Our Continuing Decline In Academics

[Zam-Zam]

Not a good sign for the future of this country:

The Common Core Standards were put in place by the government to ensure that all students are “college and career ready.” However, a new study suggests that students are not only not ready for college, they are about five grades behind in reading level. The study shows that the average college freshman reads at just a seventh grade reading level.


Renaissance Learning recently released a report that indicates that students are leaving high school without ever obtaining a high school level of reading. In fact, students are significantly behind, clocking in at just a seventh grade reading level on average. Though students were capable of reading seventh grade level books, that isn’t what they are reading. The average reading level of books most read by high school seniors was just 5.2 (Grade 5, Month 2). That is only a one month increase over the junior year which clocks in at a 5.1 on the accelerated reader ATOS scale.

http://www.inquisitr.com/1743621/st...h-grade-level-common-core-standards-inferior/

Also, this:

The Pew Research Center reported last year that 23% of Americans surveyed said they hadn’t read a single book in 2013. In 2006, that statistic was 16%. The decline in overall reading coincides with statistics from last year’s National Association of Educational Progress report, which found that just 37% of high school seniors were at a proficient or higher level of reading.


The NAEP test is divided into three levels: Basic, proficient and advanced, with proficiency meaning a student is performing at grade level. The most recent percentage on the test, while not demonstrating a major decrease in proficiency levels, still shows a stagnation in the country’s progress on the matter, as the majority of Americans maintain a basic reading level.

Renaissance Learning’s 2016 report, “What Kids Are Reading,” shows high school seniors are reading at a 6th grade level, and only 9% of students in high school read texts above a middle school complexity level of 8, leaving students ill-prepared for college level reading at about 13.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/a...eeding-a-decline-in-cultural-literacy/421401/

 

[Emily]

Well, the public school system seems to be working as planned. Nice, empty minds all ready to be controlled.

 

[connieb]

I ha

Not a good sign for the future of this country:

The Common Core Standards were put in place by the government to ensure that all students are “college and career ready.” However, a new study suggests that students are not only not ready for college, they are about five grades behind in reading level. The study shows that the average college freshman reads at just a seventh grade reading level.


Renaissance Learning recently released a report that indicates that students are leaving high school without ever obtaining a high school level of reading. In fact, students are significantly behind, clocking in at just a seventh grade reading level on average. Though students were capable of reading seventh grade level books, that isn’t what they are reading. The average reading level of books most read by high school seniors was just 5.2 (Grade 5, Month 2). That is only a one month increase over the junior year which clocks in at a 5.1 on the accelerated reader ATOS scale.

http://www.inquisitr.com/1743621/st...h-grade-level-common-core-standards-inferior/

Also, this:

The Pew Research Center reported last year that 23% of Americans surveyed said they hadn’t read a single book in 2013. In 2006, that statistic was 16%. The decline in overall reading coincides with statistics from last year’s National Association of Educational Progress report, which found that just 37% of high school seniors were at a proficient or higher level of reading.


The NAEP test is divided into three levels: Basic, proficient and advanced, with proficiency meaning a student is performing at grade level. The most recent percentage on the test, while not demonstrating a major decrease in proficiency levels, still shows a stagnation in the country’s progress on the matter, as the majority of Americans maintain a basic reading level.

Renaissance Learning’s 2016 report, “What Kids Are Reading,” shows high school seniors are reading at a 6th grade level, and only 9% of students in high school read texts above a middle school complexity level of 8, leaving students ill-prepared for college level reading at about 13.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/a...eeding-a-decline-in-cultural-literacy/421401/

I have been saying this - since the standards first came out.

First of all - I will say that I don't believe this is a "teacher" problem .

What it is is a leadership, cirriculum and mindset problem.

Even in my upper middle class district, with the majority of parents holding college degrees themselves, acacemics of their children is not even a concern. I have had friends tell me that they want to see the schools get rid of homework. altoghether.. why? Because trying to fit homework in when they have sports or other stuff like that - means homeowrk has to go.

Talk about freaking messed up priorities. But, if these people who should certianly recognize the value that having a quality education has given them don't care.. then its probably even worse in lower economic strata.

