Posted on 04/15/2021 8:40:19 AM PDT by karpov
Most American children are trapped in public elementary and secondary schools that are either mediocre or dysfunctional.
Readers who wonder if this statement is polemical should know that for almost two decades, the federal government’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the nation’s highly respected school assessment tool, has documented that on average, less than 40 percent of rising 4th graders score “proficient” or higher in reading. In the latest 2019 NAEP assessments, 35 percent of children entering 4th grade attained a proficient reading score or higher. In no state did even 50 percent of rising 4th graders score proficient or higher.
This abject failure is worse than it appears because there is virtually no reading improvement in later grades. In 2019, only 37 percent of high school seniors nationally scored proficient or higher in reading, and NAEP tests for high school seniors don’t account for high school dropouts who, if they remained in school, would have lowered the average.
Now, a COVID-19 year of online learning in many public schools promises to make early literacy failures a long-term educational disaster.
A key takeaway from the reading example is that most college and university education colleges share substantial responsibility for the literacy problem. National Center for Educational Statistics data indicates that 90 percent of public school teachers obtained state certification through mandated education college courses.
(Excerpt) Read more at jamesgmartin.center ...
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I read the stories all the time and I wonder if these people are currently parents or have never been parents with kids in school
I’m a parent with three kids two of which are in elementary and middle school I can tell you the following
First of all school is mostly a joke and they’re not really learning a whole lot
Second day of school because all their buddies are there and it’s mostly about socialization
There are subtle attempts to implement the LGBTQRXYZ agenda or to add some other things but for the most part it’s kind of under the radar
I hear the ads all the time for private schools but I’m not gonna pay $20,000 a year to send my kid to elementary middle or high school -sorry
Bottom line is if you’re a parent it’s up to you to teach your kid your values and if you don’t do that you’ve blown it
The state of New York recently passed a law requiring prospective school teachers to take a literacy test to get their license, but repealed it the following year because 36 percent of whites, 54 percent of Hispanics and 59 percent of blacks failed on the first try.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/13/nyregion/ny-regents-teacher-exams-alst.html
Those who can't do, teach.
From the article: “A key takeaway from the reading example is that most college and university education colleges share substantial responsibility for the literacy problem. National Center for Educational Statistics data indicates that 90 percent of public school teachers obtained state certification through mandated education college courses.”
A number of years ago, the WSJ published the results of a study that examined rigor in the curriculum and quality of students (ACT scores, etc.) for most college majors.
First the good news, Journalism scored next to last in both measures.
Now, the bad news, Education scored the lowest on both measures.
At least he won't have to worry about getting Covid from his students.
Home-schooled our kids. I had our kids read the classics, mostly out of copyright children’s books from the late 1800s. They were reading full blown novels by 8/9 years old. The older children’s books taught them sentence structure that no new, simplistic books would and always had a moral to the story. I read most of them as well. Had the kids do book reports until I could tell they had the concept of a book report down. After that I might ask a few questions or just make conversation about the book just to make sure they really read it.
I worked for NY State, and remember years ago, that the State, and city of New York were offering reading classes to minorities who wanted to take civil service tests for law enforcement jobs, specifically the State Police.
for later
> Now, the bad news, Education scored the lowest on both measures. <
I’m a retired urban public high school teacher with a degree in chemistry. And in my experience, teachers who had subject degrees (math, history, etc.), they knew what they were talking about. No surprise there. But the folks who had education degrees...oh, my.
But, wait. It gets even crazier. Most administrators these days have education degrees. So the problem becomes that much worse. I’ve seen things like a principal with a PhD in education telling a degreed math teacher how to teach the quadratic formula (not kidding). And that teacher had better listen!
The solution to all of this is simple (but it will never happen). Abolish the education degree. You want to teach, say, English? Then get a degree in English.
Leaning Right wrote: The solution to all of this is simple (but it will never happen). Abolish the education degree. You want to teach, say, English? Then get a degree in English.”
There was a push several years ago to allow persons with expertise in a particular field (say an engineer with many, many math courses) to teach in a related field. The education establishment taught that tooth and nail saying that subject matter expertise was far less important than expertise in teaching techniques, ie, an education degree.
In the sixties when I was in college, the vast majority of coeds were majoring in education. I dated many of them and I was amused at their course work such as making collages to hang on school room walls.
Today, they claim they should be paid the same as STEM graduates because they both have a degree. When asked why, if they wanted to be paid as an engineer, why didn’t they go into engineering. Their answer was always ‘But math is hard.’
Actually, the literacy failure can be blamed on the parents.
Parents could start their kids on the path to literacy from the very beginning by reading to them and then with them.
And turning off the plug in drug and stop using the TV as a babysitter.
When those results come out, every year, the unions scream *racism* so you KNOW which teachers did the worst.
If they simply kept their mouths shut, nobody would know which demographic did the worst.
Kids may not be literate but they know how to do the important things like putting a condom on a cucumber.
> There was a push several years ago to allow persons with expertise in a particular field (say an engineer with many, many math courses) to teach in a related field. <
This might surprise you, but I was against that idea. There’s not much of an art to college teaching. You present the material. Your students get it, or they don’t.
But high school teaching is different. Many kids don’t want to be there. But it’s your job to make them succeed anyway. That’s where the art comes in.
As an example, a guy who taught in my school had a masters degree in his field. He came from the business world, and he really knew his stuff! But he didn’t know how to present his material. I still don’t understand how he got certified to teach. Maybe he was on some kind of fast-track program. He was a great guy, and very knowledgeable. But he was an awful teacher.
I would completely support a program where someone could come in from industry. But then he’d have to spend three months working under a master teacher, to learn the art. But so far I haven’t seen a program like that.
Leaning Right wrote: “I would completely support a program where someone could come in from industry. But then he’d have to spend three months working under a master teacher, to learn the art. But so far I haven’t seen a program like that.”
I’m not surprised you haven’t seen a program like that. I’m sure the education community would fight it since it would undermine their control. IIRC, they wanted a complete education degree.
We won’t solve the education mess, until we address the issue with current educators: they are not that bright.
https://www.joshuakennon.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/2010-total-group-profile-report-cbs.pdf
Median SAT scores for education majors in 2010
The mean Critical Reading score was 501. Education majors scored 481.
The mean Mathematics score was 516. Education majors scored 486.
The mean Writing score was 492. Education majors scored 477.
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