US test scores hit damning new lows

Babs2u said:
Shouldn't there be extra resources/classes for immigrants instead of simply pointing out that they are deficient?
Click to expand...

Helping young students whose parents and sibblings don't speak English would seem to be important. A huge amount of that situation here in California. One can expect most will do poorly if having to think and act in a different language. By putting them in say a pre-kindergarten socializing program where non-English speakers play with English speaking kids would probably go a long ways in helping most. Even some TV or computer game program might work. Kids learn language skills rapidly when engaged with others.
 

I've not had anything to do with education of children for a very long time. So my point of view may be way off base.

For me, based on what I've read here and elsewhere, we have complicated a very simple process and goal. Schooling is about EDUCATION. It's about educating students so they can be productive within society. It's not about making everyone millionaires. It's not about religious beliefs. It's not about politics. It's not about how people feel.

A Math class should be about teaching students basic, on to advanced, math. That's all. English should be about reading and writing skills.

Instead we have schooling that looks more like a social services project. There is far too much noise that doesn't directly relate to the actual schooling.

Some students learn quickly, some take time. Those that learn quickly, over time, should be identified and placed in classes where they can prosper (advanced classes). Those who fall behind should have classes to help them get back up to speed to at least the minimum level of competence.

I would concentrate in two areas: Defining the minimum standards that must be achieved, and stripping away anything in the curriculum that doesn't target those learnings. Since education is a long-term prospect, there should be joined up thinking between High School and Colleges.

Back to basics, in other words.
 
VaughanJB said:
stripping away anything in the curriculum that doesn't target those learnings
Click to expand...
I agree with everything you said except stripping down the curriculum. There are so many valuable subjects and experiences that help us find out what we enjoy and are good at (e.g., art, music, woodshop), and/or provide valuable information to have (such as consumer finance). But they could strip out gym class, that would have been fine with me.
 

HoneyNut said:
I agree with everything you said except stripping down the curriculum. There are so many valuable subjects and experiences that help us find out what we enjoy and are good at (e.g., art, music, woodshop), and/or provide valuable information to have (such as consumer finance). But they could strip out gym class, that would have been fine with me.
Click to expand...

Given the obesity problem in the US, not sure gym class is a place I would start.

But when I mentioned stripping back curriculum, I meant getting back to teaching facts and getting rid of political rhetoric, religious (if the session is no religious studies) takes, and agenda driven topics. For example, in recent times there has been a lot about the trans community, and especially around children. This is a topic that needs addressing, but school is not the place for it.

It's not easy, which is why we need experts. For me, the basic education isn't about future career choices. A basic education will provide students with the ability to converse, communicate, and open people up to ideas. Later education is more about specialization, though I'm not someone who believes the topics you study should be targeted at a particular job.

We're in a bad place in society, I'm afraid. Education is failing too many. Kids (and some adults) are living their lives and having opinions written by Social Media. Everyone talks about me me me me me and too few think of the wider context.
 
VaughanJB said:
For example, in recent times there has been a lot about the trans community, and especially around children. This is a topic that needs addressing, but school is not the place for it.
Click to expand...
It's been a long time since I was in school, but I googled it and per threads on Reddit it appears that the trans topic comes up in school in anti-bullying type education, so I guess it is appropriate for that because I've heard a lot about there being a bullying problem in school and apparently high suicide rates in young people.

But I totally agree religion needs to stay out of the schools (except in courses about religion).
 
This is a very sad outcome, but in a way it lifts
me slightly, as I thought that it was just here,
in the UK, that education was suffering.

Mike.
 
Mike said:
This is a very sad outcome, but in a way it lifts
me slightly, as I thought that it was just here,
in the UK, that education was suffering.

Mike.
Click to expand...

This is actually an great point. It highlights that we, are the elders, have played a part in allowing education to go in a weird direction. I write this a lot here, I feel a profound responsibility for the world we are leaving behind. Not that we're solely responsible, but we played a part.

Education has become a point scoring exercise. Society has rotted around it, yet we never connected the dots. Not that it's a simple equation.

I had a good career, and I know full well what someone would need to know in order to follow in my footsteps, and exceed them. Things would have been easier if my base education had been better. Back when I was at high school (equivalent) schooling was very much a "sit there and shut up, or suffer for it", dictatorial approach. Now we seem to have gone too far the other way.

Bringing this conversation back on topic - Smartphones are part of life now, so denying their use isn't useful, imo. We should INCORPORATE their use.
 
