Posted on 08/26/2008 6:15:13 PM PDT by shrinkermd
High-school students' performance on SAT college-entrance exams stalled, and the gap widened between low-scoring minority groups and the overall population, raising questions about the quality of teaching in U.S. schools.
Average scores for the class of 2008 were 502 for the critical-reading section, 515 for mathematics and 494 for writing. Each of the three numbers was identical to the averages in 2007, meaning combined scores remain at the lowest level so far in the current decade. The reading scores of the past two years were the lowest since 1994. Math represented the worst showing since 2001. Each section is judged on a 200- to 800-point scale.
African-American students received an average critical reading score of 430, 72 points below the general population and three points beneath their 2007 level. Math scores showed a similar pattern. Hispanic students' scores also lagged behind, though the gap was smaller.
...No boost in overall scores and persistent minority shortfalls suggested to some experts that the improvement shown on many state exams mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind law may be illusory. The law, which took effect in 2002, mandates that all students be proficient in reading and math by 2014 and requires that school systems show steady progress toward meeting that goal or face sanctions. In particular, NCLB is supposed to lift the results of lagging student groups, including minorities.
...Asian-Americans continue to post stellar results. On the math section, the group achieved an average score of 581, 66 points better than the average. Asian-Americans also outperformed in critical-reading and writing, though by less.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
“They were the last “old-school” decent teachers I knew that actually cared about education instead of “diversity” and “self esteem”. Unfortunately, they all recently retired because they couldn’t handle the insanity.”
And therin sits the 500 lb gorilla. I make no secret of my distaste for the government schools. But to their credit, even if they were inclined to make some radical reforms, who would be there to do it? There is simply no pool of highly talented individuals willing to go get a masters degree to earn the pittance that starting teachers get paid. The teachers that are there are rapidly nearing retirement.
You’re seeing the collapse of government schools in ever increasing motion.
2 excellent teachers I knew retired because they got tired of getting into fistfights every other day with kids roaming the halls.
My old high school went from one of the top schools in the nation to a place that looks like a prison. Hell, prisons have more discipline. It all dropped like a stone after they redrew districts and started busing in “disadvantaged” kids from a different highschool. Yes, those schools were bad. But now EVERY school in the borough is a war zone.
A friend was working there and asked me to come in one day. There used to be not a sound in the hallways. Now gangs roam around with boomboxes and openly sell drugs in school. Security consists of metal detecting to try to stop shootings and stabbings. It's almost a free-for-all past the door. I wish I was exaggerating.
Are you sure you’re on the right thread?
Yes. Scores reflect learning. When there is no impetus to learn, scores drop.
I would venture to say that if a student scores low on the SAT, his self-esteem is lowered, no matter how high his assigned racial group scores on average. If a student scores high, his self-esteem will be fine, no matter how low his assigned racial group scores on average.
The problem is, when his "assigned group" scores low on average, his self-esteem isn't lowered, but his chances of getting a good job are.
I agree with your observations. My comments were not directed at minorities as such but at the silliness of our current education system. In some schools grades are eliminated or greatly inflated to, supposedly, protect the students self esteem.
The whole system of scoring by ethnic groups and gender is to create class division and set the stage for more money for special programs which never seem to work. It does, however, direct more money to the groups who create the problem in the first place
I couldn’t agree more. By placing each one of us into these little categories, the government only perpetuates the problems it purports to solve. (Little tongue twister there.) The government should drop the little categories. (I refuse to check those little boxes anymore.)
That had to be just coincidental else you would have said:
... perpetuates the pernicious problems in purports to prevent. Enough! I give up.
:-)
Yes, that tongue-twister was accidental. Yours is definitely better. :-)
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