You know what makes one a better reader - reading. Once you actually learn how to read - the only way you get better - is to actually read, harder and harder texts. I remember reading Jane Eyr in middle school. Reading the Scarlet Letter in 9th grade. Now, these classics are replaced with contemporary literature. And its not that the literature itself is worse but its not challenging. Because it is written in today's english. It is written at an 8th grade level, maybe with interesting writing techniques that make it adequate teaching, but the "read" itself is too easy. Its not challenging. It doesn't expand your knowledge base - either in pure vocabulary or alternate definitions, or historical context. If you read a book written in the late 1800's or early 1900's... you get experience not only an expanded vocabulary but ALSO a history lesson. It is killing two birds with one stone. But, gone, from much of our education are these classic works.

The reality is - kids are not pushed to excel. They are not pushed beyond their confort zone. Their fragile egos are protected at the cost of learning opportunities. Parents don't provide the basic stabile family structure which allows kids to focus on school instead of what needs to be done for the family. They don't provide for their kids basic nutrition or supplies - they are far too caught up with their own lives, their own dating, their own mating, their own whatever... they are hardly parents. They don't teach their children to follow rules and respect others and authority. Consequently kids come to school as mouthy brats that the teachers can't do a darn thing with. they come to school hungry and tired - becuase the parents didn't make sure they had food in the house, and or let them stay up half the night.

The public school system had failed our kids. But, it is the parental and cultural failures that have come first.


connie

 

[Zam-Zam]

I ha



I have been saying this - since the standards first came out.

First of all - I will say that I don't believe this is a "teacher" problem .

What it is is a leadership, cirriculum and mindset problem.

Even in my upper middle class district, with the majority of parents holding college degrees themselves, acacemics of their children is not even a concern. I have had friends tell me that they want to see the schools get rid of homework. altoghether.. why? Because trying to fit homework in when they have sports or other stuff like that - means homeowrk has to go.

Talk about freaking messed up priorities. But, if these people who should certianly recognize the value that having a quality education has given them don't care.. then its probably even worse in lower economic strata.

You know what makes one a better reader - reading. Once you actually learn how to read - the only way you get better - is to actually read, harder and harder texts. I remember reading Jane Eyr in middle school. Reading the Scarlet Letter in 9th grade. Now, these classics are replaced with contemporary literature. And its not that the literature itself is worse but its not challenging. Because it is written in today's english. It is written at an 8th grade level, maybe with interesting writing techniques that make it adequate teaching, but the "read" itself is too easy. Its not challenging. It doesn't expand your knowledge base - either in pure vocabulary or alternate definitions, or historical context. If you read a book written in the late 1800's or early 1900's... you get experience not only an expanded vocabulary but ALSO a history lesson. It is killing two birds with one stone. But, gone, from much of our education are these classic works.

The reality is - kids are not pushed to excel. They are not pushed beyond their confort zone. Their fragile egos are protected at the cost of learning opportunities. Parents don't provide the basic stabile family structure which allows kids to focus on school instead of what needs to be done for the family. They don't provide for their kids basic nutrition or supplies - they are far too caught up with their own lives, their own dating, their own mating, their own whatever... they are hardly parents. They don't teach their children to follow rules and respect others and authority. Consequently kids come to school as mouthy brats that the teachers can't do a darn thing with. they come to school hungry and tired - becuase the parents didn't make sure they had food in the house, and or let them stay up half the night.

The public school system had failed our kids. But, it is the parental and cultural failures that have come first.


connie

It seems likely that there are multiple factors in the continual failure of public primary education, and that there is no easy, quick fix. People, by nature, seek the path of least resistance, so if students are not pushed to excel, most will not. We have to stop issuing participation awards and start emphasizing competition - just like in the "real world". Results matter, despite what some might like us to believe.

That, of course, is only a start.

 

[Fast Eddy]

About the best indicator in life is how well kids read by the end of third grade. If they are good readers early they usually excel at everything going forward. We worked hard to make reading fun for our kids and they have all done well. Our granddaughter just got ou of 3rd grade and is reading at 8th grade or higher books and doing excelent in everything, but the reading was the foundation.

The Teachers Union needs to be done away, there desires are many times opposite for what is best for the Kid. Trumps returning of education to the state can not happen fast enough. The whole school system needs a do over.

 

[Fast Eddy]

About half the students at prestigous colleges end up needing remedial courses. I always wonder how they were accepted to college if they need remedial courses. Our K12 system is in real bad shape and we are noow working on dumbing down our universities.

