65% Of Public School 8th Graders Not Proficient In Reading; 67% Not Proficient In Math

CNS News ^ | 05/01/18 | Terence P. Jeffrey

[Enlightened1]

Sixty-five percent of the eighth graders in American public schools in 2017 were not proficient in reading and 67 percent were not proficient in mathematics, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress test results released by the U.S. Department of Education.

The results are far worse for students enrolled in some urban districts.

Among the 27 large urban districts for which the Department of Education published 2017 NAEP test scores, the Detroit public schools had the lowest percentage of students who scored proficient or better in math and the lowest percentage who scored proficient or better in reading.

Only 5 percent of Detroit public-school eighth graders were proficient or better in math. Only 7 percent were proficient or better in reading.

In the Cleveland public schools, only 11 percent of eight graders were proficient or better in math and only 10 percent were proficient or better in reading.

In the Baltimore public schools, only 11 percent were proficient or better in math and only 13 percent were proficient or better in reading.

In the Fresno public schools, only 11 percent were proficient or better in math and only 14 percent were proficient or better in reading.

Among the states, Louisiana public elementary schools did the worst in teaching students math and New Mexico public elementary schools did the worst job teaching reading.

In the Louisiana public schools, only 19 percent of the eighth graders were proficient or better in math and only 25 percent were proficient or better in reading.

In the New Mexico public schools, only 24 percent were proficient or better in reading and only 20 percent were proficient or better in math.

[sphinx]

In 1960, the country was 85 percent white, twelve percent black, and three percent "other." The test scores would reflect those demographics. Black scores would also be artificially depressed because the civil rights revolution was only beginning to touch the schools; black kids were hugely underserved in much of the country. I'm not sure that the white scores, on average, would be much to boast about either. I was in school during that era, and my recollection is that the slower kids were just exiled to the back of the class and shifted eventually to shop and home ec. A lot of them simply dropped out, and not much fuss was made about it. This was before the "everyone needs to go to college" stuff got loose.

I agree that standards were higher for kids in the top 25 percent or so. The massive loosening of standards in an effort to bring the rest along had yet to happen.