(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)
The deeper you look into the NAEP the better things look for my home state. Earlier I showed you that Arizona led the nation in overall academic gains in both 2013 and 2015. Today let’s take a close look at math, and student subgroups- both in terms of gains and overall performance.
Starting with Anglo students- how did their gains look in 2015? The chart below subtracts the 2011 NAEP 4th grade math scale points from the same cohort’s 2015 8th grade math scores for Anglos.
Ok so they led the nation in gains- but that might not matter because their scores could still be low. Except they aren’t:
Arizona is in striking distance of everyone but the absurdly gentrified right side of the tracks sections of DC. So moving on to non-Anglo students, the NAEP can also track Black students- here were gains by state in 2015.
Well would you look at that? Number one again. Hmmm. Well but it still might not mean much because the overall scores….could..still.be…….low?
Hispanic students gains/scores are merely spectacular rather than absolute tip of the spear:
Ah well it gives us worlds yet to conquer, as do the scores:
You don’t have to trust me- look the numbers up for yourself. Ok and then there is this to consider:
Ok so someone try to make a case that a state other than AZ deserves to be considered the pound for pound mathematics champion of the United States. I’ll have my gloves laced up and will be ready to give you a canvass nap in the comments section (unless you have a decent case to make) but I’m declaring Arizona to be the pound for pound state math champion.
P.S. (almost forgot…)
Jay P. Greene's Blog 
BOOOOOOOOOOM! Go Arizona!
[…] Arizona is making impressive gains in math, according to this analysis. (Jay P. Greene) […]