Here’s some news that’s made the teachers’ unions very, very sad:
WASHINGTON — The nation’s 9-year-olds last year posted their best scores in the building-block subjects of reading and math in more than three decades. Older students didn’t fare as well.
At the same time, achievement gaps between racial groups narrowed, according to results of the 2004 National Assessment of Educational Progress announced Thursday.
Education officials and advocates attributed the 9-year-olds’ performance to a recent emphasis on elementary schools and getting children reading as early as possible. They said the results also showed more attention must be paid to students in secondary schools.
“We need to go to work,” Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said in an interview.
Spellings also credited No Child Left Behind, the education law President Bush signed in January 2002 that mandates frequent testing of students to chart their progress in reading and math.
So accountability works. How about that?