Posted on 08/21/2026 9:43:27 AM PDT by george76
Colorado state officials on Thursday morning released the results of spring 2023 K-12 achievement tests and the results are mixed -- suggesting that where students were developmentally when their learning was disrupted by the COVID pandemic may play a role in how well they're succeeding academically today.
In the English Language Arts portion of the Colorado Measures of Academic Success for example, higher percentages of students in grades 5, 6 and 7 met or exceeded expectations than in 2022, but grades 3 and 4 saw drops or nominal gains.
The CMAS tests students in grades 3-8, finding that across the state 43.7% of students are proficient in English Language Arts and 32.9% are proficient in mathematics.
...
A persistent challenge for the state's schools is addressing gaps in achievement by race and ethnicity and by income level. In 8th grade science for example, the Asian, White and Two or More Races groups scored approximately 23-36 percentage points higher than the Black and Hispanic groups.
The achievement gap is most evident in the state's largest school district – Denver Public Schools - where nearly 50% points separate White students from Hispanic and Black students in literacy. The chart further below also illustrates DPS has the widest disparities in achievement by the income level of students' families.
Denver Public Schools English Language Arts Proficiency..
Black 26.70%
Hispanic 24.10%
White 72.70%
Over fixation on equity, as well as trying to get everyone to graduate, has caused resources to be squandered on kids that do not give a shit, and standards to be dropped in order to hand everyone a worthless (it doesn’t mean anything anymore) high school degree.
Stop wasting resources. That is what this is. If the kids and their parents do not care, stop trying to chase after them.
Set standards and live up to them. If 25% of the kids don’t graduate as in the past, BUT those that do graduate know how to read, write, do math, understand basic civics, some concepts on how to think (fallacies and mechanics of logic), that is FAR better than EVERYONE getting a worthless degree.
In 1965 only 72-73% (today it is ~90%) of kids graduated high school (https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d07/tables/dt07_100.asp), BUT those that did graduate back then actually had learned something and employers could depend on that.
Today the kids that “graduate” high school are in part illiterate! They can’t even do basic arithmetic.
All we did was lower the standards so that more graduate and throw ever more money at kids that do not care.
There was a study recently that middle school learned slightly more math when an AI tutor walked them through their mistakes and then required them to demonstrate the same skill correctly three times in a row before moving on. And that was after only one week. Imagine the effect of continuous machine learning that responded directly to a student’s work and guide the student through the mistake.
Then some parent sued, and the policy was dropped.
In other words it’s the typical dynamic. White and Asian kids do well. Black and Hispanic kids do badly. It’s a cultural divide not a racial one that accounts for this recurring scenario.
> That’s because it is cheaper and easier for the district to cave than to fight the lawsuit. <
You’re right in most instances. That’s why bad administrators and bad teachers can keep on working. And why chronically disruptive students don’t get expelled.
But the attendance policy (from post #11) was dropped not just because of a lawsuit. It was also because the policy conflicted with state regulations.
Evidently the state says you must give students the opportunity to make up missed work, even if they only showed up a few days each year.
That might seem reasonable on the surface. But it gives students an out. “Yeah, I’ll skip most days. Then I’ll just make it all up at the very end.”
But of course that’s impossible. So the law is actually setting up students to fail.
Oh, and one more thing. We used to have truant officers in my district. But they were all let go. I’d guess that was around 1990.
Abysmal
Achievement gaps by race, income “persistent and troubling”; plus girls struggled more.
Asians snicker they know what works studying.
“ working mom has no time to help with reading and math”
What percentage of very poorly performing kids have working moms versus how many have moms who just stay home living on government handouts? The latter have plenty of time to help with reading and math, but possibly can’t do it themselves. …. Or do not care to
“Women and minorities hardest hit...”
Oh - didn’t see you beat me to it!
So, every child is different, but...
We have 5. And my wife works more than I do. All 5 excel. But not always. In *my* experience, having access to online progress reports AND tracking them religiously - coupled with, “WTF?,” to the child I see problems with along with follow up with the teacher to make sure they know I am aware, that I am talking to the child about it, and they have my support in any corrective measures or remediation needed - and everything is fixed just like that.
My wife and I both have exceptional math and science skills, and did very well in all other subjects, but I *rarely* end up falling back on that - merely making sure the child knows that *I* know what is going on, and supporting the teachers, whom I have found to be very supportive when they know I support them, and the child excels.
YMMV.
Did you mean?...
“Asians snicker. They know what works: studying.”
If so, I wholeheartedly agree.
Observationally, I agree. But what’s often left out of that conversation is why this occurs. A child with a 90 IQ can excel (all or mostly As) with support and work. 80 can easily be half As and half Bs. By far the most significant contributor to performance is culture, not race.
Like Fairfax and Loudoun Counties “caving” by suing Glenn Youngkin and Donald Trump?
That’s not the real dynamic.
Up until my junior year in HS, my reading outside of school was limited to sports related subjects. My mom and stepfather left me alone, they were happy to see me reading. That changed when I picked up The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
Trying to pin the blame on parents is a bit of a canard with me. Each and every student needs to take personal responsibility for their education.
“working mom has no time to help with reading and math” — assuming mom herself if not illiterate! The rot in public schools goes way back and mom probably grew up in a fatherless household and never learned to read, write, do math herself.
Check
Stop “social promotions”. Remedial classes for those who flunk. Minimum proficiency in English, reading, and math. Enforced.
“80 can easily be half As and half Bs.”
That’s BS. That would be the case if they give only give As and Bs.
“By far the most significant contributor to performance is culture, not race.”
And where do you think culture comes from? What is “culture”?
Culture consists of values that a society embraces and promotes, And values are patterns of behavior that are likely to lead to long term success in life. (eg - “A penny saved is a penny earned”, “treat others the way you want to be treated”, “don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today”, “work and study hard” etc, etc.)
To recognize and appreciate those patterns that lead to long term success requires a modicum of intelligence. And intelligence is basically pattern recognition which is what IQ tests measure.
It explains why countries and races and societies with higher avearge IQs are more successful, affluent and desirable.
Can they similarly categorize the students’ contributions to their own achievements?
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