Bloomberg's Education Gains "Illusory" -- Harvard Researchers

State Ed Commisioner Steiner is making the rounds with analysis prepared by Harvard researchers Daniel Koretz and Jennifer Jennings showing the state tests are simply getting easier. From the Times coverage:

New York State education officials acknowledged on Monday that their standardized exams had become easier to pass over the last four years and said they would recalibrate the scoring for tests taken this spring, which is almost certain to mean thousands more students will fail.

While scores spiked significantly across the state at every grade level, there were no similar gains on other measurements, including national exams, they said.

“The only possible conclusion is that something strange has happened to our test,” David M. Steiner, the education commissioner, said during a Board of Regents meeting in Albany. “The word ‘proficient’ should tell you something, and right now that is not the case on our state tests.”

Large jumps in the passing rates, which Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg trumpeted in his re-election campaign last year, led to criticism that the tests had become too easy.

Click here for a pdf of Steiner's presentation.