Do Voters Connect Learning Loss and Grade Inflation?
Inspired by the headlines about elite colleges bringing back their standardized testing requirements (with Brown joining the list last week) we have been focused on issues related to tests and grade inflation. This week, we look at grade inflation through a slightly different lens, analyzing the extent to which voters connect grade inflation with pandemic-related […]
Roll Call: Trump’s next test: Go beyond the base
In today’s Roll Call, the Winston Group’s David Winston writes about the Supreme Court’s recent decision to overrule the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to remove Donald Trump from the state’s primary ballot, and some challenges from Trump going forward. The exit polls also raised some important challenges for the Trump campaign going forward. The most obvious […]
How Widespread Is Grade Inflation?
A topic we have been keeping a close eye on in the last several months is standardized tests in college admissions. A key reason many of the colleges chose to reinstate the testing requirement is that test scores tend to be better predictors of academic success than grades alone. It is likely that this stronger […]
A Look At The Latest PISA Results
The results from the 2022 PISA tests, released last month, showed that while US scores generally held steady from 2018 in reading and science literacy, the US score in math literacy dropped 13 points. In 2018, students scored a 478 on the math literacy test; in 2022, that score fell to 465. The highest scoring […]
A Look At Past PISA Results
Tomorrow morning, the results from the latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) will be released. PISA measures the literacy of 15-year-olds in science, math, and reading every three years. Data is reported as a score for each country and as the share of students reaching one of six proficiency levels, with one being the […]
It’s the Year of the Independent: An analysis of the 2022 Midterm Election
In this election, Republicans, Democrats and the media expected a significant Red Wave. Projections of Republicans winning 240 seats were not uncommon, and most had the number at 230 or higher. On election night, it was not clear that Republicans could reach 218, and it wasn’t until over a week later that media entities began […]
What Do The New NAEP Data Say About Learning Loss?
By now, many of our readers may have already seen the headlines. “Reading and Math Scores Plummeted During Pandemic, New Data Show” from The Wall Street Journal. In The New York Times, “The Pandemic Erased Two Decades of Progress in Math and Reading.” As these articles report, data from the latest long term trending NAEP tests showed […]
A Call to Action on Mathematics
Over the weekend, hundreds of top scientists and mathematicians released a statement to, as they wrote, “express our alarm over recent trends in K-12 mathematics education in the United States.” Citing the California Mathematics Framework as an example of such a reform that is intended to enhance equity and reduce disparities, the authors go on to criticize […]
Is the US Becoming the World’s “C” Student?
Given the experience of the pandemic over the last year-and-a-half and the urgent need to confront the challenges it has brought, it can be easy to forget that the U.S.’s education system was experiencing challenges even before the pandemic. Data from the most recent Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2018 showed that America […]
“Split Decision”: An analysis of the 2020 Presidential Election
Going into the 2020 November election, Joe Biden enjoyed a sizable lead, according to most media polling. Democrats believed the country was moving toward the left; and that, as a result, the political environment was also moving significantly in their direction. If they could tie Republican Congressional candidates in swing districts/states to Trump, while the […]