Study: Policy Changes Often Based On Misinterpretation Of Student Test Scores

The Huffington Post (12/15, Resmovits) reports that according to a new report from statistical research group Mathematica, test scores are "regularly misinterpreted" by policymakers implementing changes in education policy. The analysis indicates that "the comparisons sometimes used to judge school performance are more indicative of demographic change than actual learning. For example: Last week's release of National Assessment of Educational Progress scores led to much finger-pointing about what's working and what isn't in education reform. But according to Mathematica, policy assessments based on raw test data is extremely misleading -- especially because year-to-year comparisons measure different groups of students."