DEBORAH SIMMONS: Standardized testing, testing … 1, 2, 3

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Uh-oh. America made a big boo-boo.

It has nothing to do with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton or Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders, whose political destinies fall Tuesday into the hands of the good people of Indiana.

News of the big boo-boo came last week via the release of new analyses by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the nation’s report card.

NAEP tested seniors in 740 high schools, including private ones. In short: Fourth-graders aren’t ready for middle school, middle schoolers aren’t ready for high school, and high school seniors aren’t ready for college or the workforce.

• Only 37 percent of 12th-graders are prepared for college-level reading and math courses, and that’s down from the biennial tests in 2013. Moreover, the number of students who scored below the basic level in math rose from 35 percent in 2013 to 38 percent, and in basic reading from 25 percent to 28 percent.

• Regarding reading, NAEP said that “2015 scores not different at grade 4 and lower at grade 8 than in 2013; scores higher than in 1992 at both grades: The 2015 average score was not significantly different at grade 4 and was 2 points lower at grade 8 compared to 2013. Scores at both grades were higher in 2015 than those from the earliest reading assessments in 1992 by 6 points at grade 4 and 5 points at grade 8.”

• Regarding math, NAEP said that “2015 scores at both grades lower than in 2013 and higher than in 1990: The 2015 average scores were 1 and 2 points lower in grades 4 and 8, respectively, than the average scores in 2013. Scores at both grades were higher than those from the earliest mathematics assessments in 1990 by 27 points at grade 4 and 20 points at grade 8.”

Have we been dumbing down students?

Does NAEP ask the wrong questions?

Are our curricula disjointed?

Are we still pissed at President George W. Bush for No Child Left Behind mandates?

Are our children not learning because of the high-stakes federal funding game that President Obama reinforced?

Do we think standardized testing is irrelevant?

That our kids are not as smart as we think they are. White kids do better than black and Hispanic kids, and Asian kids are so daggum smart we could send a script to Norman Lear titled “Stereotype This, Stereotype That.”

Real life, however, is not a sitcom.

While we harangue each other over whether our schools should have unisex restrooms, we’re allowing our children to learn the basics about math, reading and civics.

That Mrs. Clinton served as first lady, not first person.

That Thomas Jefferson said, “The information of the people at large can alone make them the safe as they are the sole depositary of our political and religious freedom.”

Repeat, “political and religious freedom.”

That the moral bar for the mistress of the Auld Plantation was to help teach Frederick Douglass, a slave boy, how to read.

Testing is necessary. We should test not only students but classroom teachers as well. We also should use students’ grades and test scores to determine whether teachers are up to par.

I know, I know. Broaching such an issue opens a whole kettle of union worms. Yet those NAEP test scores suggests students across the whole of America are just being “socially promoted” to the next grade and their “teachers” are being permitted to do the same thing the following school year.

The NAEP tests aren’t like a dissertation, where the student has to detail, cite and defend his work. NAEP tests are painstakingly simple (as they should be).

Sure, it’s important to know why Ohio Gov. John Kasich stands with much of his gubernatorial brethren and supports Common Core standards.

It’s more important, though, to know where Mr. Trump, Mr. Cruz, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Sanders stand. One of the four will end up running the next wave of education reforms.

And if we’re not careful, another generation of Americans will be learning next to nothing.

• Deborah Simmons can be reached at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.