The recent release of the test scores of seniors on the National Assessment of Educational Progress reported that low-performing students suffered the biggest declines.
“Much like their 4th and 8th grade peers, high school seniors have lost ground in math over the last two years, according to the most recent scores on a national achievement test.
“In reading, 12th grade scores remained flat, continuing a trend since 2009.
“Perhaps the most striking detail in the test data, though, is that the lowest achievers showed large score drops in both math and reading. Between 2013 and 2015, students at or below the 10th percentile in reading went down an average of 6 points on the National Assessment for Educational Progress—the largest drop in a two-year period since 1994. The high achievers, on the other hand—those at or above the 90th percentile—did significantly better in reading, gaining two points, on average, while staying stagnant in math.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Paywall from EdWeek. Guess the best path is to the data from NAEP.
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As a teacher of high school science and math I’ve witnessed these declines too. Yet, there are 2 things that must be noted: 1) math proficiency is not always measured on a multiple choice test 2) with all our new ed-tech helps (ex. Kahn Academy, Gizmos, web-based curriculum) NOTHING can replace a knowledgeable and wise human teacher.
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Since the lowest performing students showed the most significant decline, it would be interesting to know how many of these students attend charters rather than public schools. Even without knowing about the subgroups, it is safe to assume that charters have not been able to perform any of the “miracles” we keep hearing about.
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Sorry, off-topic again: http://www.thenation.com/article/jane-sanders-has-some-harsh-words-for-our-public-education-system/
Nikhil Goyal interviews Jane Sanders. I can agree with most of it, but then we get to this: “I think that some of them [billionaires], like Bill and Melinda Gates, have very pure motives. They really want to help. I think that they should be part of the discussion. I really do.”
I really like Sanders (both of them), but it really scares me that they can’t see through Bill Gates. Also, she kind of talks out of both side of her mouth about standardized tests in this interview. She says she and Bernie don’t really believe in them, but standardized tests done “as a marker” are okay. I dunno, he is (was?) still the best candidate we have (had?) though.
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Dienne, hang on a few minutes. That interview will be posted soon today.
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Who even cares about the “low achievers”.
If we booted them out, it would make the test scores go up immediately.
So what’s the holdup?
“Better schools through attrition” should be the motto.
If it works with charters, certainly it would work with everything else.
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Poet, remember the public schools are supposed to learn from the charters. So, “Better Schools Through Attrition, Exclusion, and Suspension” might be the formula for success.
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“Better schools through attrition”
“Better schools through attrition”
Should really be our saying
Subtraction means addition
So cut without delaying
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Maybe “Better schools through selection” would encompass all three
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“Better schools through selection”
“Better schools through selection”
Should really be our saying
“Addition through subtraction”
So cut without delaying
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I like the verse Poet. Very clever, especially the juxtaposition of addition and subtraction. Well done.
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So let’s be clear, these are seriously lagging indicators…this suggests that some prior influence decreased their ability to score well on this test, nothing more. Disinterest? Remedial activities ‘designed’ to increase test scores? The point being is that this observation without a greater hypothesis is just that, a point in time. And NAEP is great way to capture this one feature but we need to learn more about identity, resiliency, attitude, self interest to make sense of this.
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Please pardon this Superannuated English Teacher Curmudgeon’s suggestion to substitute “Lack of interest” or “boredom” for “Disinterest?” which still means, in its older denotation, “lack of bias” in a judge’s ruling.
Yes, I know that in modern usage it has also come to mean colloquially “boredom,” “lack of interest in” but the older meaning is just so useful and precise that I still recommend an expansion and circumlocution (e.g. “lack of interest”) or a different word (e.g. “boredom”) for what you are pointing to.
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The nearly exclusive focus on NAEP test scores (with trends, disaggregated results by demographics, student subgroups and the like) is really an unfortunate. Why?
NAEP collects a lot of background information about schools and grade level resources by subject, including staff, facilities, and equipment, and so on. NAEP uses three types of surveys: Students complete questionnaires about their opportunities to learn in and outside of the classroom, and educational experiences; Teachers complete questionnaires about their training and instructional practices; Principals (or assistant principals) complete questionnaires about school characteristics (including demographic information), policies and practices.
