Math scores: NJ up slightly, nation is flat.

(Revised 9:42 AM)

A news release from Governor Corzine today proudly proclaimed:

NEW JERSEY'S FOURTH AND EIGHTH GRADERS AMONG NATION'S LEADERS IN MATH
Fourth grade scores surpass national average by eight points; Eighth grade scores eleven points higher than national average

Isn't that great news? Sure it is, if you define "great" as "not bad" or "better than it could have been."

Another story (New York Times), states that, for the first time in 19 years, U.S. math scores nationwide are "flat." No increase whatsoever.

According to the Times story, "The latest results on the most important nationwide math test show that student achievement grew faster during the years before the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law, when states were dominant in education policy, than over the years since, when the federal law has become a powerful force in classrooms."

NCLB requires schools to bring 100 percent of students to reading and math proficiency by 2014. Guess what, as a nation, we're not going to make it.

Sure, New Jersey's numbers are encouraging, in an inching-forward kind of way. According to the press release from the NJDOE: "New Jersey fourth graders continue to score higher on the NAEP math test than students in all but three other states, the report noted. The average math score of fourth graders in New Jersey was 247, while the average score for public school students across the nation was 239."

"This is good news for our kids, our families and our future," said Governor Corzine. "The average scale score for the grade eight students at 293 is four points higher that it was in 2007 and eleven points higher than the national average of 282. While there is still much more work to be done, the eighth grade results in particular show that the investments this administration is making in education is paying off, and that the efforts of our educators are yielding positive results."

Those are just a few excerpts from the press release. Click here to read the entire thing.

And click here to review the complete NAEP report card.