Bright spots among a dark NAEP release: Prioritizing high-quality curriculum

This week’s score report from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has been met with warranted concern: by all accounts, the overall news is not good for our nation’s children, who continue to struggle doing math and reading on grade level. With the onset of the pandemic now 5 years in the rearview mirror, and student achievement still well below pre-pandemic levels in many places, it’s clear we can’t blame COVID any longer.

But I’m less interested in blame and more interested in zooming in on the districts and states that are beating the odds of this gloomy report.

In its NAEP roundup, the National Assessment Governing Board shared that, “Only one state, Louisiana, surpassed its 2019 (pre-pandemic) 4th-grade reading score, and only one state, Alabama, surpassed its 2019 (pre-pandemic) 4th-grade math score.”

Let’s start with Louisiana. As I have highlighted before, the Pelican state has long been a national leader in supporting district adoption and implementation of high-quality instructional materials. Equipping local leaders with state-vetted curriculum and professional learning providers, and streamlining funding streams with a focus on aligning instructional practices, has proven a winning formula. Former state chief John White put it well: “the essence of the plan remains constant: select evidence-backed curricula, build teachers’ skill every day on the practices needed for those curricula, and be transparent about the results schools achieve.”

Turning now to Alabama and a focus on math: as faithful readers may recall, I was all in on Alabama’s Numeracy Act during last year’s March Mathness run. So it’s no surprise to me that this state is leading the pack in supporting K-5 students with a comprehensive focus on high-quality curriculum, aligned teacher and coach support, individual student interventions, and transparent accountability.

Other flashes of good NAEP news on the 4th-grade math front come from states like Mississippi and Rhode Island, which have also made investments of time, resources, and talent in supporting district implementation of high-quality instruction.

To build on this positive momentum, the Collaborative for Student Success is joined by 27 other leading advocacy organizations in calling for action to improve student math gains. The letter points to 6 concrete, common sense strategies with the first two focused on high-quality instruction and teacher training – and highlights states that are doing the work as inspiration for others to follow.

The good news can be found, along with a path forward. Let’s spread the word.

Jocelyn Pickford is an education policy and communications specialist focusing on understanding and promoting practitioner-informed public policy across the private, public and non-profit sectors as a Partner with Waypoint Education Partners. She began her career in education as a high school English teacher in a regular and special education inclusion classroom and is now a public school parent and recent member of her local district school board. Previously, Jocelyn led the design, launch and implementation of the Teaching Ambassador Fellowship at the U.S. Department of Education to integrate teachers into the national education policy dialogue.

Jocelyn’s passion for her work was seeded during her own public school education and took root during her classroom teaching experience in Fairfax County, Virginia, where she led action research and presented instructional materials to a variety of audiences. Jocelyn earned her bachelor’s degree from Trinity College (CT), working as a professional writer and editor prior to becoming a teacher, and obtained her master’s in secondary education from George Washington University. Jocelyn lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and two children.