NH students get high scores

New Hampshire students received some of the highest scores for math and reading on the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

The NAEP has been given to fourth and eighth grade students since 1969.  The federal government requires the assessment to track overall student progress, and students do not receive individual scores.  The NAEP is unrelated to the Smarter Balanced Assessment associated with Common Core.

According to a press release from the New Hampshire Department of Education, New Hampshire students scored among the top six states in both reading and mathematics, in both fourth and eighth grade.

“It is reassuring to know that our students, teachers, parents and the encompassing educational communities throughout New Hampshire continue to strive for the excellence reflected in our NAEP results,” said New Hampshire Commissioner of Education Virginia Barry. 

However, there was a decrease in fourth grade math scores in New Hampshire and nationally.

The not-for-profit American Institute for Research suggests that those lower scores are because the new Common Core curriculum does not completely overlap with NAEP content, and not all teachers are adequately trained to teach the new Common Core curriculum.