Elementary/middle-grade math scores improved incrementally across all three eras while reading scores remained fairly flat for two decades¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2011 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2016: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Math scores in grades three through eight improved in all three eras, moving the typical student from just meeting state standards to the low end of the meets-standards range. → Luppescu 2011 q2 i? Reading scores in the elementary/middle grades showed little improvement over the three eras, with gains limited to lower grades in Era 2 and to white and Asian students. → Luppescu 2011 (2)

Evidence¶

Luppescu 2011¶

Luppescu, S., Allensworth, E. M., Moore, P., de la Torre, M., Murphy, J., with Jagesic, S. (2011). Trends in Chicago's Schools Across Three Eras of Reform. Consortium on Chicago School Research, University of Chicago. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/trends-chicagos-schools-across-three-eras-reform-full-report

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Trend analysis of rescaled CPS elementary/middle-grade test scores across the three reform eras. The report describes math gains as incremental: students now score like students "one year older in the early 1990s," yet remain at the low end of the meets-standards range. No effect size is printed.

"Math scores have risen in the elementary/middle grades; students are now scoring at a level similar to students who were one year older in the early 1990s, at least in some grade levels."

Luppescu 2011 (2)¶

Luppescu, S., Allensworth, E. M., Moore, P., de la Torre, M., Murphy, J., with Jagesic, S. (2011). Trends in Chicago's Schools Across Three Eras of Reform. Consortium on Chicago School Research, University of Chicago. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/trends-chicagos-schools-across-three-eras-reform-full-report

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Trend analysis of CPS reading scores by age cohort across three reform eras. The report states reading scores "have not shown much improvement," with some Era 2 lower-grade gains and modest gains among white and Asian students only. No effect size is printed.

"Reading scores in the elementary/middle grades have not shown much improvement over the three eras of school reform."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Publicly reported school accountability statistics are not useful for measuring achievement trends over time — related
• Percent meeting standards is an imprecise metric whose cut-score concentration produced the Era 2 misconception that Chicago taught basic skills better than high-level skills — related
• Racial achievement gaps in Chicago increased in all three eras, with African American students falling behind all other groups, especially in Era 3 — related
• ISAT scores are not comparable over time: students with identical earlier and later test scores earned different seventh-grade ISAT scores depending on the year tested — related
• Chicago high school reform efforts of the late 1990s were studied at the district, school, and departmental levels in a 2001 conference volume — related
• Estimates of cohort achievement trends vary substantially by survey agent, with PISA reporting negative math trends — related
• Math and science instruction improved in Chicago during the years of standards reform, based on student survey reports of classroom experiences before and after reform — related