Posted on 05/29/2006 4:05:52 AM PDT by .cnI redruM
Colleges across the country are reporting a drop in SAT scores this year. I've been tutoring students in New York City for the SAT since 1989, and I have watched the numbers rise and fall. This year, though, the scores of my best students dropped about 50 points total in the math and verbal portions of the test (each on a scale of 200 to 800). Colleges and parents are wondering: Is there something wrong with the new test? Or are our children not being taught what they should know?
Before 1994, the verbal section of the SAT was about 65% vocabulary (55 out of 85 questions) and 35% reading comprehension. Then the Educational Testing Service shortened and reworked the test, devoting half of the 78 questions to each area. Last year ETS changed the test again, and now it is heavily skewed toward reading: 49 of the 68 items require students to read, synthesize and answer questions.
In such a way, ETS has increased the penalty for not reading throughout one's school years.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
By the time a child is in first grade, he or she is spending more waking time with the teacher than with the parents. That second grader who cannot read should never have been promoted past first if they couldn't accomplish first grade tasks.
Reading is the linchpin of education. If a child isn't reading well by third grade they are in an academic hole they may never climb out of. There is a magic bullet, though. It's called "direct instruction of phonics" along with a healthy dose of "grouping by ability".
The problem with our education schools, and therefore our elementary schools, is that they are wedded to the idea of full inclusion by age, not to mention the abomination that is whole language. Does whole language work on occasion? Yes, but only on that small percentage of children to whom reading comes easily, like breathing, and that type of child could learn with any curriculuum. Most children are not like that though. The human mind can memorize around 300 sight words a year. Three years of whole language gives a student an effective reading vocabulary of less than a thousand words. Phonics instruction gives students the ability to decode any word they come across. At worst they mispronounce it the first time they say it aloud, but at least they can read it.
An interesting point. Most people would tell you they don't have the time to "brush up their Shakespeare."
"... fine the parents of students who refuse to do homework $10.00 per missed assignment..."
Nice idea, but it will never fly. Parents come up with all sort of excuses for their child not getting homework done.
Now, if it was worded as an incentive instead of a fine, maybe it would work. For example, parents of children with a 95% attendance rate would receive a $50.00 at the end of the year. Another $50.00 for 95% on time homework. Another $50.00 for good behavior (no office referrals). Perhaps a private grant could fund an experiment to see what effect this has on test scores.
Attendance is a big problem. Parents let their children stay home far more than is necessary. It affects the entire class, because lessons need to be retaught. We teachers are responsible to make sure that a child learns, but we can't teach a child who isn't there!
"The problem...is that they are wedded to the idea of full inclusion by age, not to mention the abomination that is whole language."
You are right about whole language.
Yes, schools could group by ability level instead of age. But this has problems also. A twelve year old might end up in a class with mostly seven year olds. If the 12 year old is that far behind academically, chances are good that he also has behavior problems.
The stories I've seen point out the fact that kids are just not reading well enough these days, and since the reading comprehension is SO prevalent in the SAT, they are at a major disadvantage.
It's likely also that not as many kids are taking the upper level Math courses that would boost those scores. Our dd had taken Trig at the local Community college before she took the SAT, and that helped quite a bit. SirKit is going to start Algebra II/Trig with him this summer, and we hope he'll be able to take pre-Calculus at the community college next Spring. That should help a lot when he takes the SAT at the end of his Jr. year
According to a couple of teachers I know, failing a student is almost unheard of - the public school administrations (or at least some of them) have taken a stance against failing grades, and against having students repeat a grade. That's why we have many high-school graduates that can only read at a 5th grade level.
Both!
Probably some of the same unqualified teachers and professors infesting our schools and colleges are compiling those tests. I even heard, don't remember exactly where, that they were thinking of lowering the standards of the tests so that more students could score higher. I could be wrong but I thought I heard it recently.
Yeah but home schoolers don't get the advantages of learning to put condoms on cucumbers, networking with other students learning how to smoke pot and snort coke or more important for the guys, how to join the hispanic gang of your choice! Just think what your home schooled child has missed!
If the parents had to pay a $10.00 fine for homework assignments not completed (Here's a great place for zero tolerance) the excuses would drop off dramatically.
The school system's number one excuse for poor grades on standard testing seems to be the parents. If they can't get parents to voluntarily get involved in their child's education, the incentive should be a fine.
Now, if it was worded as an incentive instead of a fine, maybe it would work. For example, parents of children with a 95% attendance rate would receive a $50.00 at the end of the year. Another $50.00 for 95% on time homework. Another $50.00 for good behavior (no office referrals). Perhaps a private grant could fund an experiment to see what effect this has on test scores
This idea wouldn't solve the problem for students who regularly skip homework. Once they realized they had blown their opportunity for their "reward" their incentive to do what is expected of them would end.
