PLATTSBURGH — Can't pass the test?

Don't worry, we'll make it easier for you.

According to a federal report, many states did that to ensure students secured grade-level mastery of reading and math when that may not have actually occurred. But educators insist students are consistently pushed to improve and no dumbing down is happening, except at the hands of proponents of a one-size-fits-all education.

"When my students come in, I assess their skills, and I want their skills to be higher when they leave," said Veronica Uss, an English teacher at Elizabethtown-Lewis Central School. "In Elizabethtown, we have become more proficient in reaching the sub-skills our students lack and raising those areas."

The U.S. Education Department reported that, while many states declare students have grade-level mastery of reading and math, they might not. The Education Department compared state achievement standards in 2005 and 2007 to those of the National Assessment of Education Progress during those same years and discovered state standards were lower, citing significant differences in where individual states set the bar.

The report indicates that more states lowered academic standards than raised them from 2005 to 2007 in order to avoid penalties under No Child Left Behind.

The federal law, signed in 2002, requires schools to bring all students to proficient levels in reading and math by 2014 or face federal sanctions.

The 15 states that lowered standards in fourth- or eighth-grade reading or math were Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming. New York lowered the standard in eighth-grade reading, the report found.

"I am surprised someone would say the standard on the eighth-grade test was lowered because of the writing required on that exam," Uss said.

She prepares students for standardized tests and understands accountability, she said, but thinks the focus should be placed on lifelong learning.

"I worry that so much emphasis is placed on testing," Uss said. "You can have a good day, good test; and a bad day, bad test."

State tests are an assessment set by the state, though now there is more of a national feel to the standardized-testing movement.

"What we don't have, though, is a consensus across the country as to what should be done to prepare students for these federally mandated tests," said Peru Central School Superintendent A. Paul Scott.

"If we are going to hold youngsters accountable across the nation, isn't it time we have some common ground about how we will hold them and their schools accountable?"

President Barack Obama's administration is pushing states, largely in control of education, to adopt a common set of standards.

The National Governor's Association and Council of Chief State School Officers are developing a set of standards, which Education Secretary Arne Duncan wants states to accept.

"I think New York state and likely other states are feeling under intense pressure with national legislation saying all students should reach proficiency by 2014," Scott said.

"But there are no communities where all youngsters are above average, and unwittingly the federal government may be putting states in a position where they are edging the definition of proficiency a bit downward because they don't want to run the risk and may have some sub-groups that may not perform at the same level as another."

A wiser choice in measuring proficiency, Scott said, is ensuring yearly student improvement.

"One size doesn't fit all," said Plattsburgh City School Superintendent James "Jake" Short.

Yet the push to get the nation on board with one set of rigorous standards implies just that.

Educators worry about labeling certain students or groups failures because they don't perform well on a test, saying some students with disabilities will never succeed on such tests while other students possess strengths in areas that shouldn't be discounted. Basically, they say, proficiency for one student may not be proficiency for another, and that is OK.

Athena Angelos teaches sixth-grade reading at Northern Adirondack Central School and works her students hard.

Teachers from social studies, math and science are involved in reading, and all students have a portfolio that tracks their progress throughout the years.

"The test is only one way to monitor things," Angelos said. "The real meat of reading and writing is what is happening every day in school."

E-mail Stephen Bartlett at: sbartlett@pressrepublican.com