US students' reading and math scores at historic lows: 'Devastating trend'

[Valletta]

US students' reading and math scores at historic lows: 'Devastating trend'

High school students, especially 12th graders, are reading and learning math and science at historic lows, according to a new report.

abcnews.go.com

 

[Valletta]

US students' reading and math scores at historic lows: 'Devastating trend'

High school students, especially 12th graders, are reading and learning math and science at historic lows, according to a new report.

abcnews.go.com

Now perhaps more of you can understand why the Department of Education, as it was, needed to be dismantled. The liberal approach to education essentially gave up on the children in the poor neighborhoods of cities like Chicago and Baltimore and Washington D.C. The lack of discipline along with DEI and CRT-like curriculum instead of a focus on English and basic math meant the kids had scant chance to succeed. There was little incentive to change among radical leaders, keeping the children uneducated meant more future votes for them.

 

[Larniavc]

US students' reading and math scores at historic lows: 'Devastating trend'

High school students, especially 12th graders, are reading and learning math and science at historic lows, according to a new report.

abcnews.go.com

From the article:

“The Department of Education has notably been cutting staff and services under McMahon's leadership, including the researchers who produced the new nation's report card. President Donald Trump has also tasked McMahon with dismantling her departmentaltogether and handing control over education agendas to the states.”

Maybe stop dismantling it?

 

[Hvizsgyak]

US students' reading and math scores at historic lows: 'Devastating trend'

High school students, especially 12th graders, are reading and learning math and science at historic lows, according to a new report.

abcnews.go.com

My wife and I were just discussing how little high school students are required to know from when we were in school (45 years ago). My wife is a high school Spanish language teacher and she teaches the grammatical part of the Spanish Language so she makes alot of comparisons to the English grammar. Unfortunately, many kids don't learn the Spanish language easily because they don't even know the grammar of English (nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns and other stuff). And they are in high school.

Our elementary schools are failing to have the kids master the basics. These kids get to high school being passed along from grade to grade because many teachers don't want to deal with these students. Alot of them don't want to learn and they disrupt the class so others can't learn.

The bad thing of it is is that the school administration keeps asking the teachers to be more flexible so the students won't fail (it makes their school look bad if too many students are failing). So like I said, teachers just pass these kids along and let next year's teachers deal with the problems.

It is trickling down to colleges too. They can't believe the low quality of students they are getting at college. So, what is the solution? My personal feeling is to lighten the load of classes needed per school year and make the kids go longer than 12 grades. These kids need to start mastering the basics: math, english, science, health, economics, history and foreign languages. Everything else can be an elective in high school. And as for sports - don't even get me started on that subject. Bad grades, you stay in the class until you master it.

We are going to have some real problems later in life with these uneducated kids.

 

[bèlla]

Now perhaps more of you can understand why the Department of Education, as it was, needed to be dismantled. The liberal approach to education essentially gave up on the children in the poor neighborhoods of cities like Chicago and Baltimore and Washington D.C.

We have a long standing policy of choice in Chicago and numerous charter schools. The only reason a student would be stuck in a substandard environment is if they didn’t qualify for programs available around the city. Which includes various forms of academic and artistic opportunities and multilingual ones as well. This is in addition to enrichment services at Northwestern University and financial support at private schools for gifted students. We also have pre-IB and high school programs for the French International Baccalaureate and a Lycée and British school who offer instruction in their respective curriculums.

If you apply yourself and perform well there’s lots of opportunities education wise. Whether you have means or not.

~bella

 

[RileyG]

US students' reading and math scores at historic lows: 'Devastating trend'

High school students, especially 12th graders, are reading and learning math and science at historic lows, according to a new report.

abcnews.go.com

I was always terrible at Math, but did pretty well in reading.

This is too bad.

I wonder how science tests are doing?

 

[Hvizsgyak]

From the article:

“The Department of Education has notably been cutting staff and services under McMahon's leadership, including the researchers who produced the new nation's report card. President Donald Trump has also tasked McMahon with dismantling her departmentaltogether and handing control over education agendas to the states.”

Maybe stop dismantling it?

I agree with you that we shouldn't be dismantling the Dept of Education (just to save money). Education needs to be centralized so that all states have the same guidelines and procedures so that every student has a core understanding.

But on the other hand, there is alot of garbage put out by the Dept of Education on what should be taught, how it should be taught. Some of these teaching techniques are experimental and in the end, if they fail to educate the kids, there go some wasted years of learning.

