I get so tired of reading about the “decline” and “failure” of American education.
It is not true.
A reader wrote the other day to say that NAEP scores in reading have been flat since 1971. She read it somewhere.
I went to the NAEP reports, the ones produced by the federal government, and here are the facts about NAEP reading.
Sources:” The Nation’s Report Card Reading 2011″; “The Nation’s Report Card Mathematics 2011”; both printed in Washington, D.C., by U.S. Department of Education. Also “The Nation’s Report Card: Trends in Academic Progress, Reading 1971-2008, Mathematics 1973-2008”
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| On the long-term trend NAEP, which goes from 1971-2008: White students age 17 gained 4 points from 1971-2008 Black students age 17 gained 28 points from 1971-2008 Hispanic students age 17 gained 17 points from 1971-20082008 is last date that long-term NAEP was given. There is also Main NAEP, which has been given since 1992. Only given to 4th and 8th grade, not to 17-year olds. Don’t believe everything you read. I am quoting from government documents. The gains on NAEP reading are incremental but significant. The gains on NAEP math are dramatic. Reading changes more slowly than math, because math is taught in school, and reading reflects both home and school. |
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I am sending this to my entire address book including the office of the POTUS. The reformers are data-happy. We need to saturate their email inboxes with this stuff. Go to every reformer website and post this. I doubt we’ll get any responses, but they need to know that we’re onto their rhetoric. Send it to your federal and state congress. In fact, post this EVERYWHERE. The public needs to know the truth.
So if scores were actually going up, why do we need Common Core standards? If 7% of my state’s districts were “failing” and 93% of districts were doing well, why would my governor (who is a Democrat), the State Board of Education, the teachers’ union and superintendents vote to abolish a system that was working for the vast majority?
Why weren’t reforms put in for the failing districts? Is it because Common Core was the vehicle to establish the data system so that information (previously not accessible) can be used to establish the workforce, not provide a better education?
That would be a lie I would like to see debunked: that Common Core standards will “reform” education and make students college and career ready…and globally competitive. It is just the vehicle for data mining human capital from birth for workforce development.
So if scores were actually going up, why do we need Common Core standards?
In response: They have discovered that education is a lucrative “business” venture. Without “new standards” they could not force the use of new textbooks, new computers, new this and new that. It’s all about money and those who have the money are taking full advantage of the cash-strapped school districts. Keep in mind with the money comes strings and those strings are what they are referring to as “the much needed reform of the current educational system.”
Bingo. And IMHO, that’s the fight to be fighting. Have you ever heard of Scott Joftus? His title: director of the Race to the Top Technical Assistance Network, a stimulus-funded contractor tasked with aiding states and districts in implementing their bold plans. His comment caught my eye last year:
“You know we’re in a new era when school turnaround firms in the U.S. are being funded out of the Middle East,” Joftus said. “To me, that says there’s money to be made. I call this period the Wild West in education.”
from: http://www.missourieducationwatchdog.com/2011/05/education-is-wild-west-and-there-is.html
Sums up exactly what you said. If we didn’t have the standards we wouldn’t need the assessments which need to be done on hand held devices or the computers…and we wouldn’t need more jobs for bureaucrats to make sure mandated programs were carried out “for the children”.
stlgretchen,
“why would my governor (who is a Democrat), the State Board of Education, the teachers’ union and superintendents vote to abolish a system that was working for the vast majority?”
Because they are cowards, only worried about their position in society and what they (governor, school boards, administrators, MNEA etc. . . ,) can gain from bashing public education, all the while proclaiming they are “for the students”. Not a critical thinker amongst them. Status Quo for all, and I’m not talking about the rock group.
Gretchen, Common Core, like most other changes in education these days, are about federal Race to the Top dollars. It’s all about the money –right or wrong, good or bad–doesn’t much matter. Disproving these standards, when and if that can be done, will be about as effective in changing the current climate as rallying against No Child Left Behind. People want quick, easy answers in education (that preferably shift responsibility from themselves), just like they do in all areas of their life. It’s all a gross manipulation of human behavior.
