Four factors can predict low scores, researchers say

 The federal No Child Left Behind law of 2002 rates schools based on how students perform on state standardized tests, and if too many children score poorly, the school is judged as failing. But how much is really the school’s fault?

A new study by the Educational Testing Service (ETS)—which develops and administers more than 50 million standardized tests annually, including the SAT—concludes that an awful lot of those low scores can be explained by factors that have nothing to do with schools. The study, “The Family: America’s Smallest School,” suggests that a lot of the failure has to do with what takes place in the home, the level of poverty and government’s inadequate support for programs that could make a difference, like high-quality day care and paid maternity leave.

The ETS researchers took four variables that are beyond the control of schools and using just those four variables, were able to predict each state’s results on the federal eighth-grade reading test with impressive accuracy. Learn what those variables are by reading the article in The New York Times.