Editorial: Less politics, more results

Monday, July 18, 2005 | 8:45 a.m.

The nation got some good news when the scores of a standardized test taken in public and private schools around the country were released last week. Elementary students proved they are making great strides in their learning achievements. Sharing in the accomplishment are minority students, whose scores increased dramatically. These results are welcome, as they give hope that decades of lackluster performance in American schools may be giving way to a new generation of achievers.

The test scores also revealed some mediocre news and some news that, frankly, was awful. Middle school students are making strong gains in math but are barely treading water when it comes to reading. According to a New York Times analysis, the math scores for 13-year-olds, on average, were the best in the history of the test. But their reading scores showed no improvement over the scores achieved by students 25 years ago. The awful news revolved around the scores for high school students. For 17-year-olds, both reading and math scores were unchanged from scores recorded in the early 1970s, according to the Times.

The test, formally known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Long-term Trends, is informally known as the nation's report card. It's been administered for 35 years and is considered a highly reliable assessment of the progress being made in public and private schools around the country. In recent years the test results have been altogether disappointing. But these latest results indeed had a major development to cheer about. Young students in general are doing well, and young black and Hispanic students are narrowing the academic achievement gap that for decades has existed between them and white students.

Such outstanding news is worth presidential recognition and it came before an audience in Indianapolis. President Bush was right to call attention to the significance of the scores among young people. We wonder, however, about his quickness in taking credit for them. "I'm proud to come here and tell you about the new results," Bush said, according to the Times. "They're from the first long-term test, by the way, since passage of the No Child Left Behind Act."

The president was referring to his national education program, which took effect in the fall of 2002. Its first year was generally ineffective, as local school officials were still studying its underfunded and complex mandates. The test that produced the encouraging results was taken in 2003 and 2004, hardly time for Bush's reforms to have taken hold. The results are more likely attributable to the increased spending for education that came about under President Clinton, whose coherent program stressed teacher quality, increased investments in failing schools, campus safety and overall improvements in school accountability as keys to improving student achievement.

In the end, however, who gets the credit is immaterial. The important thing is that schools nationwide are displaying hope for the future. It's important that educators pinpoint the programs that are working and build on them, no matter which political party is in power.