"That’s actually lying to parents"

Are smaller elementary-school class sizes better?
[the Straight Dope] Education experts had long conjectured that young kids learn better in small classes but lacked the research to prove it. In the 1980s Tennessee governor Lamar Alexander, who would later become education secretary under George H.W. Bush, decided he'd fix that. The one government type in this whole sorry story who seems to have had a clue, Alexander persuaded the legislature to pony up several million dollars for Project STAR (Student-Teacher Achievement Ratio), a multiyear experiment involving roughly 6,500 kids and 330 classrooms in 80 schools throughout the state. The idea: reduce class size for some kids in grades K through 3 from 20-25 pupils to 13-17, and see if they do better on standardized tests.

Read this. Read this, read this, read this.

Atlanta votes to increase class sizes
[ajc] The Atlanta school board Monday approved a resolution to allow class sizes to be increased this school year. Citing a need to reduce the budget deficit, the district will add up to five more students per class at every grade level.

Well, remember they're still short some seventy-odd teachers from last year, and that's after transferring every librarian who still has teaching credentials. And, what the heck, para-professionals are a lot cheaper than fully-certified teachers.

Study Finds Low Test Standards
[gpb] A new report released Wednesday by the National Center for Educational Statistics says Georgia’s state eighth grade reading exam is one of the least rigorous in the country when compared to a well-regarded federal exam.

The report compared 2009 state test standards to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, exam. It found that standards for reading and math vary widely among states. And Georgia’s eighth grade reading standards were the second lowest in the country.

That means that many Georgia eighth graders who pass the reading CRCT would fail the NAEP exam. And a Georgia eighth grader found proficient in reading here could move to almost any other state and fail state reading tests there as well.

...Joanne Weiss, chief of staff to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, said that the federal No Child Left Behind law has inadvertently driven states to lower their standards. ..."That’s actually lying to parents, it’s lying to children, it’s lying to teachers and principals about the work they’re doing," she said.

So, if our students' average scores on the Georgia tests have risen (as previous superintendent Beverly Hall continues to claim) but the state tests are becoming less and less demanding, is our kidz gettin' any smarter?

It's hard to put a positive spin on "but a bunch'a other states are doin' it too."

• Bloomberg: U.S. Children Face Low Bar to Pass State Tests
• Wall Street Journal: States Fail to Raise Bar in Reading, Math Tests
• Education Week: What Do Rising Title I Achievement Scores Really Mean?