4th-graders losing ground on literacy

[onehandle]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON - U.S. fourth-graders have lost ground in reading ability compared with kids around the world, according to results of a global reading test.

Test results released Wednesday showed U.S. students, who took the test last year, scored about the same as they did in 2001, the last time the test was given — despite an increased emphasis on reading under the No Child Left Behind law.

Still, the U.S. average score on the Progress in International Reading Literacy test remained above the international average. Ten countries or jurisdictions, including Hong Kong and three Canadian provinces, were ahead of the United States this time. In 2001, only three countries were ahead of the United States.

The 2002 No Child Left Behind law requires schools to test students annually in reading and math, and imposes sanctions on schools that miss testing goals.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071128/ap_on_re_us/reading...

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Kids reading skills drop under Bush. How appropriate.

Mission Accomplished! Keep 'em stupid.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. the teachers teach to the test which is wrong

teachers don't like 'the test' and the students don't like it either.

[sakabatou]

2. Not to mention teachers teaching to th test

[Frustratedlady]

3. This Resident will have messed up an entire childhood education...

for the youngsters attending school during his term. How sickening. It will take forever to get them straightened out. No wonder the dropout rate is so high.

He's trying to dumb-down the population so he doesn't feel so alone.

[Demeter]

5. He Had Lots of Help

But he provided the "leadership" (coercion) to override all but the most determined local efforts.

[bdamomma]

17. less opportunities to those young people will push them into

being meat for *'s endless wars. Sickening.

keeping people uneducated is the key for these fascists.

[Demeter]

4. The Education Degree Isn't Worth the Paper It's Printed On

We have lost our talented teachers, our proven methods, all in the name of cutting government, passing meaningless tests, and punishing students and teachers alike for being less than perfect humans.

It has absolutely nothing to do with the efforts to end racial and economic descrimination, provide appropriate and effective education to the disabled, support the gifted, or otherwise recognize and deal with the differences among humans, not to mention the arts and sciences courses, all of which are cut first in pursuit of the Almighty Tax Cut.

It has to do with where our priorities lie. And if there's one thing certain about George and his supporters, they have clear prioritie$$$$.

[Frustratedlady]

6. Don't forget the charter schools, which are flourishing in Texas.

He has done so much damage, we won't see it straightened around in our lifetime. I have three teachers in my immediate family and they are so disgusted, I don't know if I can persuade them to remain in the profession, or not.

[BadgerKid]

15. Lemme guess...is Neil Bush's company's software used? n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. Says a person who thinks mathematicians don't use calculators.

[balantz]

7. We can see how utterly uneducated the shrub is.

The state of the nation is reflective of the leadership.

[pansypoo53219]

8. but but but georgie said NCLB

had to be renewed cause it was working.
it's not working?

[no_hypocrisy]

9. All Children Left Behind . . .

[snooper2]

10. Year long school with 2 3 week breaks will fix that...

and more homework...

(Here come the people crying over the alleaged 2.5 hours their child has today.)

[Turbineguy]

12. If Bush succeeds

such issues will not matter.

[LiberalFighter]

13. Parents are probably Bush supporters

and feel that if Bush doesn't know how to read they don't need to.

[BrklynLiberal]

14. The sad part is that based on what I have seen around me, this is no surprise.

As was said above...Mission Accomplished...the students are dumbed down.

[CountAllVotes]

16. that is right - keep 'em stupid

and maybe they will enlist.

[MadinMo]

18. Yes NCLB is a crock, however

the primary reason for the decline in literacy is the increasing numbers of non-English speaking students in the schools.

The elementary school my kids went to scored so low in literacy (and it WAS due to the high numbers of non-English speaking kids) the district was compelled to offer to move my kids to a different school, something mandated by the NCLB.

The tests are a crock, the teachers teaching to the tests is a crock, and the kids hate the tests. But if they don't speak English well, then the kids' scores on the tests are going to go down.

[onehandle]

19. Yeah, that's exactly what Rush says.

And every other "expert" on Fox News.

And I just read it on the Intenets so it must be true.

[MadinMo]

20. I don't listen to Rush, so this didn't come from him.

The thoughts are my own. I should have known I would be flamed for making any type of "ethnic" remarks, however I can tell you from first-hand experience that the schools, in this area at least, have poor literacy test scores because of non-English speaking students. I do not fault those students. They have been neglected.

I am one of the first ones to jump to the defense of the immigrants in our town. I am thrilled with their contributions to our community, and in fact my daughter attended the traditional and festive 15th birthday (quince aneros?) celebration of a very dear friend.

Just as the testing of ghetto students years ago proved to give an inaccurate accounting of their progress due to class/ethnic bias, I think the NCLB tests are ineffective. NCLB sucks. The schools are burdened with having to strive for the NCLB goals, and a lot of education is lost along the way.

[Whoa_Nelly]

21. It should be relabeled as aNCLB

aNother Child Left Behind

While subbing this year have had the opportunity to ask many teachers what they think of NCLB.
Consensus: They hate it

They are punished
~Students lose valuable learning programs that enhance their chances of learning and retaining information
~Schools get underfunded and more tutoring programs that aren't really helping are getting money much needed by the schools and classrooms
~Teachers have so much more accountability paperwork to do that it bite heavily into their actual teaching time
~More money is spent for teachers to have to leave the classroom to help oversee school population accountability and subs have to be called in
~Teachers are not being allowed to respond creatively to individual children;s needs for learning as they are mandated to follow a program that is laid out in minutes over the day, over the week, over the month, over the semester or term.

Even if a school falls only 0.02 below the final necessary numbers to be called a success, those school are punished through withholding of more funding, as well as extracurricular activities, such as P.E., or Art, being curtailed or completely cut off. Some teachers in the elementary grades are jamming all the learning in as fast they can in order to have 10-15 minutes at the end of the day for maybe 2-3 times a week, to be able to make up their own P.E. time or have an Art project that may even include Social Studies or Science.

I know of one school in my area, (and am sure there are a few more like it here), that allows for no time or materials provided to teach Social Studies or Science. The mandated Reading, Language Art, and Math programs are considered to inherently have those within the planned lessons, but the teachers say that's a total joke.