A penalty for not doing what is expected of them would better prepare them for the real world. Isn't that the whole idea of education?
Attendance is a big problem. Parents let their children stay home far more than is necessary. It affects the entire class, because lessons need to be retaught. We teachers are responsible to make sure that a child learns, but we can't teach a child who isn't there!
A parent is responsible for getting their child to school for their free education. If a predetermined number of absences per month triggered a truant officer visit, parents could be held accountable for their actions. Doesn't the school lose a predetermined amount of money each time a child stays home?
Consequence is a great teacher.
I don't ever recall learning how to read. It was just something I was able to do at a very young age --like eating. By the time I entered elementary school, reading seemed second nature. It helped that I was raised in an environment surrounded by lots of books -especially ones with pictures and children's encyclopedias that attracted my interest.
I imagine that for many of today's older kids who can't read, a lack of books in their homes correlates directly with their illiteracy.
I am going to put on my old-fashion flameproof asbestos suit and postulate that "teaching to the test" is not necessarily a bad thing, if three conditions prevail:
1. The specific questions that will appear on the test are NOT known in advance, although sample, previous version, or "coaching" questions are available for preparation.
2. The actual test will consist of questions from EVERY PART of the cirriculum, in sufficient detail that completing the test will positively demonstrate familiarity with each academic area.
3. Questions will require APPLICATION of the subject material or OPERATIONAL FACILITY with it - solving a problem, not just recalling a factoid.
My point is that if you teach your course material this way, your students will have a comprehensive exposure to the full body of knowledge they should see.
I taught managerial economics to MBA students for a couple of years, and actually tried to apply this model. I told my students exactly the kind of questions that would appear on the midterm and final tests, and worked samples of all of them for the class. Everything was open book, open notes, and open homework (with my comments and corrections, if they submitted it on time,) and any kind of calculator or computer you wanted to bring to class that day.
Each test took 4 hours, and very few left early.
I used to think it was horrible that we tell young people they aren't mature enough to drink a beer until they are 21 but they can make the decision to drop out of high school at 16 (and even younger in some places) --a decision that has far more dire consequences on their future than drinking a beer.
Now I've come to believe that incorrigable, unmotivated children do incredible damage by remaining in the classroom and handicapping the teacher's ability to instruct the students who actually want to learn.
Sadly, it is a tough life-lesson for these dropouts when they are forced to accept the fact that they are now competing for jobs with unskilled illegal immigrants and these immigrants are willing to work a lot harder and for a lot less money than they are.
My daughter graduated from an identical public high school and scored a 1520. She wound up being valedictorian of her class in a cakewalk because one of her competitors refused to cheat in a class where cheating was rampant. Graded on a curve she wound up with a C and everyone else with A's and B's. The entire school, parents, schoolboard, teachers and administrators of the school knew about the rampant cheating and did nothing about it.
Few are telling the truth about the educational mess, or that millions of illegal (and even legal one) students are causing the plummeting test scores.
Most States only allow a two-year exemption for "Non-Native Speakers of English," before they are required to take State testing along with the native speakers of English
Any Linguiust (who is not a red, or a pink) will tell you for a certainty that it takes 7-10 years of classroom study, not watching TV, for any individual (barring any disabilities) to become masterful in the Second Language.
Please don't blame teachers because this situation is rammed down their throats. Blame the NEA and Congress!
Cultrual anthropology is one of my major interests. I have consistently found in my own research efforts that countries with homeogenous populations have the highest rates of literacy. Check it out on cia factbook.
Because that judge said that the school has to give them the diploma anyway, remember?
Of course, one could also ask how they got to 12th grade without being able to read & write English, but I think some of that has to do with mandated ESOL and Special Ed. programs as well.
Some of the rest has to do with parents, teachers, and/or administrators who are afraid that students' self-esteem will be harmed if they fail in the lower grades.
There was an elementary principal near here who would not allow a teacher to "fail" any student, no matter what the student had or had not done or learned. The principal's philosophy was that the student hadn't failed to learn, the teacher had failed to teach.
Perfect! You covered it in a nutshell. Now you should add that because of the conditions you described the teachers with potential are hanging it up leaving behind those who need the job and/or could'nt get anthing else anyway. Gorden Liddy once said that if you could'nt provide a private school education for your kids, you had better leave the country. Now for the rest of us living in this decaying society we can shudder at the knowledge that the products of these institutions will one day be running the country.
I hereby declare that no child must be left behind, therefore we must enact a good conservative policy: throw money at the Dept. of Education and dumb down the test. Thank you.
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