 

[Wolfert Webber]

Not a good sign for the future of this country:

The Common Core Standards were put in place by the government to ensure that all students are “college and career ready.” However, a new study suggests that students are not only not ready for college, they are about five grades behind in reading level. The study shows that the average college freshman reads at just a seventh grade reading level.


Renaissance Learning recently released a report that indicates that students are leaving high school without ever obtaining a high school level of reading. In fact, students are significantly behind, clocking in at just a seventh grade reading level on average. Though students were capable of reading seventh grade level books, that isn’t what they are reading. The average reading level of books most read by high school seniors was just 5.2 (Grade 5, Month 2). That is only a one month increase over the junior year which clocks in at a 5.1 on the accelerated reader ATOS scale.

http://www.inquisitr.com/1743621/st...h-grade-level-common-core-standards-inferior/

Also, this:

The Pew Research Center reported last year that 23% of Americans surveyed said they hadn’t read a single book in 2013. In 2006, that statistic was 16%. The decline in overall reading coincides with statistics from last year’s National Association of Educational Progress report, which found that just 37% of high school seniors were at a proficient or higher level of reading.


The NAEP test is divided into three levels: Basic, proficient and advanced, with proficiency meaning a student is performing at grade level. The most recent percentage on the test, while not demonstrating a major decrease in proficiency levels, still shows a stagnation in the country’s progress on the matter, as the majority of Americans maintain a basic reading level.

Renaissance Learning’s 2016 report, “What Kids Are Reading,” shows high school seniors are reading at a 6th grade level, and only 9% of students in high school read texts above a middle school complexity level of 8, leaving students ill-prepared for college level reading at about 13.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/a...eeding-a-decline-in-cultural-literacy/421401/

Progressive education is building a Progressive society.

Just as planned.

 

[Wolfert Webber]

About half the students at prestigous colleges end up needing remedial courses. I always wonder how they were accepted to college if they need remedial courses. Our K12 system is in real bad shape and we are noow working on dumbing down our universities.

More than half of all student loans go to people that do not graduate.

No wonder they want "amnesty".

Time to up the standards for admission, not admit more losers.

 

[Arkady]

Not a good sign for the future of this country:

The Common Core Standards were put in place by the government to ensure that all students are “college and career ready.” However, a new study suggests that students are not only not ready for college, they are about five grades behind in reading level. The study shows that the average college freshman reads at just a seventh grade reading level.


Renaissance Learning recently released a report that indicates that students are leaving high school without ever obtaining a high school level of reading. In fact, students are significantly behind, clocking in at just a seventh grade reading level on average. Though students were capable of reading seventh grade level books, that isn’t what they are reading. The average reading level of books most read by high school seniors was just 5.2 (Grade 5, Month 2). That is only a one month increase over the junior year which clocks in at a 5.1 on the accelerated reader ATOS scale.

http://www.inquisitr.com/1743621/st...h-grade-level-common-core-standards-inferior/

Also, this:

The Pew Research Center reported last year that 23% of Americans surveyed said they hadn’t read a single book in 2013. In 2006, that statistic was 16%. The decline in overall reading coincides with statistics from last year’s National Association of Educational Progress report, which found that just 37% of high school seniors were at a proficient or higher level of reading.


The NAEP test is divided into three levels: Basic, proficient and advanced, with proficiency meaning a student is performing at grade level. The most recent percentage on the test, while not demonstrating a major decrease in proficiency levels, still shows a stagnation in the country’s progress on the matter, as the majority of Americans maintain a basic reading level.

Renaissance Learning’s 2016 report, “What Kids Are Reading,” shows high school seniors are reading at a 6th grade level, and only 9% of students in high school read texts above a middle school complexity level of 8, leaving students ill-prepared for college level reading at about 13.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/a...eeding-a-decline-in-cultural-literacy/421401/

Is it really a decline? There does appear to be a decline when it comes to the percent of people who have read a book in the last year, but my thought is that may be largely due to the rise in smart phones. In 2006, the iPhone didn't exist. If you had a habit of reading before bed, it was probably a book that you read. Now it may well be browsing magazine articles, social media content, etc. Do people read more or less overall? I'm not sure.

Overall, though, the stats I've seen indicate a continuing improvement in academics.

