WASHINGTON (AP) — The results of the latest Nation’s Report Card are in and the news isn’t good.
Fourth-graders made no improvements in math or reading, while eighth-graders’ scores were flat in math and only slightly improved in reading, according to results released Tuesday on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Overall, only roughly a third of American eighth-graders are proficient in reading and math along with about 40 percent of fourth-graders.
The figures are in line with recent trends. Students made big gains in the 1990s and early 2000s, but there have been no major improvements since then.
The results show that racial disparities persist. African-American students were out-performed by their white peers at both grade levels.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos says the country needs to do better for its students, citing the stagnating reading and math scores.
“More alarmingly, the gap between the highest and lowest performing students is widening,” DeVos added.
She singled out Florida’s results for praise. Fourth-graders there improved in math, and eighth-graders had gains in both math and reading.
DeVos said Florida has a strong publicly funded charter and private school program — a strong priority for the Trump administration.
“Florida’s results show what is possible when we focus on individual students,” DeVos said.
In eighth grade, the average U.S. reading score was 267 out of 500, 1 point higher than in 2015, but 7 points higher than when the reading test was first administered in 1992. For math, the average score was 283, similar to two years before.
Peggy Carr, associate commissioner at the National Center for Education Statistics, said the increase for eighth-grade reading was due to improvement among higher-performing students. Lower-performing students had similar results in 2017 as in 2015.
The picture was different for fourth-graders. Low-performing students did worse in math and reading, while higher-performing students stayed at the same level.
“There is still much work to be done to close achievement gaps and ensure that our young people are ready for success in college, careers and life,” said Carissa Miller, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers. “It is clear we as a country must do better by all of our students, especially our lowest-performing kids.”
The results were the first since the test was changed from paper to computer-based.
States that saw improvements in eighth-grade reading included California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana and Washington. Meanwhile, Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Louisiana, among others, saw lower results for fourth-grade math.
Yep, how’s that whole Kentucky, Oklahoma, West Virginia, etc. etc. school funding thingy working out for you, Boopsie?
Children, I’m going to tell you a little secret about Soylent Green.
Four words: Socialist, Scandinavian, Countries, Education.
In this country, income disparity and educational disparity are directly related. In the horrible European countries where people have health care and the schools are all funded the same and everything is horrible, the kids kick ass. Advanced Asian countries too. We’re mired in the middle of the pack internationally and the only reason we do even that well is because the affluent kids are getting world-class educations. The middle and poor kids not so much. Maybe we can fix this someday. But in the meantime, millions of kids are having their futures blighted and that you can’t fix once it happens. They never catch up. Early childhood education is that important. It’s the elephant in the room. Everyone who knows anything about education knows that much.
So charter schools have been around for the better part of 30 years in various states, but especially in the southern states with strong GOP majorities in state houses. So how, with all the promises of charters, with all the pubic dollars flowing into these charters, and flexibility afforded to charters, have the overall results of the southern states not gone up dramatically in the last 30 years?
Because siphoning off ever shrinking dollars per student between a new entity, charters, and an existing entity (public schools which have limited financial flexibility) is a recipe for stagnation at best and worsening education for the next generation of Americans at worst.
This Secretary has zero, I repeat zero credibility or background for the job she now holds. She, and her family, have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to change the school funding in Michigan with little effect, other than the issues I have mentioned above, all the expense of the next generation of Americans. Frankly, it is sad and disgusting what Betsy Devos stands for, and I hate to bag on any form of education as I am a fan of it. We need to properly fund our schools in a way that reflects America’s and Americans desire to ensure a prosperous future for all Americans in every nook and cranny of America. I could not be more proud of those students and teachers who fought yesterday, today and tomorrow to secure proper funding for education.
PS NCLB is a failure brought to you by the GOP, they should have to wear that badge for the next 30 years.