These background questions in NAEP, if reported more fully and routinely analyzed could illuminate relationships between resources (inputs) and results, rather than feeding the frenzies around “test scores” and reinforcing the “outcomes only” view of education.
The background questions also reflect the power of the creators of the frameworks for these tests to articulate what matters to them. See more about this process here: https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/frameworks.aspx
In recent NAEP reports, for example, principals are asked to report on the technologies available in their schools and in use for teaching reading, math, and science for each of the tested grade levels (grades, 4, 8, and 12). These background questions also reveal some of the less obvious assumptions and interests of the shapers of the NEAP.
For example, the 2015 background questions for grade four math, reading, and science seem to assume that schools should have special instructional coaches for each of these subjects at this grade level. There is not much faith in the idea that elementary teachers are competent to teach these subjects, even if they are fully certified and have many professional development activities (also a topic in the background questionnaire).
Although NAEP tests are not (yet) given below grade four, the general idea of that teachers might be competent in teaching in more than one subject is clearly out of favor. NAEP and much else in the architecture of education is firmly rooted in grade-levels approximating age groups, and in single subject teaching.
In addition to providing basic demographic information about the school and the students who are enrolled, principals are asked to provide information about the specific resources and instructional practices in math, reading, and science. Here are some grade four background questions (2015), to be answered by the principal.
17 During a typical week of school, what is the total number of regularly scheduled volunteers, including parents, working in the school? (The answers to this question could be interpreted in more than one way).
18. Approximately what percentage of students in your school have parents or guardians who do each of the following activities? (a) Volunteer regularly to help in the classroom or another part of the school (b) Attend teacher–parent conferences (Taken together, questions 17 and 18 seem to be about social class and parent/community engagement, not entirely within the control of any school even with effort).
20. Does your school offer tenure to teachers?
22. In the last school year, how many full-time teachers were new to your school?
23. Of the full-time teachers who were new to your school last year, what percentage stayed on as full-time teachers for this school year? (Answers to these questions provide data for correlations and arguments over the presumed merits or failures of tenure, teacher turnover issues and so on).
For reading. 3. Is there a reading specialist available (full- or part-time) to fourth-grade students at your school?
For mathematics 1. Are fourth-grade teachers in your school required to set aside a certain amount of time each day for mathematics instruction?
11. For Mathematics. Approximately what percentage of your school’s classrooms has the following technological resources for fourth-grade mathematics instruction? Select one circle in each row. a. Cable/satellite/ closed-circuit television b. Videodiscplayer/ VCR/DVD player c Digital/video camera d. Videoconferencing equipment e. Scanner for images or text f Projection device for projecting images directly from a computer g. Computer h. Internet i. Computer printer j. Handheld devices (e.g., personal digital assistants)
For science 1. In addition to their regular classroom teacher, is there a science specialist available (full- or part-time) to fourth-grade students at your school?
9. To what extent are any of the following available to fourth-grade teachers who teach science? (Four responses from not at all to a large extent) Select one circle in each row.
a. Science textbooks (including digital forms, ABCD such as online textbooks)
b. Science magazines and books (including digital forms, such as online magazines and books)
c. Supplies or equipment for science demonstrations
d. Supplies or equipment for science labs
e. Student access to computers in class for science instruction
f. Student access to computer labs for science instruction
g. Teacher access to computers for science instruction
h. Computerized science labs for classroom use
i. Audio visual materials for science instruction,
j. Science kits,
k. Scientific measurement instruments (e.g., telescopes, microscopes, thermometers, or weighing scales)
There are many more questions—which standards guide instruction, varieties of curriculum resources available and actually used by teachers.
All of these questions offer profiles of practice (and relative advantage in resources) of potential use to researchers, advocates of particular reforms, and not least, vendors who have goodies to sell to schools.
And here are the grade four background questions about pricipals/leaders of charter schools.
1. Is your school a public charter school? (A charter school is a public school that, in accordance with an enabling state statute, has been granted a charter exempting it from selected state or local rules and regulations. A charter school may be a newly created school, or it may previously have been a public or private school.) A Yes B No If No, Questions 2–8 are not applicable and will be skipped.
