DPS shows progress on NAEP, one of six districts nationally to show increases in test scores, with gains on math and reading

In conjunction with a release of urban districts’ test results on the rigorous National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Detroit Public Schools announced that Detroit was one of only six districts nationally to show increases in student scores among the urban districts participating on the NAEP in 2011.

Other findings:
• Detroit’s scores trended up in all grade levels on both subjects tested.
• Detroit exceeded the state of Michigan in gains in mathematics and reading.
• Detroit also had the highest gains in any city in any subject on mathematics.

“Today I am pleased to announce progress, substantive progress, on academics,” said Emergency Manager Roy S. Roberts. “This follows our progress report on finances two weeks ago and the additional progress we’ve made operationally.”

NAEP is considered the Nation’s Report card. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, NAEP is the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. Assessments are conducted periodically in mathematics, reading, science, writing, the arts, civics, economics, geography, and U.S. history.



Since NAEP assessments are administered uniformly using the same sets of test booklets across the nation, NAEP results serve as a common metric for all states and selected urban districts. The assessment stays essentially the same from year to year, with only carefully documented changes. This permits NAEP to provide a clear picture of student academic progress over time.

“It’s encouraging that we’re trending in the right direction in all areas assessed by NAEP,” said Karen P. Ridgeway, Detroit Public Schools Superintendent for Academics. “As we revise and revamp the academic program, these data will be taken into consideration, along with the Common Core State Standards, so we can continue to increase the instructional rigor for all students in all grades.”

“The people of Detroit should be encouraged by substantial improvement in the reading and math scores of its public school students on the latest edition of the nation's toughest test, NAEP,” said Michael Casserly, Executive Director of the Council of the Great City Schools, whose member districts encompass 65 of the nation’s largest urban school districts. “In the face of flat statewide performance and a difficult economy, the Detroit Public Schools have shown a positive step forward.”

In December 2009, Detroit schoolchildren ranked the lowest in the nation of participants on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) math test.

In terms of performance levels in the fourth grade in Detroit on the math test, 69 percent of students scored at a below basic level. In terms of performance levels in the eighth grade in Detroit, 77 percent were below basic. In May 2010, Detroit Public Schools announced the district posted the lowest scores ever among big-city school districts on the reading portion of the National Assessment of Educational Progress/Trial Urban District Assessment administered in early 2009.

The test result increases were:
At the Math 4th grade level, proficiency increased from 31 percent to 34 percent
At the Math 8th grade level, proficiency increased from 22 percent to 29 percent
At the Reading 4th grade level, proficiency increased from 27 percent to 31 percent
At the Reading 8th grade level, proficiency increased from 41 percent to 43 percent

Roberts said stability is key to continued improvement.

“Of the factors that impact academic success in this district, I am convinced-based on conversations with educators, retired principals, current teachers, administrators and parents-that the single biggest factor impacting DPS is instability,” Roberts said. “We’ve had far too many changes in administration and far too many leadership changes at the school level. We have made moves to ensure a more consistent leadership pattern going forward over Academics. And, as we plan we will let parents know early, in January, whether a school will move into EAS, be a charter, or in some cases be closed, so that they too can have a greater degree of predictability regarding their child’s educational home.”

“Despite the progress, we have much, much work to do,” Roberts said. “Detroit students’ scores remain the lowest although the gap is closing. I am committed that DPS must not only be a part of the comeback in this city, it must lead it, and to do so we must show continued improvement.”

DPS, which launched its Volunteer Reading Corps after the 2009 results, reissued its call for volunteers today. The district’s Volunteer Reading Corps initially attracted thousands of volunteers from 131 municipalities. More than a thousand volunteers are still in schools today. In January of 2011, the district launched its Volunteer Business Corps, a new initiative to create robust partnerships between schools and area businesses to improve academic achievement in the district. Partners include banks, a hotel, major university and many more companies.

To volunteer for the Reading Corps, email readingcorps@detroitk12.org 
To volunteer for the Business Corps, email businesscorps@detroitk12.org


About the NAEP and the Trial Urban District Assessment
The NAEP test is given nationally every two years in reading and math and offers a comparison for the performance of students across the nation and for the states. Every state is required under “No Child Left Behind” to participate. However, individual school districts are not required to participate.

In 2000, the Council of the Great City Schools approached the National Assessment Governing Board and proposed allowing the nation’s largest city school systems to be over-sampled in order to get city-specific results. Up to that time, NAGB was not allowed to report results below the state level, and city samples were too small to report.


The first testing was done in reading in 2002 in six cities as part of the Trial Urban District Assessment or TUDA, but Detroit was not one of them. Math was added in 2003. By 2005, 11 cities were participating and science was added. In 2009, seven more cities were added, including Detroit for the first time, to make the total number of cities participating 18. Detroit was added at the suggestion of national experts and DPS school officials who were anxious to have a benchmark of comparison for Detroit against other cities nationally and to gauge the rigor of Detroit’s academic program.


Twenty-one districts participated in 2011. The assessments administered in TUDA are exactly the same as those given nationally on NAEP, using identical administration procedures. The assessments follow the subject area frameworks developed by the Governing Board. Like the national and state main assessments, TUDA does not provide individual scores for the students or schools assessed.