I know it’s about dollars, that is true. But if common core did not exist, this huge gathering of data that has nothing to do with education would not be available to the various federal agencies and private firms.
It is a gross manipulation of human behavior and learning, and will set children on a career path or college path…paths determined by standards/assessments crafted by private organizations and the student’s data set. The student’s family and student’s future will be determined via these assessments. This is how workers will be identified for industries in the future. And this data wouldn’t be available if common assessments via common core standards were not being utilized in the vast majority of states.
Give the states a hint of money and most of them will salivate and go for the bait.
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“It is a gross manipulation of human behavior and learning, and will set children on a career path or college path…paths determined by standards/assessments crafted by private organizations and the student’s data set.”
Thanks for bringing that aspect to the fore!
This is a segment of my comments on Washington state’s education improvement, titled “Facts You Rarely Hear About Education”. Anthony Cody featured it on his blog about a year and a half ago and it was published in a local administrator’s journal.
Test Scores
Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL)
The last year of reading WASL scores (91.6%) represented about a 31% improvement. The writing scores almost 50% improvement, the math scores a 21% improvement and the science scores almost a 28% improvement.
Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)
We’ve been reading a lot recently about the US scoring on the Program for International Student Assessment. We are told that Shanghai students are “eating our lunch” with their PISA test scores and we need to take some pointers from them. OK, let’s do that. The state of Washington needs to pass a law that says the children of migrant workers in Washington state may not attend high school in Washington state. They must go back to the homes of their parents to attend high school. Outrageous, you say? But that’s what Shanghai does. That removes thousands of the poorest students from Shanghai high schools. Can’t do that in America, you say! OK, then let’s not hold up Shanghai as an example of a school system that does a better job than US schools.
SAT Scores
Sandia reported that, “since the 1970’s every ethnic or racial groups has maintained or improved on SAT scores.” Furthermore, Sandia pointed out that, “aggregate decline in SAT scores is largely a product of demographic changes, increasingly higher proportions of students are taking the SAT today.”
This is Simpson’s paradox (which states that every subgroup in a population can go up yet the overall average decline if the numbers in low-performing subgroups increases) in reverse. Looking at the scores without breaking it down by race shows why people accurately say scores are flat.
On the long-term NAEP, reading at age 17 went from 285 in 1971 to 286 in 2008. Math went from 304 in 1973 to 306 in 2008, not statistically significant.
And increases at age 9 and 13 show that we can’t just blame the flat scores on Simpson’s Paradox.
Yes, it is Simpson’s Paradox.
The scores of whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians all went up significantly.
But because of increasing numbers of blacks and Hispanics, whose scores were lower than that of whites, the overall average was flat.
The overall flat score is most definitely evidence of Simpson’s Paradox.
Lake Wobegone, wherefore art thou!!
these percentages over 20 years?!! Gain is good no matter how slow, but 20 years???!!! seriously. That low improvement over 20 years? The system is not working, its outdated and its time we admit that.
I will be posting the math scores tomorrow. They show bigger gains. But why expect big gains every year, unless you think the American people are stupid. I don’t.
When you see big gains, be suspicious of cheating. It’s not real.
“But why expect big gains every year, unless you think the American people are stupid.”
Wasn’t it H.L. Mencken who stated “one will never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people”? Might have been Barnum. Not sure
I’ve seen these data trends myself as well. At the same time, the US Dept of Ed reports that American PISA (international comparison) scores are profoundly affected by poverty level: lowest poverty schools have scores comparable with leading nations; scores decline as free lunch percentage rises.
All this should point to the real enemy: rising child poverty. Why do some folks choose to deny the truth of this? Well, I’ve got a few ideas….
Ah, well – just saw your post on the StudentsFirst ad. Well, the truth deserves repeating. I just didn’t realize I was doing it so quickly!