2. In which year did your school start providing instruction as a charter school?
3. Who granted your school’s current charter? A School district, B State board of education (includes state board of regents and District of Columbia State Board of Education), C Postsecondary institution, D State charter-granting agency, E City or state public charter school board , F Other (specify): ________________________
4. What is the legal status of your school? A Officially part of the school district or local education agency (LEA), B Independent from the school district or local education agency (LEA), C A separate local education agency (LEA) as stipulated by state law
5. Is this school operated by a company or organization that also operates other charter schools? A Yes B No
6. Which one of the following best describes your charter school’s primary focus in terms of program content?
A. We have a comprehensive curriculum with no specialized area of focus.
B. We have a special curricular focus, for example, the arts, math/science, foreign language immersion.
C. Our curriculum is based on a particular educational theory, for example, Montessori, open school, Core Knowledge.
D. Our curriculum is based on a particular moral philosophy or set of values, for example, African-centered education, character-based education, Eastern philosophy.
7. Does your school provide a written contract for parents? A Yes, and parents are required to abide by it. B Yes, but signing is voluntary. No Question 8 is not applicable and will be skipped.
8. Are the following elements addressed in your charter–parent contract? Select one circle in each row. (Yes/No)
a. Dress code b. Home learning environment c. Homework d. Parent–teacher communication e. Parent volunteering f. School discipline policy g. Student attendance h. Student promotion policy Other (specify): _______________________
Source: https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/about/pdf/bgq/school-sdlep/2015_bq_school_g04_rms.pdf
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“Low-Performing Students Decline Most on NAEP Test of Seniors ” (Ecucation Week) 4/29/16 by dianeravitch
“The recent release of the test scores of seniors on the National Assessment of Educational Progress reported that low-performing students suffered the biggest declines….” “Perhaps the most striking detail in the test data, though, is that the lowest achievers showed large score drops in both math and reading. Between 2013 and…
Also in The Washington Post
“U.S. high school seniors slip in math and show no improvement in reading”4/27/16
“Scores on the 2015 reading test have dropped five points since 1992, the earliest year with comparable score…”
What else can you expect when the “Work Group” wouldn’t listen to the doctors of education, psychology, and psychiatry?!!!!
What else can you expect when the students’ self-confidence and self-image have been steadily eroded with CC and its aligned testing.?!!!!!!!
Cunningham’s and Stanovich’s (1997) research found that first-grade reading achievement strongly predicts 11th-grade reading achievement.
https://bartonreading.com/early-intervention-research/“
“Juel (1988) found that students who are poor readers in first grade are almost certain to remain poor readers at the end of fourth grade.
Cunningham and Stanovich (1997) found that first-grade reading achievement strongly predicts 11th-grade reading achievement.”
These students were subjected to a reading program that was very problematic. NCLB & CC are anchored in phonics.
In 1908 “The Washington Post” had an article entitled, “Study of Reading Program Finds a Lack of Progress “- a program costing $6 billion by Maria Glod.
Students in the Reading First, program at the core of the No Child Left Behind Law, have not made greater progress in understanding what they read than have peers outside the program,” according to a congressionally mandated study- a program based on Reid Lyon’s approach. It is a program that needs to be improved.
Yet, this failed program is what Common Core has mandated. Phonics is only one aspect of a successful three-pronged, interactive, contextualized reading approach to reading.
As a presidential advisor Reid Lyon not only designed Reading First but maneuvered the situation to lock out programs anchored in the Constructivist approach such as Marie Clay’s Reading Recovery. Grant it, her Reading Recovery program is for the emergent At-Risk students but her underlining philosophy of contextualizing, supporting and building up students’ confidence is apropos for all students.
In another paper an article was entitled “TEXAS – READING FIRST PROGRAM OWNED BY PRESIDENT BUSH’S BROTHER NEIL BUSH IS A FRAUD SCAM”
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/literacy/texasscam.asp
“…Reading Recovery has a proven successful track record that the Bush connections refused to fund so their own son’ Neil Bush’s business “Reading First” would not have competition….?”