High school graduation rates are rising:

Same with college graduation rates:

Between 1996, we went from 33.7% of those who started a 4-year college program graduating to 39.8% in 2008, so by that metric is looks like more of those going into college are well prepared for it than in the past:

https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d15/tables/dt15_326.10.asp

NAEP scores have been rising at age 9 and 13, and have been effectively flat at age 17 (which makes sense when you remember that rising 4-year high school rates mean you're testing a less and less elite group of 17-year-olds each year, as fewer sub-par students have dropped out than in prior test groups):

Is there any sign that academics are actually declining (rather than just worse than we'd like them to be)?

 

[Arkady]

It seems likely that there are multiple factors in the continual failure of public primary education, and that there is no easy, quick fix. People, by nature, seek the path of least resistance, so if students are not pushed to excel, most will not. We have to stop issuing participation awards and start emphasizing competition - just like in the "real world". Results matter, despite what some might like us to believe.

That, of course, is only a start.

I tend to come at things from a practical, real-world perspective. If I want to improve my free-throw shooting, I look at those with great free-throw percentages and try to emulate their mechanics and training techniques. Likewise, if I want to improve academic performance, I'd look at schools, states, and countries that have enviable academic performance and try to figure out what they're doing differently. Looking abroad, that means studying Finland, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Germany, and others, to see what they're doing better. And looking at home, it means trying to figure out how to be more like Massachusetts and less like Mississippi:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2...achievement/8RrxW2veaCO6nGxJHxsUEO/story.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...9355c7e870a_story.html?utm_term=.91b755cb4b76

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...t-kids-from-massachusetts-to-mississippi.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesma...nts-would-rank-9th-in-the-world/#5c498da621b1

It's just a start, but one good idea is to waste less class time on stuff that doesn't actually help students -- for example, schools shouldn't waste precious teacher hours on the religious mission of indoctrinating children into the cult of sexual abstinence. Similarly, science teachers shouldn't be forced to waste time "teaching the controversy" when it comes to scientific facts that make people political or religiously uncomfortable (e.g., evolution by natural selection, climate change, etc.) Students have so very much to learn and relatively little time to learn it, so their time should be focused on productive lessons, not political window dressing.

 

[marvin martian]

I tend to come at things from a practical, real-world perspective. If I want to improve my free-throw shooting, I look at those with great free-throw percentages and try to emulate their mechanics and training techniques. Likewise, if I want to improve academic performance, I'd look at schools, states, and countries that have enviable academic performance and try to figure out what they're doing differently. Looking abroad, that means studying Finland, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Germany, and others, to see what they're doing better. And looking at home, it means trying to figure out how to be more like Massachusetts and less like Mississippi:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2...achievement/8RrxW2veaCO6nGxJHxsUEO/story.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...9355c7e870a_story.html?utm_term=.91b755cb4b76

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...t-kids-from-massachusetts-to-mississippi.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesma...nts-would-rank-9th-in-the-world/#5c498da621b1

It's just a start, but one good idea is to waste less class time on stuff that doesn't actually help students -- for example, schools shouldn't waste precious teacher hours on the religious mission of indoctrinating children into the cult of sexual abstinence. Similarly, science teachers shouldn't be forced to waste time "teaching the controversy" when it comes to scientific facts that make people political or religiously uncomfortable (e.g., evolution by natural selection, climate change, etc.) Students have so very much to learn and relatively little time to learn it, so their time should be focused on productive lessons, not political window dressing.

You're advocating indoctrination, not education. Totally unsurprising...

 

[Dawg]

not just Academics

http://www.npr.org/sections/theprot...64675234/who-won-the-civil-war-tough-question

that's the Future!

 

[Arkady]

You're advocating indoctrination, not education. Totally unsurprising...

The opposite, actually. Try rereading.

 

[connieb]

About the best indicator in life is how well kids read by the end of third grade. If they are good readers early they usually excel at everything going forward. We worked hard to make reading fun for our kids and they have all done well. Our granddaughter just got ou of 3rd grade and is reading at 8th grade or higher books and doing excelent in everything, but the reading was the foundation.

The Teachers Union needs to be done away, there desires are many times opposite for what is best for the Kid. Trumps returning of education to the state can not happen fast enough. The whole school system needs a do over.

I find it interesting that when education was totally by district to district we were very compatible and or beating our rival countries. But since education has become increasingly federalized and centralized we have lost ground. Fascinating..

 

[connieb]

About half the students at prestigous colleges end up needing remedial courses. I always wonder how they were accepted to college if they need remedial courses. Our K12 system is in real bad shape and we are noow working on dumbing down our universities.

