Statement from Achieve President Michael Cohen on the 2017 NAEP Results

April 10, 2018 —Achieve President Michael Cohen issued the following statement today regarding the results of the 2017 administration of the National Assessment of Educational Progress:

“The stagnancy of scores and the persistence of achievement gaps on the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reinforce the urgency with which we must continue to work to provide all children with a high-quality education to ensure they are prepared for success in college and career. It is important to know where students stand, and it is important to take action to improve outcomes.

“We know that high academic standards matter tremendously for student success, but that standards alone are not enough. Today’s results are a reminder that the path to meaningfully improving student achievement runs through the daily work happening in classrooms between teachers and students. Teachers and administrators need robust support to implement higher standards; there must be a substantial, ongoing effort to continuously improve the quality of curriculum and the capacity of schools—particularly those serving the most disadvantaged students—to ensure that kids can meet the higher standards that states have set and that the real world demands.

“NAEP has long been a valuable tool for measuring student achievement, and remains the only national barometer with results that can be compared across all 50 states. We encourage the National Assessment Governing Board to ensure that future administrations of NAEP are in step with the leadership of states and accurately assess what students are learning under higher academic standards.”

To view the NAEP results, please visit https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reading_math_2017_highlights/. 

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MEDIA CONTACT: Kelly Van Beveren, 202-745-2306, kvanbeveren@achieve.org