One in Four High School Students Can Write ‘Proficiently’

By Anastacia Mott Austin

Feel free to continue to lament the education of kids today.

While the recent results of a nationwide test of eighth graders and high school seniors showed a slight improvement in their writing abilities over last year, the overall scores were still disappointing….at least to the unenlightened.

While only one in three eighth graders and one in four 12th graders were scored at a "proficient" level for their writing, America’s education experts say this is a good thing, or at least a better thing than last year.

Students who were already in a "low-scoring" category made small improvements in their writing abilities. But those who were at a high level of proficiency last year stayed about the same, or declined slightly.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress test in writing, known as the Nation’s Report Card, was given to 12,000 eighth graders and 28,000 high school seniors across the country.

The results were released this week at the Library of Congress during a news conference.

Educators were also encouraged by the fact that a slightly higher number of children tested – from 85 percent last year to 88 percent this year – scored at the "basic" level or better. At this level, students show mastery of basic grammar, sentence structure, and punctuation, but have more errors than those at the "proficient" level.

The goal of the testing is to get all students to a proficient level.

The problem with the test, say some educators, is that though the goal is proficiency, the focus has been on improving the scores of students with the lowest scores. This is why, they say, that the lowest scores have come up while the high-scoring kids have stayed the same or even come down some.

"It's good news that the lowest achieving kids are seeing some gains," said Michael Petrilli, the vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education think tank. "The problem is in a competitive world we need to pay attention to all of our kids, including those at the top."

The test measured students’ abilities to write a short essay in a timed session in different style formats, including persuasive, narrative, and informational essays. Some experts guessed that part of the reason for improved writing scores among 12th graders is the inclusion of an essay portion of the SATs, which was added in 2005.

Girls scored higher than boys in all categories of writing, which troubled the test’s administrators.

"Nothing in my experience tells me that boys can't write," said Amanda Avallone, a teacher who is also a board member of the National Assessment Governing Board that gives the test. Avallone added that the gap might be explained by her hypothesis that writing is less emphasized for boys in school.

White students scored better than black or Hispanic students, another gap that disturbed Avallone.

"Most of the nation's eighth- and 12th-graders are doing a solid job of writing to inform, persuade and tell stories," said Avallone. "But we need to work harder to strengthen achievement for black, Hispanic and male students."

But for some, the fact that most kids scored only a "basic" level was not good enough to get a passing grade from them.

Amy Wilkins, a representative from the Education Trust, told reporters, "In this increasingly competitive world, basic doesn't cut it."