WASHINGTON, Nov. 28, 2007
U.S. Students Lose Ground On Reading Tests
American Fourth Graders Score The Same As 2001, Outperformed By 10 Other Nations
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(AP / CBS)
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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.
The U.S. performance on the international test of 45 nations or jurisdictions differed somewhat from results of a U.S. national reading test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the nation's report card. Fourth-grade reading scores rose modestly on the most recent version of that test, taken earlier this year and measuring growth since 2005. During the previous two-year period, scores were flat.
On the latest international exam, U.S. students posted a lower average score than students in Russia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Luxembourg, Hungary, Italy and Sweden, along with the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario.
Last time, Russia, Hong Kong and Singapore were behind the United States.
Hong Kong and Singapore have taken steps since then, such as increasing teacher preparation, providing more tutoring and raising public awareness about the importance of reading, said Ina Mullis, co-director of the International Study Center at Boston College, which conducts the international reading literacy study.
The results also showed:
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- There has been an attempt to plagiarize this article on Gather.com. I called the author of the article on this and he has since altered the article (edit time shown) to include the phrase, "According to CBS news" at the top of the article. There is still content within the article left unquoted, with a word for word copy of the full second sentence. It looks like the author of the post is the one who wrote the sentence. The article can be found at http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977189435
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Posted by ryanlynn on 11/28/07 at 4:28PM
ttinsly at 08:48 AM : Nov 29, 2007
If you think the University system is in good shape, read the following. I copied it from a blog from NY. You can draw your own conclusion.
Did anyway thing that if they were Lap Tops from the Campus that they can be tracked. When to school there for 2 years, had one of those laptops and there was always a traker on it so that it could be found. How stupid can these people be.- Reply to this comment
- This is indeed a distraction. Being bilingual is a matter of course in Europe and it is an advantage not a ''''learning disability'''' as you are inferring.
Posted by curse914 at 08:26 AM : Nov 29, 2007
I never said that it was a ''''learning disability'''' , but rather a distraction. They are distracting our kids from learning English, they take time from students, who may need a little help from the teacher. But can''t get that help, because the teacher is trying to teach the illegas kids, English.
Yes, It''s true that most people in Europe are not bilingual, but multi lingual. They are taught at an early age to speak different languages. If we lived in a similar situation, we would be bilingual, but we don''t. - Reply to this comment
- Now that we have some solid data showing that "No Child Left Behind" is a fraud, we need to be ready for defensive and intentionally dishonest tactics from the political party which has brought the quickest degradation of a civilization since Nero presided over the fall of Rome.
"Maybe the reason lil'''' Johny can''''t read, is because they''''ve tossed English out , in favor of Spanish." Indicates that the first attempt at distraction will be to blame the immagrant population.
Let''s not fall for it. Johnny can''t read because the schools are too busy teaching to over-administered tests to teach solid skills along with the arts and traditional curriculum which support steady, real cognitive growth. And at home parents, all parents, are too busy working two or more jobs trying to keep up with the inflation to have time and energy to read with children at night. - Reply to this comment
- Bush has officially made us produce dumber kids.
What else can he ruin in this country before he leaves office? - Reply to this comment
- I am having a difficult time reading this article.
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- there are, maybe, 12 million illegal aliens in the US. Not 120 million. besides immigrant children nearly always do great in school as they come here with parents who are determined that their children succeed in this country and put the extra eefort into thier education.
Posted by SgtRDS at 10:06 PM : Nov 28, 2007
Maybe the reason lil'' Johny can''t read, is because they''ve tossed English out , in favor of Spanish.
We''ve had teach these lil'' illegals in their native language, and put our kids aside.
When will people learn? - Reply to this comment
- There seems to be a problem with our priorities.
We need to improve our educational system..
First step is to raise the standards for our teachers, and increase their pay to make the job more competetive, assuring that the best don''t go into other fields.
Same for law enforcement.. Raise the bar, require a degree in criminology and pay them well.. Get the best we can..
Health care for everyone. Allow individuals their choice of MD''s. Preventative medicine is far cheaper than waiting for conditions to become more serious..
We need to take care of our own people first. Then worry about the pork barrel, not the other way around.. The millions in cash we sent to Iraq that was mishandled and stolen would have helped so many of our own people.
Don''t you deserve your fair share? You''ve paid the taxes and played the game, and seen your precious earnngs wasted by the polticians. - Reply to this comment
- An ignorant and submissive population is what the Republicans have been after. Good work guys!
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- SgtRDS: I assumed that security should always be "public", but with privatized armies of mercenaries running around in Iraq, it''s good that you point that out.
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- Three things a civilized nation should have:
Free education
Free health care
Free child care
Everything else can be privatized.
