The motto of Alabama education during the last decade could be, “Improving, but still behind.”

At least that is what the tests say — that seemingly endless battery of assessments given to Alabama’s school-age children year after year, term after term. The regimen leaves students stressed, teachers taunt and school officials worried and anxious until the scores come in.

This page has long believed the overwhelming emphasis on testing has taken time away from teaching and money from more critical needs. The Obama administration has promised change. This would be a good place to start.

Until that happens, this emphasis on testing will continue, and educators will try to impose reason on what is an increasingly irrational situation.

Consider the latest report from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. It revealed that the scores of Alabama eighth-graders had risen three points — from 252 in 2007 to 255 in 2009. Although the state remains behind the national average (262), the NAEP says this is a “statistically significant improvement.”

State Superintendent Joe Morton says he is pleased with the progress. He also believes an improvement of three points at the same time that the NAEP has raised standards is evidence that the Alabama Reading Initiative is working.

Even though Alabama fourth-graders scored the same as they did in 2007, the higher standards used to assess students in 2009 means progress is being made in the lower grades, as well.

This is good news, though it’s easy to understand why those outside the education and testing community may feel it’s difficult to know what these scores truly indicate. A visit to the scores’ Web site (http://bit.ly/baNnGP) helps, but a simpler, user-friendly explanation from the state Department of Education would be welcomed.

That explanation also might include information on how boys and girls did on the reading assessment, since recent studies have created troubling questions about the difference gender makes in how well students read.

How well Alabama children read is vital, and the education establishment needs to do a better job of communicating the meaning of the report and the numbers. How strongly do these improved scores correlate into success in high school or college? Does it help reduce the state’s high dropout rate and low graduate rates? That needs to be explained, as well.

Until that happens, the reading scores of Alabama students are improving, but they are still behind. That’s something, but not enough.

— The Anniston Star