Teachers' union liberal policies coming home to roost. The kids are
loaded with self-esteem but dumb as dirt.
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America's High Schoolers Fail To Improve on Nationwide Test
By PAUL BASKEN
Bloomberg News
February 23, 2007
American high school students are failing to show overall improvement
on a nationwide achievement test, even as they take more challenging
courses and earn higher grades, the U.S. Education Department
reported.
Nationwide, 73% of 12th-grade students achieved a "basic" reading
score in 2005, down from 80% in 1992, according to the National
Assessment of Educational Progress, a sampling test the government
calls the "nation's report card." Sixty-one percent scored at or above
the basic level in math.
At the same time, 68% of high school graduates completed at least a
"standard" curriculum, up from 59% in 2000, with the overall grade
point average about one-third of a letter grade higher than in 1990,
the department said in a report. The figures raise questions about the
quality of the courses being taught at America's high schools, it
said.
"If, in fact, our high school students are taking more challenging
courses and earning higher grades, we should be seeing greater gains
in test scores," Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said in a
statement. The results "show that we have our work cut out for us,"
she said.
In May, NAEP said there were declines in science scores for high
school students. Among 12th-graders, 54% were at or above the basic
level in science in 2005, statistically similar to 2000 and a decline
from 57% in 1996, the report said.
Business and education leaders said the latest results reinforce fears
that the American school system isn't preparing its students to be
competitive in the global workplace.
"It's disappointing and unacceptable," said Susan Traiman, director of
education and workforce policy at the Business Roundtable, a
Washington-based association of chief executive officers of American
companies including General Motors Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp., and
Citigroup Inc.
(...)
http://www.nysun.com/article/49186
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