Posted by incog-nito at 11:20 PM : Nov 28, 2007
I agree but would add free security to that list (i.e. military, police, fire, etc.). Funny how free security is "socialized", but no one really complains about it. - Reply to this comment
- If you go to infowars.com and listen to the rebroadcast of today''s show, you''ll hear former New York Teacher of the Year, John Taylor Gatto tell you exactly why American children are failing to live up to expectations. He is the author of, if memory serves, AN UNDERGROUND HISTORY OF AMERICAN EDUCATION.
The education system has been sabotaged from above to help, with other factors, create a dumbed down citizenry who would be more tractable to the rule of the Oligarchy. You can read the entire book now at Mr. Gatto''s website, I understand.
If you read this book and think about all of the implications, you''ll want to really do some harm to Mr. Rockefellar and his New World Order associates... decorate the Rockefellar Center tree with some Rockefellar bankers...really get ''Gothic'' with these M-Fs when you realize that there is a purposeful effort to keep American children dumb as dirt--and its costing you more in property taxes than almost any country in the world. - Reply to this comment
- Three things a civilized nation should have:
Free education
Free health care
Free child care
Everything else can be privatized. - Reply to this comment
- Now you would think education would be priority one. Here is why it is not, an educated populace could compete with already established money. Established money is what is dictating our policies, not the mob. The mob is more useful, uneducated, scared and down on their luck. An ignorant mob has no leverage against employers and no hope of advancement.
Don''''t count on a War on Illiteracy any time soon.
Posted by curse914 at 10:16 PM : Nov 28, 2007
Absolutely. You''ve stated the neoconservative education policy in a nutshell. Education for only the rich elite, which is what No Child Left Behind will do if allowed to reach it''s inevitable conclusion. It is not a pro-education policy. It''s a public school destruction bill. - Reply to this comment
- USA! USA! USA! It''s coz of all dem immigrants we gots to teach.
I''m proud to say that our President Bush reads at a fourth-grade level. - Reply to this comment
- DUH! 120 MILLION ILLEGAL ALIENS!!
DOUBLE DUH DUMB AZZES!!!
Posted by billysmith6 at 09:52 PM : Nov 28, 2007
there are, maybe, 12 million illegal aliens in the US. Not 120 million. besides immigrant children nearly always do great in school as they come here with parents who are determined that their children succeed in this country and put the extra eefort into thier education. - Reply to this comment
- Posted by SgtRDS at 08:13 PM
I agree about college being available to all who want to. Can it hurt to have a highly educated population? Actually, there is a lot I like about American schools. I just think that it is sad that they are always attacked for purely political purposes. If one or two teachers do something odd, hate radio begins its ranting against the liberal schools and such. Political games like No Child Left Behind (some teachers call it No Teacher Left Standing), really make it hard for students who are bombarded with all this unnecessary testing. - Reply to this comment
- Posted by rudy654 at 08:03 PM : Nov 28, 2007
Personally I believe an education through the 12th grade should be required (though I myself dropped out after 10th grade to enter the Air Force) I would love the see graduating High School seniors be given a government paid for option to attend a vocational type school as opposed to a college and have no problem with High Schools allowing students to gear their course load toward that goal. I also think that a free basic college education should be provided to all students who want one. - Reply to this comment
- Posted by SgtRDS at 05:22 PM
Something else that is not addressed is that in the United States all kids are required to attend from kinder to 12th grade - no exceptions. In other countries, many kids have to pay for their education after just the basic primary school. These comparative results in schools around the world often don''t reveal the entire situation. For example, in Mexico only a minority of students continue on after 6th grade. In Germany, school is mandatory from 6 to 14, but at age ten they have to go to one of four types of schools. Two of the schools they enter train them for vocational jobs in the future, while the other two direct students towards university. Here in the U.S. students are forced to study things that often don''t interest them in hopes that all will go to college, while ignoring those who really only have vocational interests for the future. - Reply to this comment
- The schools are too busy teaching tolerance and diversity. And as for no child left behind failing, their is plenty of blame to go around. How about the schools lowering standards and passing kids so "they can pass"? There is more and more money being poured into education and it is only getting worse.
Teachers work very hard with students, many staying well past their schedule to help students in after school programs and the like. In fact, if there is any blame to go around, it is the fact that often enough when teachers try to talk to parents about their kids doing homework, many parents become extremely defensive and insulting. But no matter what the teachers do, they get called all the dirty names, told they are liberals (even though a great many aren''t), and that they get paid too much money. The fact is, a college graduate can earn far more money by going into anything, BUT teaching. What eats up the money covered by taxes, is heavy administrative fees that never seem to trickle down to teachers'' salaries. - Reply to this comment
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