 

[RileyG]

I agree with you that we shouldn't be dismantling the Dept of Education (just to save money). Education needs to be centralized so that all states have the same guidelines and procedures so that every student has a core understanding.

But on the other hand, there is alot of garbage put out by the Dept of Education on what should be taught, how it should be taught. Some of these teaching techniques are experimental and in the end, if they fail to educate the kids, there go some wasted years of learning.

Agreed! Well said.

 

[Valletta]

I was always terrible at Math, but did pretty well in reading.

This is too bad.

I wonder how science tests are doing?

Just the opposite for me. Reading, though, is the key to the rest of the subjects.

 

[RileyG]

Just the opposite for me. Reading, though, is the key to the rest of the subjects.

Absolutely! IT's an essential skill! Reading comprehension and slow reading also must be taught. ESPECIALLY when related to reading "dry material."

 

[MehGuy]

I imagine it's only going to get lower.

 

[RileyG]

I imagine it's only going to get lower.

Sadly, I think you’re right.

 

[Tuur]

Now perhaps more of you can understand why the Department of Education, as it was, needed to be dismantled. The liberal approach to education essentially gave up on the children in the poor neighborhoods of cities like Chicago and Baltimore and Washington D.C. The lack of discipline along with DEI and CRT-like curriculum instead of a focus on English and basic math meant the kids had scant chance to succeed. There was little incentive to change among radical leaders, keeping the children uneducated meant more future votes for them.

Actually, the Department of Education has little to do with that. Cities and states manage to do that to themselves quite nicely. They are the ones who set curriculum. Local school boards, too, though to a lesser degree.

Example: States could chose to implement Common Core or not. But here's a curious thing that turned up in Georgia years ago, when that state was considering it. A candidate for state school superintendent pointed out that Common Core standards were less than the state's current standards, and had the documentation to prove it. Then she pointed out that Georgia already didn't do so hot when it came to students and math. She didn't get elected, by the way.

I don't know about reading. Ours were taught phonetics in school rather than whole word. But math...

Well, first you have to know that when it came to our children and math, I was like Robert Parr trying to help Dash with his math homework. More than once I'd show them a way it worked, and when they protested the teacher didn't do it that way, would tell them to do it like I showed them, then put it in a form the teacher wanted. The big thing I saw is that our system of mathematics is naturally like an abacus, and once upon a time, that was how it was taught. And I'm of the strong opinion that number lines, like diagraming sentences, is a bunch of hooey. You want the kids to "get" it? Turn the thing vertically so it's like a thermometer. They've seen thermometers and what the column of fluid does. It also makes it easier to understand negative numbers.

It doesn't help that each half generation, how math is taught changes, maybe in hopes that this time students will "get" it. Here's a suggestion: Go back to the "abacus" model and start from there. That's what used to work.

Will also note that factions are now introduced one full grade later than we learned them, which implies something about how much they're taught of multiplication and division (in other words, not a lot).

Ahem. Anyway, what the Department of Education does is show up with a check. It's even designed so that it doesn't have that much influence of school systems. It has the lofty idea of equal access to education (note: the Department of Education was established at the end of 1979, long after desegregation so that was always an iffy statement). And it supposedly promotes research, and improving education, without being too long on specifics. The whole thing is summed up in the question "What exactly is it that you do?" We've seen education fail to improve after throwing money at it, so if we're not getting a good return on the investment, maybe we don't need to be spending it on the Federal level.

 

[Tuur]

Absolutely! IT's an essential skill! Reading comprehension and slow reading also must be taught. ESPECIALLY when related to reading "dry material."

Comprehension is reading.

I had a grandfather who had to quit school after the third grade when his father died. By then he had learned to read and write, and basic math. The concept of anyone past the third grade who couldn't read infuriated him. Not just the education system, but the students. He saw no reason why a student who knew he couldn't read well didn't work to improve it. Given that he'd done his best to keep informed and to learn on his own, maybe he had a point.

 

[Tuur]

Maybe stop dismantling it?

Why? It's not accomplishing anything, anyway. It's only there to write a check.

 

[Tuur]

I agree with you that we shouldn't be dismantling the Dept of Education (just to save money). Education needs to be centralized so that all states have the same guidelines and procedures so that every student has a core understanding.

No, and for a cold reason. Not counting municipalities and territories, there are fifty large school systems in the US. If one state's grand scheme fails, the other forty-nine have a chance of doing it right. Centralized education means that every student in the US from Alabama to Wyoming is at risk of failing to learn through some hairbrained scheme that doesn't teach much of anything.

