious analysis of test score data, including “growth”-related results under the recent Growth Model Pilot Program
Accountability · Econometrics · Economics · Geography · Mathematics education · Metric (unit · No child left behind · Operations management · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Scale (ratio · Standardized test · Statistic · Statistical hypothesis testing · Statistics · Test (biology · Test score · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Income, Poverty, and Inequality · Law · Mathematics · Psychology · School Choice and Performance
Beyond the school building
The Implications of No Child Left Behind’s Waivers for Contemporary School Improvement Systems
School District and Community Factors Associated with Test Score Declines During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Three Metrics for Monitoring Educational Progress when Tested Populations Change
Estimating Trends From Censored Assessment Data Under No Child Left Behind
Leading Indicators of Academic Achievement
Educational Opportunity in Early and Middle Childhood
Measuring success
Accountability-driven school reform
Accountability, Test Prep Incentives, and the Design of Math and English Exams
Evaluating Education Governance
Common Purposes
The politics of teachers' union endorsements
An Urban District’s Struggle to Preserve School Turnaround Change
Accountability as a Design for Teacher Learning
Practices and Commitments of Test-centric Literacy Instruction
The Waive of the Future? School Accountability in the Waiver Era
Teaching to the Test” in the NCLB Era
Fully Accounting for English Learner Performance
We Are the 5
Accountability Policy, School Organization, and Classroom Practice
Uneven Progress
Centralization and Long-Term System Performance
High-Stakes Accountability in Social and Political Context
Neoliberal Education Reform and the Perpetuation of Inequality
The Geography of Racial/Ethnic Test Score Gaps
| Unique citing works | 26 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,63 |
| Citation span | 2010 - 2026 (17) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 26 |