This is a chart compiled by 50CAN’s CEO and founder Marc Porter Magee that ranks states by average changes in scores between 2022-2024 on the “gold standard” test called the National Assessment of Education Progress, or NAEP. Every two years NAEP tests representative groups of students in each state in fourth, eighth, and twelfth grades. This chart looks at average changes in fourth and eighth grade reading and math proficiency, unadjusted for demographics, during the last two NAEP cycles.

What do you see?

According to the rankings, New Jersey is ranked #30 in student growth, despite massive spending from the state (projected to be $12.4 billion next year, a 3.1% increase from last year, plus a big chunk of your property taxes). The drop for NJ eighth graders in reading was especially precipitous, 3.8 points, one of the worst performances among all states, and proficiency scores in the other subjects — fourth grade reading and math and eighth grade math — dropped about one point.

In contrast, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee saw increases in proficiency in every subject. In Louisiana, fourth graders increased scores in math by almost six points and 3.7 points in reading.

Why is New Jersey doing so badly in growth? There are a host of reasons: lower standards on our state standardized tests (which give policy makers, school leaders, and parents the false perception that students are fine); unnecessarily long school closures; lack of accountability (there are no consequences for poor performance, just for poor compliance); rampant grade inflation which, according to new research, shows that inflating student performance on report cards has “a negative effect on students’ future performance as measured by test scores, high school graduation, college enrollment, and earnings”; and New Jersey’s long history of measuring the health of our K-12 education system by inputs (how much money we put in) instead of outputs (how much students learn).

Gov. Mikie Sherrill nodded to these problems in her budget address last week, saying “school funding has soared, but too many third graders still read below grade level” and “everyone in this room knows we’re not getting the bang for the buck that we need.”

What have states done that have seen learning gains, despite post-pandemic challenges? How can our children get more bang for our buck?

Top-performers Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee have raised K-12 student standards, particularly in reading and math proficiency, and implemented rigorous curriculum updates. All require districts to select high-quality instructional materials approved by the state education agency, one of those top-down strategies anathema to states enamored of local control. These states also use an A-F letter grade system to rate school districts focused on student proficiency and student growth, a form of accountability that makes school quality transparent to families.

Also, these states prioritize the quick release of standardized test scores in order for parents and schools to intervene. While NJ parents don’t see assessment results until October, well past summertime remediation opportunities, Tennessee releases scores in June, Mississippi in August (third-grade scores are released in May), and Louisiana in early July.

Yesterday, in an editorial for the Washington Post, Jorge Elorza and Ben Austin argue that in the arena of public education Democrats have gone “from the party of reform to defenders of the status quo,” except for calls for more funding. As a whole, they distrust parents and are dishonest about results:

Democrats talk about equity while protecting a system that produces profound inequality. They tout empowerment yet resist giving families meaningful choices. They invoke justice but rarely hold schools accountable. And they claim to want innovation while outsourcing their agenda to special interests that have no incentive to change.

The numbers don’t lie, and it’s not just NAEP. On the NJ Student Learning Assessments (which are easier than NAEP), the most recent data from the Department of Education show that 12.6 % of Asbury Park fourth graders are proficient in reading; at Trenton’s Thomas Jefferson school, 2.8% reach grade-level. At Newark’s Grover Cleveland school, 6% of fourth graders are proficient in math; at Camden’s Cooper’s Poynt school, 0% are.

Try to defend these outcomes. I can’t. There is nothing equitable about this lack of learning, nothing fair about resisting school choice for those without the means to move to a better district, nothing defensible about not holding schools accountable for results. Gov. Sherrill, who now has national standing as a leading Democrat, has a chance to do things differently — to stop defending the status quo and start being honest about our state school system’s weaknesses. That’s the first step towards our children getting what they need.