Another problem with CCSS’ document. It states.”…students (grades 2- 12)should be given text that they may struggle with in order to expand their knowledge. ”Also found in the document “CCSS guidelines on text complexity encourage teachers to engage students in reading at least some texts they are likely to struggle with in terms of fluency and reading comprehension.”
Oh the damage that will be done if teachers adhere to that directive. Our reading problems will escalate and the “Reading Gap” will just get wider. The text that the teacher gives the students for guided reading in order to develop skills, strategies, and higher order thinking skills must be on their instructional level. Primary children including second and third graders SHOULD NOT STRUGGLE: should not be forced to try and read on a frustration level. Students will regress if they are forced to read on a level that is too difficult for them. To expect second and third graders to cope with material that is too difficult is poor teaching and will cause a student to regress and worse can cause a disability say nothing about squelching the desire to read.
Frank Smith, a psycholinguist, purports, “…The main need of a student inexperienced in reading is to engage in reading that is easy, interesting, and can relate to. Instead, he is likely to get less reading, contrived, meaningless text and more isolated, meaningless drill. Material that is challenging …rather than easy, raises the anxiety level so that reading is neither meaningful nor pleasant. The problem of a fifteen-year-old who has difficulty reading may not be insufficiency of instruction, but that his previous years of instruction have made learning to read more difficult. …After ten years of instructional bruising a student may be far more in need of a couple of years …in education convalescence than an aggravation of his injuries.”
Add to CC mandates of Close Reading.
The lack of prior knowledge is a very basic problem. Just because students didn’t pass the state tests doesn’t mean they can’t read- they are simply asked to read material that they can’t relate to. In order to construct meaning the reader must be able to relate to what he/she is reading.
To quote Frank Smith again, in “Comprehension and Learning” maintains that what is behind the eye ball is more important than what is in front- the visual/text. ”
Remember the following posting on Dr. Ravitch’s blog?
“To a crowd of concerned citizens and educators, Principal Frank Sutliff of Oneonta, NY, gave an unintimidated, honest speech.” 1/30/14
…He spoke of a shipment of CC modules that arrived at Christmas time: “common core modules where kindergarten students can learn about Mesopotamia, fifth graders can do close reading of passages from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and high school students can close read documents from the Federal Reserve Bank.” Ugh!!!!!
CC furthermore, states 50% of the text studied has to be informational.
The NYTimes posted an article, The Neuroscience of Your Brain on Fiction” 3/17/12
“Brain scans are revealing what happens in our heads when we read a detailed description, an evocative metaphor or an emotional exchange between characters. Stories, this research is showing, stimulate the brain and even change how we act in life….
These findings will affirm the experience of readers who have felt illuminated and instructed by a novel,…. Reading great literature, it has long been averred, enlarges and improves us as human beings. Brain science shows this claim is truer than we imagined.
Math is another serious issue. I know a student in second grade. The student says she doesn’t like school. She is convinced at the early age of 8 that she can’t learn math and has given up. I helped her with a few sessions in reading. She is a smart ESL gal and caught on quickly to the few skills and strategies I taught her. She likes reading and ever since when she sees me she wants to interact with me and read to me. What is going to happen to her since she has given up on math? No doubt she will be retained and then labeled LD totaling destroying her self image and confidence.
Chris Hedges wrote and article entitled, “Why the United States Is Destroying Its Education System” 4/11/11
It will take years to undo the damage that has been done to our educational system via the greedy corporate world.
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The link:
which is in the text above has a quotation mark at the end and consequently the link took you to an Error Page. Drop the quotation mark, which I just did, and it will take you to the correct site.
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Clarification:
Cunningham’s and Stanovich’s (1997) research found that first-grade reading achievement strongly predicts 11th-grade reading achievement. The following link verifies that information.
However, the rest of my report sends another message: a later study nullifies the rest of the article. A congressionally mandated study finds the program anchored phonics – Lyon Reid’s program- is flawed.
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Is there a national assessment of working certified elementary teachers’ knowledge of math sufficient to teach arithmetic? Science? Reading? If not, shouldn’t there be?
