The Legislature in 2008 declared as public policy the first exclusive goal for public education in the year 2020. The academic achievement of state students will exceed international and national averages on the PISA and NAEP tests.
Competing Globally
PISA, an acronym for OECD Programme for International Student Assessment, is often referred to as the World's Report Card. It is a system of international assessments that focuses on 15-year olds' capabilities in reading, mathematics and science literacy.
PISA tests in these three subjects are administered worldwide every three years, the latest being in 2009.
The data below are limited to math results in the 2009 tests focusing on the percentage of 15-year old students performing at the advanced level and at the proficient level, a considerably lower standard of performance than the advanced level.
Proficient Level: Shanghai topped the list in 2009 with a 75 percent math proficiency rate, well over twice the 32 percent rate in the United States, and well above the 51 percent rate of Massachusetts, the top performer in the United States. Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Finland, Taiwan, Liechtenstein and Switzerland had percentages proficient in math higher than Massachusetts. The United States came in 32nd among the nations/cities that participated in 2009 PISA.
West Virginia had a proficient percentage rate of 18.5 percent in math (on a par with Bulgaria and Turkey), with only three states having lesser percentages: Alabama, New Mexico and Mississippi. Russia had a higher percentage rate than West Virginia. Every state bordering West Virginia had a higher proficient percentage rate than the Mountain State, ranging from Pennsylvania with the highest (38.3 percent) down to Kentucky with the lowest (27.3 percent) among them.
Advanced Level: Again, Shanghai was far ahead of any other participant in the 2009 assessments, with an advanced percentage rate in math of nearly 45 percent. The average U.S. percentage was about 7 percent, with West Virginia at 2.2 percent. West Virginia was second to last in the rankings, with Mississippi being the lowest at 1.6 percent. Again, every state bordering West Virginia had a higher advanced percentage rate than the Mountain State, ranging from Maryland with the highest (10.1 percent) down to Kentucky with the lowest (5 percent). Kentucky's percentage rate was more than twice that of West Virginia.
(All of the above PISA Data came from "Globally Challenged: Are U.S. Students Ready to Compete? The latest on each state's international standing in math and reading," which was published August 2011 and prepared under the auspices of Harvard University's Program on Education Policy and Governance & Education.)
Not So Good News for the State
NAEP, an acronym for National Assessment of Educational Progress, often is referred to as the Nation's Report Card. It assesses what America's students — grades 4, 8 and 12 — know and can do in various subject areas, including, among others, mathematics.
NAEP results for mathematics, the focus here, are reported as average scores on a 0-500 scale, and as percentages of students performing at four levels: below basic, basic, proficient and advanced.
Basic denotes partial mastery of prerequisite knowledge and skills that are fundamental for proficient work at each grade. Below Basic would denote something less than "partial mastery."
Proficient represents solid performance. Students reaching this level have demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter. Advanced represents superior performance.
In November 2011, NAEP released its report card for mathematics 2011, the source of the subsequent data and references.
Figure 31 reports the "Average scores and achievement-level results in NAEP mathematics for eight-grade public school students by state/jurisdiction: 2011."
Figure 31, together with Table 13, shows that the average score for West Virginia was 273 compared to 283 for the nation. Only Mississippi and Alabama had lesser averages at 269 each. West Virginia's average was tied with California and Louisiana, and all states bordering the Mountain State had higher averages. Nevertheless, West Virginia was one of nine states wherein the average mathematics' score for the eighth grade was higher in 2011 than in 2009 (270 in 2009; 273 in 2011).
Thirty-five percent of the state's eighth graders had below basic achievement levels in mathematics. Six states — Alabama, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Tennessee — had higher percentages. The national average was 28 percent.
Another 44 percent of eighth graders in West Virginia had basic achievement levels in mathematics, which was not exceeded by any other state. The national average was 39 percent. That may be good news for West Virginia if "partial mastery" is esteemed, and the state's percentages in the proficient and advanced levels are ignored.
Only 18 percent of the state's eighth graders in 2011 were proficient in mathematics compared to a national average of 26 percent. Only two states had lesser percentages than West Virginia: Mississippi at 16 percent and Alabama at 17 percent.
And only 3 percent of the Mountain State's eighth graders had advanced achievement levels compared to a national average of 8 percent. No state had a lesser percentage than West Virginia, although three states tied the state's 3 percent: Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama.
Some Observations
Andrew N. Liveris, chairman and CEO of The Dow Chemical Co., in his recent book "Make It In America," and Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum, in their recent book "That Used To Be Us," extensively cite and comment upon America's dismal 2009 PISA results in math.
A focus of the two books is that the United States must significantly improve its public educational system in order to compete in the global economy and provide quality jobs for its citizens.
Charles Vest, former president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, and a graduate of West Virginia University, admonished that "we must now establish a sense of urgency."
Considering the state's PISA and NAEP scores on math in 2009, and the public policy of the state as expressed by the Legislature in 2008 to exceed the international and national averages on math and other tests eight years hence, West Virginia needs to establish a dire sense of urgency to improve the achievement of its students.
Charles McElwee is a Charleston lawyer with the firm Robinson & McElwee PLLC. The views expressed are his own.
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