The federal education officials who brought you the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released the 2011 Trial Urban District Assessments (TUDA) results this morning.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) is the only participating district in the state. The study concluded that CMS scored higher than most (participating) urban districts on most NAEP fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math tests. In eighth-grade reading, “Charlotte was the only one of the 18 districts participating in both years to have a higher score in 2011 than in 2009.” In 2011, CMS eighth-graders also posted a statistically significant increase in math scores, as compared to 2003 and 2009 results.
Admittedly, the 21 districts involved in the study, which include three districts new to the TUDA, are not necessarily comparable. District size and demographics vary considerably among participating districts. If you ask me, the value of the study is the ability to compare CMS’s performance to national averages, not other districts. CMS students scored higher than the national average in fourth- and eighth-grade math and reading.
