Reading Scores Lagging Compared With Math

[tonysam]

Time to shitcan all the teachers, I suppose:

The nation’s school children made little or no progress in reading proficiency in recent years, according to results released on Wednesday from the largest nationwide reading test, a trend of sluggish achievement that contrasts with dramatic gains made during the same period in mathematics.

“The nation has done a really good job improving math skills,” said Mark Schneider, a former official with the Department of Education that oversees the congressionally-mandated test, known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or the nation’s report card. “In contrast, we have made only marginal improvements in reading skills.”

Why math scores have improved so much faster than reading scores is much-debated; the federal officials who produce the test say they are designed to identify changes in student achievement over time, not to identify causes.

In seeking to explain the sluggish reading scores, some experts point to declines in the amount of time children spend reading for pleasure as they devote ever larger amounts of free time to surfing the internet, texting on cellphones, or watching television. Others say undemanding curriculums in reading may be an explanation.

New York Times

[Jakes Progress]

1. More tests!!! More tests!!!

The mantra of the truly stupid.

[enlightenment]

2. Quelle surprise.

The day they started this push for math and science, you could see the writing on the wall - no pun intended.

That we cannot give equal priority to all parts of the curriculum is ridiculous. I agree that fewer people read for pleasure these days and spend more time doing other things, but the problem, as usual, lies with the perception of what is 'important.'

I have seen folks on DU (in the past and no, I'm not going to look it up) who have suggested it's okay to marginalize literature, history, and the social sciences in the never-ending quest for math and hard science supremacy. As if, somehow, the ability to perform complex algebraic calculations and recite the entire sequence of the human genome from memory will solve every problem.

Except those pesky word problems, of course. You have to be able to read those.

On a recent trip to London, I toured Apsley House (the London seat of the Dukes of Wellington). They have an extraordinary art collection and every room is a treat. Entering the 1st floor lounge (formal parlor - whatever they called it), I noticed a group of school children seated on the floor next to a very large painting. The image was quite complex, with at least three or four figures. As I moved closer to the group, I heard the teacher asking questions - obviously, this was a field trip.

"What," he said "do you suppose the artist was attempting to convey by setting the action of this scene in the ancient past, when the title of the piece refers to a contemporary event"?

Hands shot up and several students began to volunteer some pretty sophisticated answers to this semi-difficult question.

The students were Year 6. Ten year old kids.

I have asked similar questions to my college age students and the answers are hardly better - and often worse - than what I heard from these kids. I am not suggesting that the UK school system is so much better; it has its fair share of problems. Still, they do not sacrifice one field of learning for another - and it obviously makes a difference.

[mzteris]

3. not the teachers!

The stupid emphasis on "test scores"! And cramming every single second of every class with "stuff". And cutting things like Art, and Music - both of which help develop vision. I think one of the biggest problems is pushing kids to READ before they're ready! They develop problems because they're expected to do something they're not ready for. If the stigma to read at ever earlier ages was lifted, so kids could come to reading more naturally, I think some of the reading issues would disappear.

Kids need a more well-rounded education and a more "relaxed" one. Not relaxed on expectations of learning, but less - i dunno - TENSION. Less "expectations of PERFORMANCE" - and by that I mean PERFORMANCE (my kid's smarter than your kid thing) that - and "testing".