My mother works in coordinating tutoring and remedial testing and remedial course registration at her local community college. In the 25 yrs she had worked there they have more than 4 times the percentage of recent hs grads who need remedial classes or support compared to when she started. more than half of the incoming freshmen straight from hs need remedial math or English. When she first started almost all her tutoring and remedial students were students who had been away from school for a while and needed a refresher. Now the classes are full of kids who just graduated. If you can't go to community college with your reading and math skills directly upon graduation you should likely never have graduated because there is no way you should have passe.

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

Well, the public school system seems to be working as planned. Nice, empty minds all ready to be controlled.

The Private Sector Tyranny Is No Better Than the Government's One

After years of doing boring and irrelevant schoolwork without reward, they'll be eager to accept lower pay, any kind of pay, once the economic bullies hire them.

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

It seems likely that there are multiple factors in the continual failure of public primary education, and that there is no easy, quick fix. People, by nature, seek the path of least resistance, so if students are not pushed to excel, most will not. We have to stop issuing participation awards and start emphasizing competition - just like in the "real world". Results matter, despite what some might like us to believe.

That, of course, is only a start.

Divide the classes into teams and quiz frequently. The winning team will get Friday off; the loser will have to come in on Saturday. High-scoring individuals from four grades higher will get paid to teach the Saturday classes.

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

About half the students at prestigous colleges end up needing remedial courses. I always wonder how they were accepted to college if they need remedial courses. Our K12 system is in real bad shape and we are noow working on dumbing down our universities.

Unpaid education attracts only the shallow end of the talent pool. Abolish the university and replace it with highly paid job training and you will get the most talented students and get them to study.

 

[Wolfert Webber]

I find it interesting that when education was totally by district to district we were very compatible and or beating our rival countries. But since education has become increasingly federalized and centralized we have lost ground. Fascinating..

Divide the classes into teams and quiz frequently. The winning team will get Friday off; the loser will have to come in on Saturday. High-scoring individuals from four grades higher will get paid to teach the Saturday classes.

Yeah, try to implement that and the teacher's unions will take out a contract on you.

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

Is it really a decline? There does appear to be a decline when it comes to the percent of people who have read a book in the last year, but my thought is that may be largely due to the rise in smart phones. In 2006, the iPhone didn't exist. If you had a habit of reading before bed, it was probably a book that you read. Now it may well be browsing magazine articles, social media content, etc. Do people read more or less overall? I'm not sure.

Overall, though, the stats I've seen indicate a continuing improvement in academics.

High school graduation rates are rising:

Same with college graduation rates:
http://www.supportingevidence.com/sitebuilder/images/
Is there any sign that academics are actually declining (rather than just worse than we'd like them to be)?[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE="Arkady, post: 1673376, member: 9327"]Is it really a decline? There does appear to be a decline when it comes to the percent of people who have read a book in the last year, but my thought is that may be largely due to the rise in smart phones. In 2006, the iPhone didn't exist. If you had a habit of reading before bed, it was probably a book that you read. Now it may well be browsing magazine articles, social media content, etc. Do people read more or less overall? I'm not sure.

Overall, though, the stats I've seen indicate a continuing [U][I][B]improvement[/B][/I][/U] in academics.

High school graduation rates are rising:

[IMG]http://www.motherjones.com/files/blog_high_school_graduation_rates.jpg
Same with college graduation rates:

Between 1996, we went from 33.7% of those who started a 4-year college program graduating to 39.8% in 2008, so by that metric is looks like more of those going into college are well prepared for it than in the past:

https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d15/tables/dt15_326.10.asp

NAEP scores have been rising at age 9 and 13, and have been effectively flat at age 17 (which makes sense when you remember that rising 4-year high school rates mean you're testing a less and less elite group of 17-year-olds each year, as fewer sub-par students have dropped out than in prior test groups):

Is there any sign that academics are actually declining (rather than just worse than we'd like them to be)?

The 6th Grade grammar of college graduates, especially the Ignorant Language Lords in the media, proves that college education is a fraud and should not be rewarded. But the propaganda slogan that covers up that fact is that college graduates are smart enough to improve standard English grammar, so whatever gibberish they spew is automatically accepted. The ignorant and diametrically opposite meaning they gave to "oxymoron," for example, has been accepted everywhere by people who think the on-air airheads must be smart or they wouldn't have gotten their jobs.