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Harlan—In most states if not all– elementary teacher candidate smust pass content knowledge tests in Math, Reading, Science and Social Studies before they are issued a teaching certificate.
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Can you give me a link to a sample test?
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Most math taught in K-12 has existed pretty much unchanged for a couple thousand years. We could assume once a math teacher demonstrates knowledge, that retesting is unnecessary unless you are attempting to measure long term memory. But the tests you seek exist at entry level as Praxis in our state. The questions are like any standardized test and not effective in measuring true math ability.
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MarthVale,
You stated that “Most math taught in K-12 has existed pretty much unchanged for a couple thousand years”
Not so. I have witness many changes in the approach to teaching math through the years.
Have you examined how CC directs the teaching of math via Pearson workbooks in the primary grades?
It becomes very confusing at times even for parents. What is the question really asking?
Here is an example submitted on another site:
Old Way:
4 x 5 = 20
Common core Way:
4 x 5 =
(2)(2) x (2.5)(2) =
(2)^3 x (2.5) =
8 x 2.5 = 20
But that isn’t even the issue with the 8 Year old who is convinced she can’t learn math. First of all CC expects everyone to move ahead at the same pace- “one-size-fits-all” approach. Teachers have told me if they could only spend more time on a new concept and use various other tools than what the Pearson books dictate, they know the At-Risk students would understand the new concepts and skills.
Another major problem is when primary teachers put a percentage grade on the papers instead of encouraging comments. When a student keeps getting papers back with 50% F witten across the top of their paper, they soon become convinced they can not achieve. Teachers must build up students’ self-image; not tear it down. Nothing breeds success as success.
Why did Professor James Milgram have a problem with the CC math standards so much so he wouldn’t sign off on standards that the Work Group developed? The Work Group approached the formatting of the standards via the business world’s eyes instead of
researching and listening to the experts in the field. The Work Group should never have been given the commission to format the standards for which they had no background.
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Mary
In NYS, Pearson Common Core math tests have produced a super-failure rate for three consecutive years (2013 – 2015). And unless they play political games with cut scores, 2016 will be the fourth year of mass failure. This is the unspoken tragedy of Common Core reform.
Salvation for some came in the form of opting out.
Common Core math testing will have produced the following chronic, institutional FAILURE rates:
All students: 67%
Black and Hispanic: 80+%
IEP/ELL: 95%
And somehow, testing advocates find these rates in forced failure as a good thing?
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Rage,
That’s called RIGOR.
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NAEP scores blah blah blah and baaa baaa baaa.
All a bunch of blathering bleatings of mental masturbation.
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Yes, indeed. And why the large buy in by professional teachers? Not total, of course, but too large. AND the charter with the lowest reputation in my area is full lock step with CC math. I haven’t surveyed them, but I doubt the private schools have anything whatsoever to do with CC. The Common Coring of math, however, might corrupt AP calculus. I have no idea, but I’m worried.
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Most teachers are too afraid of their jobs to not “buy in”. That and they lack the cojones to not buy in. And one can say the same for the adminimals.
Unfortunatly many of the Catholic schools in St. Louis are/have been buying into the CCSS. Why? I have no clue other than to follow along since most pedagogical progress has been made in the public school sector over the years (at least before 2,000) vs the private school sector.
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Hmmmm. “pedagogical progress” PEDAGOGICAL progress. Hmmm. The best pedagogical progress with which I am familiar is “The Harkness Method,” and that has become practically a house brand of Phillips Exeter, not a public school. Was that developed somewhere earlier in one of the public school systems?
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Have no idea!
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And there is no corrupting AP, it’s already corrupt from the start. I told my district that there was no need for the students to waste their money as if teachers weren’t teaching what the supposedly vaunted AP course was then they weren’t teaching what they should be.
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I am not too surprised that low-performing students are showing the greatest decline. When CC$$ was rolled out, I remember our principal telling us how we could no longer “waste time” reviewing concepts children were expected to master in the previous grade. As a primary grade teacher, I thought this edict was ridiculous then and still do today. Anyone with any sense knows you need to make sure children have a solid understanding of older concepts before you can build on them. The writers of the Common Core have done another disservice to our youngest learners.
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