New
Jersey's eighth-graders write their
way to the top
Friday, April 04, 2008
• BY JOHN MOONEY • Star-Ledger Staff
Eighth-graders at Quibbletown Middle School in Piscataway spent 25 minutes yesterday writing the ending to a story about a boy awakened by a noise. "We got everything from a horror story to another one where there was Santa Claus at the end," said teacher Chris Lopez. The daily emphasis on writing -- students at Quibbletown keep journals even in math, explaining their calculations in words -- is part of a statewide push on prose. And it appears to be working. When results of a nationwide writing test for 2007 were released yesterday, New Jersey's eighth-graders sat atop the nation. The scores of 95 percent of the New Jersey students tested in the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the Nation's Report Card, were at or above "basic" level, and 56 percent were deemed "proficient" or better. The state's average score of 175 out of 300 -- based on a random sample of eighth-graders who took the test -- was slightly ahead of Connecticut's, though deemed a statistical tie. The report still showed sizable gaps in New Jersey between white and minority students, and some experts said New Jersey's high standing is only the best of a mediocre lot. Nationally, 87 percent of eighth-graders were at or above "basic," but just 32 percent were found proficient. The numbers dropped in sampled urban districts; for instance, only a quarter of students in New York City and Boston were proficient. The results were more sobering for high school seniors nationwide, with only a quarter deemed proficient. The high school results did not include a state-by-state breakdown. Still, the national results were an improvement from the NAEP writing scores in 1998 and 2002 and were among the best of NAEP results in other subjects. Tests are given each year and alternate among nine subjects, including art, math and U.S. history. The eighth-grade writing scores had New Jersey officials celebrating. The news release from the state Department of Education termed the students "the best writers in the nation for their grade level." "The NAEP test is the only real national comparison to see how states stack up against one another," said state Education Commissioner Lucille Davy. "To see these results -- to be the best in the nation -- is an incredible accomplishment." This was the first time New Jersey participated in the writing assessment. About 3,000 eighth-graders from 111 urban and suburban middle schools took the two-hour test last year. Quibbletown was one of the schools, and Principal Dierdre Ortiz said writing has become much more of a focus over her 20 years in Piscataway. "It is much more across the curriculum than it used to be," she said. "There is much more emphasis in the thinking, and writing is thinking in many ways. If you write well you are thinking well, and you can do it in science and math and even art."
MIXED REVIEWS Writing skills have become more
important for students since a writing test was added to the seminal
SAT college entrance exam three years ago. Davy and others also
credited New Jersey's curriculum standards and annual testing
for elevating the importance of writing in all classes; writing
skills are required not only in language arts tests but in math
and science.
"That continued effort with students at the elementary, middle and high schools is something we have seen in all the states that are the higher performers," said Mary Crovo, deputy director of the National Assessment governing board, which oversees the NAEP. "No one thing boosts scores like we have seen today, but it is part of the overall picture of efforts going across the country to emphasize the importance of writing," said Michael Casserly, director of the Council of the Great City Schools, an urban schools organization that includes Newark. Not all educators were impressed by the results, however. Some pointed out that nearly half the students in New Jersey scored at the basic level or worse. "I'm not sure we can interpret this to say any state is doing well," said Dolores Perin, an associate professor of psychology and education at Columbia University's Teachers College. "If they are not at the proficient level, they are not really able to benefit from writing as a tool for learning." Perin said her own study of community colleges nationwide has shown the writing of many students is "quite poor," an opinion backed up by high rates of college freshmen forced to take remedial classes. "And these are all high school graduates," she said. John Mooney may be reached at jmooney@starledger.com |