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October 31, 2009
States Set Low Bar for Student Achievement
States Set Low Bar for Student Achievement
WASHINGTON
Many states declare students to have grade-level mastery of reading and math when they do not, the Education Department reported Thursday.
The agency compared state achievement standards to the more challenging standards behind the federally funded National Assessment of Educational Progress.
State standards were lower, and there were big differences in where each state set the bar.
The Obama administration said the report bolsters its effort to persuade all states to adopt the same set of tougher standards for what students should know.
"States are setting the bar too low," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said. "We're lying to our children when we tell them they're proficient, but they're not achieving at a level that will prepare them for success once they graduate."
The federal government can't impose a set of standards, because education is largely up to states.
But Duncan noted he is offering millions of dollars in grants to encourage states to accept a set of standards being developed by the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers. The grants come from the federal stimulus law, which set aside $5 billion to push Obama's vision of educational reform.
While the standards are not yet final, every state but Texas and Alaska already has committed to work toward adopting them.
The head of the department's Institute of Education Sciences said the biggest concern should be the wide disparity in standards among the states. A student who is proficient in one state might not be proficient in another, the report said.
"Why are these performance standards so far apart, and why are expectations set so widely from one place to another?" IES director John Easton said.
House Education Committee chairman George Miller said a child's education should not be determined by zip code.
"If we are serious about rebuilding our economy and restoring our competitiveness," Miller, D-Calif., said, "then it's time for states to adopt a common core of internationally benchmarked standards that can prepare all children in this country to achieve and succeed in this global economy."
The report by the department's statistics arm compared state achievement levels to achievement levels on NAEP. It found that many states deemed children to be proficient or on grade level when they would rate "below basic," or lacking even partial mastery, in reading and math under the NAEP standards.
Among the findings:
- Thirty-one states deemed fourth-graders proficient in reading when they would have rated below basic on NAEP. Mississippi's standards were lowest, and Massachusetts' were highest.
- Seventeen states deemed eighth-graders proficient at reading when they would have rated below basic on NAEP. Tennessee's standards were lowest, and South Carolina's were highest.
- Ten states deemed fourth- and eighth-graders proficient at math when they would have rated below basic on NAEP. Tennessee's standards were lowest; Massachusetts had the highest fourth-grade math standards, and South Carolina had the highest eighth-grade standards.
In addition, the report said more states lowered standards than raised them from 2005 to 2007.
North Carolina state education official Lou Fabrizio said states face a dilemma because of No Child Left Behind, the 2002 federal law that prods schools to boost test scores to meet annual improvement goals.
States can set easier standards that ensure schools will meet the federally mandated goals, or they can set more challenging standards that help kids improve.
His state chose the latter, but Fabrizio said it was tough to explain that higher standards meant lower scores.
"That was a really difficult job for us to do and communicate to the public that students did not all of a sudden become very ignorant," he said.
North Carolina still has below-basic achievement standards for fourth- and eighth-grade reading.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Schools have changed a lot since I went. The thing that has bugged me is the dumbing down. It not only effects that students abilities but also their future and in the long run effects those around that person in how well they can do their job.
When I was in high school the scale was:
95-100 A
90-94 B
80-89 C
75 (maybe 70) - 79 D
Below that an F
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at October 31, 2009 12:47 AM
Comments
Was it 1957 the Russians launched Sputnick, shortly after that, there was a huge cry for the schools to up the education standards. Our students were not doing as well as the Russians in Math and Science. At that time we weren't worried about outcomes, some kids weren't good in Math and Science as others were. Primary, High Schools and Universities started offering rigorous Math and Science courses in order to catch up with the Soviets. Little did we realize, at that time, that most of the top Russian Scientists spoke German as their first language, as ours did. But within 5 years we were at or surpassing the Russian level of education.
We passed the Russians, in design and development and we were the first to the moon. In fact one of the best planes built in the World was the SR-71, it was the last one designed and built using the 'Slide-Rule'.
It was said, ,the reason we can see so far is because we are standing on the shoulders of giants', in reference to the greatest minds in Math and Science. Now, however, it is the Texas Instrument hand held computer...err calculator.
Today, though, the Progressives have taken over the class rooms and if a student excels in Math or Science, he is held up as a freak, they have dumbed down the class to the point and eliminated any healthy competition because they don't want to embarrass a student who didn't bother to study the night before. (or if he's a real problem they put him on drugs and say he's A.D.D.) Now they are lowering the standards even more, where they are more concerned about a child's self esteem than the kid getting a decent education and understanding Newton's 3 laws of motion.
Posted by: Mark at October 31, 2009 09:21 AM
At on time,one of the purposes of education was to stimulate "Critical Thinking". This of course is frowned on today, because it might result in the student, at any level, Elementary through Grad School, to develop investigative skills that allow for making choices.Thereby setting up a competitve situation, where one might be seen as better than another.
During my 36 year career as a Teacher, I saw the Educational system crumble. I blame the Federal Government for this. Once they started dictating what was in the curriculum, all local control stopped, or was seriously curtailed.
I was involved with an experiment that had us giving either Pass or Fail, as grades, rather than A through F. That lasted about one year, when some of the parents discovered, among other things, their children were denied admission to college, as a result.
I also witnessed the results of "Social Promotion". That is the allowing of the student to pass to the next grade regardless of whether he/she had met the requirements. When those students got to High School, they found that their Third Grade reading level was not up to the task of doing High Scool Level work. Any wonder why the drop out rate is so high in many Inner City Schools?
There were times when I felt I was working at a Day Care center for Teenagers.
Posted by: SEAN. at October 31, 2009 12:03 PM
Again, the Federal government's intrusion screws up a critical aspect of America, education. Thank you Comrade Jimmy Carter for the Dept of (non)Education.
It is amazing that we fought WWII on the fly with what turned out to be some of the best technology of the time, all without a Dept of Ed. I am old enough, at 64, to have gone through the education system of Texas with no Fed assistance or guidance. The principals led us in (Christian)prayer every morning, the Pledge of Allegience and a patriotic song. Every city and town in Texas had(has) an independent school system meeting a loose minimum of state interference. We had no need for a police officer in the schools except to give occassional safety lectures.
Now we have a shitload of Federal legislators and bureacrats and a nationalized teachers union telling us how to educate our kids and to leave out religion(the muzzies will change that when they take over). Patriotism and Americanism are downplayed to multi culturalism. And the politicians put their kids in private schools.
Kids still come out of public schools in good shape. But those are kids that apply themselves. Other kids that can't form a sentence or balance a checkbook get the same diploma. In the larger cities segregation is back although it is voluntary segregation. Guess which schools have the lowest scores and the most problem kids. Guess which schools get the most federal funds.
The Feds control most education now and in rapid order plan to completely control our health services and energy. All that remains to be seen is if we go with a whimper or if we repeat 1776.
Keep buying ammo.
Posted by: TomR at October 31, 2009 12:59 PM
The evolution of math....
http://www.devtopics.com/evolution-of-teaching-math-in-america/
I signed up for a class in chemical calculations (1975). It was cancelled for a low sign-up. I was stuck in 'comparative shopping' for one quarter. I believe some of my brain cells decayed in that class.
Posted by: Jim at October 31, 2009 06:14 PM
Jim that was excellent and so true.
Posted by: Mark at October 31, 2009 07:12 PM
