State Rep.: Superintendent Of Education-Elect Criticizes Students' Math Skills

News9.com

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A state lawmaker said Superintendent of Education-elect Janet Barresi is slamming Oklahoma's high school math performance to support her views on education.

Oklahoma State Representative Ed Cannaday in a news release Monday quoted Barresi as saying, "Only 2.4 percent of students in Oklahoma's graduating class of 2009 scored in the upper tiers of national math exams, a ratio that places the state among...nations such as Bulgaria, Uruguay, and Serbia..."

The problem is Barresi said she never said that. The quote is actually something a reporter wrote in an article for which Barresi was interviewed. That article was about a national study called "Education Next: Teaching Math to the Talented," that compares schools in the United States with schools in other countries and uses test scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often called the Nation's Report Card.

Cannaday went on to say that Oklahoma's kids never took the test in question, administered by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and looks at students when they are in 4th and 8th grades, and again at the age of 17.

News 9 checked with the state Department of Education, and a department spokesperson said that test was administered to members of the class of 2009 when they were in 8th grade in 2005.

More: U.S. Math Performance in Global Perspective: How well does each state do at producing high-achieving students?