 

[rambot]

Now perhaps more of you can understand why the Department of Education, as it was, needed to be dismantled. The liberal approach to education essentially gave up on the children in the poor neighborhoods of cities like Chicago and Baltimore and Washington D.C. The lack of discipline along with DEI and CRT-like curriculum instead of a focus on English and basic math meant the kids had scant chance to succeed. There was little incentive to change among radical leaders, keeping the children uneducated meant more future votes for them.

IT was actually the funding model set up that kept poor schools in poor neighbourhoods without reaction equality through a city that was the problem.

Other countries recognize that public education needs proper funding models; not NIMBY models where folks don't work together for a rising tide to lift all boats. IT was middle class and rich people in their neighbourhoods that GAVE UP on the children in poor neighbourhoods when they would elect people who would block their money from going into poorer neighbourhoods. Don't blame the teachers. That's unfair...and short sighted.

As a teacher, it makes me want to set myself on fire when I hear "DEI and CRT" being blamed for English and Math scores. It's just a desperate attempt to schemer all of your problems with public schools into one gloppy concoction when your grievances, stated more rationally, could come closer to getting agreement.

Honestly, throwing in "DEI AND CRT" just completely discredits almost your entire post..this idea that it replaced 'English and basic math"...what a complete load of malarky. How much time to parents have on their hands if they are making arguments like this? Nobody who has spent anytime in classrooms over the last 20 years would make such a "banging clanging" argument, devoid of sense and reason.
IF DEI looks like reading a book about a black kid, then maybe you'd have a point. I'm mean you'd look like a racist and you're not. So I imagine you're under the impression there are WHOLE LESSONS devoted the patriarchy in elementary school? That grade 2s are learning about intersectionality and Thomas Sowell? That grade 4 students are considering recidivism by race in the prison system?
Calm down.

IF you knew anything about curriculum, you'd know that a lot of the more modern methodologies for teaching reading are getting discarded. IT's fascinating. Read up on "Lucy Caulkins"...she's just the last in a series of "here's the new way to teach language" that was not serving children well in the long term. Her writing series are okay but her reading? AWFUL!
That is the START of the problem with English language education in North America.
Next problem?
How much reading do kids do on their own/with parents/are forced to do outside of school? It's declining.

 

[Hvizsgyak]

No, and for a cold reason. Not counting municipalities and territories, there are fifty large school systems in the US. If one state's grand scheme fails, the other forty-nine have a chance of doing it right. Centralized education means that every student in the US from Alabama to Wyoming is at risk of failing to learn through some hairbrained scheme that doesn't teach much of anything.

I see your point to a certain extent. What I'm talking about is a small central organization that recommends only the core curriculum. But you can look at your logic in another way, if one's state school system superbly succeeds and they teach the basics there (math, science, english grammar, history, health and economics and they use good old fashion memorization techniques) and the other 49 state school systems use untried unreliable new fangled teaching techniques and their students turn out so-so, you've just lost a good portion of a generation of students. Never getting a chance to go back and learn it again. And that's what seems to happen when you have red states vs blue states.

We need at least a small core idea that is universal to all the states on what should be taught (math, science, english grammar, history and economics) so every student has a well rounded background. This central system won't tell you how you teach just what needs to be taught. Every student needs and deserves to have a well rounded education in America. And if they have to stay in a class that they repeatedly fail for years, so be it.

Also, the pay has to be universal and it has to be very good. We are raising the next generation of leaders of this country. The students learning are worth it.

 

[Bradskii]

Now perhaps more of you can understand why the Department of Education, as it was, needed to be dismantled. The liberal approach to education essentially gave up on the children in the poor neighborhoods of cities like Chicago and Baltimore and Washington D.C. The lack of discipline along with DEI and CRT-like curriculum instead of a focus on English and basic math meant the kids had scant chance to succeed.

The DoE has no involvement with the curriculum. None whatsoever. I'm surprised that you didn't know that.

There was little incentive to change among radical leaders, keeping the children uneducated meant more future votes for them.

And I'm equally surprised that you'd admit that.

 

[Learning always]

US students' reading and math scores at historic lows: 'Devastating trend'

High school students, especially 12th graders, are reading and learning math and science at historic lows, according to a new report.

abcnews.go.com

It has been going on for a long long time, the same applies to Australia as well.

With the advent of the internet, this situation is getting better, since the internet is a storage house of knowledge, right? No, worse.

The politicians pretend they got nothing to do with it, hoping we will think it's the students' faults.