HoneyNut said:
It seems like it is just the high school kids that are doing poorly, the younger kids are still doing better than my generation in spite of having dropped from where they were. I've noticed that news reports only compare 20 or up to 35 years ago, so I got curious about my own generation. Its funny (sort of) that in spite of the terrible fall of scores the younger students are still better than us oldies did.

Bottom Line​

  • High school seniors (12th grade) are scoring worse now than any time since the assessments began—definitely worse than in the 1960s and 1970s.
  • Younger kids (ages 9 & 13) are still performing better or similar to the 1970s overall—but have declined sharply from early-2020 highs.
  • The COVID-related learning loss has pushed some younger grades downward, though not necessarily below historic 1970s levels.
Click to expand...
Makes a person wonder what

U.S. Department of Education (.gov)
aaec › about-the-us-department-of-education
ED's 4,400 employees and $68 billion budget are dedicated to: Establishing policies on federal financial aid for education

Those employees are doing & what the money spent actually accomplishes.
 
Trade said:
The kids can't do arithmatic like I can but then I can't use a smart phone like they can, so maybe it all evens out in the long run?
Click to expand...
But what happens when the battery runs flat on their smart phone, and they can't recharge it for some reason? You can still do arithmatic, whatever the circumstances, but they won't be able to rely on their phones, so how will they manage if they have to think for themselves?
 
BJintheUK said:
But what happens when the battery runs flat on their smart phone, and they can't recharge it for some reason? You can still do arithmatic, whatever the circumstances, but they won't be able to rely on their phones, so how will they manage if they have to think for themselves?
Click to expand...

We need to concentrate not on the answer, but the process by which we arrive at solutions and answers. For example, we can simply say that twelve twelves are 144. However, the more interesting point is how we got there.
 
VaughanJB said:
We need to concentrate not on the answer, but the process by which we arrive at solutions and answers. For example, we can simply say that twelve twelves are 144. However, the more interesting point is how we got there.
Click to expand...
When I was young we were taught our times tables by rote. So now, if I need to know how many times 9 goes into 67 I know that it goes in 7 times, with four left over. Because I was born in 1950, and we didn't decimalise till 1971, all my education was in imperial measurements, so all our times tables went up to 12 x 12 = 144.

Having that calculation tool built in to my brain from such an early age means I can still trot out the correct answers even now if I need to know such things.
 
BJintheUK said:
When I was young we were taught our times tables by rote. So now, if I need to know how many times 9 goes into 67 I know that it goes in 7 times, with four left over. Because I was born in 1950, and we didn't decimalise till 1971, all my education was in imperial measurements, so all our times tables went up to 12 x 12 = 144.

Having that calculation tool built in to my brain from such an early age means I can still trot out the correct answers even now if I need to know such things.
Click to expand...

True.

Knowing the answer was secondary to knowing how you arrived at the answer. Math, and lack of knowledge in the subject, is one of my greatest regrets. I am trying to understand how AI works, along with string theory, and advanced math is the only way to truly understand it.

English is not the universal language - math is.
 
Continuing the conversation, I watched a news story the other day about a charter school in New York City that has banned cell phones from classrooms and forces students to read every day. They indicated reading not only helps reading but math skills as well. They are outperforming the average.
 
Lots of good post here and I would only add that in teaching math, the first thing to teach is it is an absolute. Math is used in everything and teaching kids how to write an algebraic formula to solve a real life situation, is certainly better than giving kids formulas and telling them to solve them. Show kids the reason for math and they catch on fast, even at a young age.

For instance an example I used on my son was, A - (B ~ C) ~ X (Y x Z) = D

~ means divided.

D = The amount you will be paid in dollars, per month, for solving and performing the task this formula represents, 3 days a week.
A= The distance from the back door to the outside garbage can
B = The number of inside garbage cans
C= The distance the furthest can is from the main kitchen can
X = The number of pennies in a dollar
Y = The numbers of rooms with blue cans
Z = The number of rooms with white cans

He measured 55 feet to the main can.
He counted 10 inside cans.
He measured 50 feet from the furthest can.
He knew there are 100 pennies in a dollar.
He counted 0 rooms with blue cans.
He counted 5 rooms with white cans.

He learned order of operations and why they are necessary in solving real problems. He learned how math is involved in everything we do. He learned how to make his own formulas. Kids learn better when they can see a reason for it.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top