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ABSTRACT: I quote excepts from Mitchell Landsberg's Los Angles Times
article of 23 Feb 2007 on two recent NAEP reports, purportedly
showing that "high school students are taking tougher classes,
getting better grades and, apparently, learning less than their
counterparts of 15 years ago." I then quote comments on the NAEP
results by the Education Trust, which takes the NAEP results very
seriously, and by Gerald Bracey who effectively dismisses them.
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Some physics educators might be interested in Mitchell Landsberg's
Los Angeles Times report of 23 February titled "Grades Are Rising But
Learning Is Lagging, Federal Reports Find" [Landsberg (2007)].
Landsberg wrote [bracketed by lines "LLLLLL. . . . "; my inserts at
". . . . [insert]. . . ."]:
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
American high school students are taking tougher classes, getting
better grades and, apparently, learning less than their counterparts
of 15 years ago. Those were the discouraging implications of two
reports . . . .[NAEP (2007)]. . .. issued Thursday by the federal
Department of Education, assessing the performance of students in
public and private schools. Together, the reports raised sobering
questions about the past two decades of educational reform, including
whether the movement to raise school standards has amounted to much
more than window dressing.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Policy analysts nationwide said the studies were gloomy news for the
American economy, since the country's educational system already
measured poorly in international comparisons. "What we see out of
these results is a very disturbing picture of the knowledge and
skills of the young people about to go into college and the
workforce," said Daria Hall, assistant director of the Education
Trust . . . .[<http://www2.edtrust.org/edtrust> and EdTrust (2007)].
. . , a Washington-based nonprofit dedicated to improving education,
especially for poor and minority students. Among other things, Hall
said, the transcript study provided clear evidence of grade
inflation, as well as "course inflation" - offering high-level
courses that have "the right names" but a dumbed-down curriculum.
"What it suggests is that we are telling students that they're being
successful in these courses when, in fact, we're not teaching them
any more than they were learning in the past," she said. "So we are,
in effect, lying to these students."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
In a statement issued by her office, Secretary of Education Margaret
Spellings. . . .[2007]. . . said Thursday that the two reports "show
that we have our work cut out for us in providing every child in this
nation with a quality education."
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
The Education Trust's [EdTrust (2007)] reaction to the NAEP reports
begins and ends:
ET-ET-ET-ET-ET-ET-ET-ET-ET-ET-ET-ET
The results released today from the 2005 12th grade National
Assessment of Educational Progress are a sobering reminder of the
need for increased focus on and support for the students and teachers
in our nation's high schools. Over a quarter of the nation's high
school seniors lack even basic reading skills. Over forty percent
lack even basic mathematics skills. Almost half are below the basic
level in science. As bad as these numbers are, the data on the
achievement of low-income students and students of color is even more
painful and alarming. "These low levels of high school achievement
would be easier to bear if the trend line was moving upward, as it is
for our younger students," said Kati Haycock, president of the
Education Trust. "Sadly, though, this is not the case. Every data
source over the last several years tells the same story: gains in
elementary and middle schools are not translating into better
prepared high school graduates.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Today's NAEP results represent systemic failure. "Students are doing
what is asked of them-they are taking more academic courses and
getting higher grades-but they aren't being taught any more than in
the past," said Haycock. "To change these patterns, we need to get
serious about ensuring that all students have access to qualified
teachers, that all teachers have a common understanding of what their
students need to learn, and that high school coursework truly
reflects the high expectations we need our young people to meet."
ET-ET-ET-ET-ET-ET-ET-ET-ET-ET-ET-ET
In sharp contrast, Gerald Bracey (2007) effectively dismissed the
NAEP reports. Bracey wrote ["bracketed by lines "BBBBB. . . ."; my
insert at ". . . . [insert]. . . ."]:
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
"Study: Despite Hard Courses, High Schoolers Learn Less." That
paradoxical headline ran over a story in the Los Angeles Times
February 23. . . . . [Landsberg (2007) - copied into the APPENDIX]. .
. . Similar headlines appeared in the New York Times and papers all
over the country. The stories under the headlines reported two
related studies. . . .[NAEP (2007)]. . . . One study found that high
school students were taking more and tougher courses in math and
science and getting better grades. Another found that NAEP reading
scores of high school seniors had declined a bit since 1992.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The perpetual cry for the last 50 years has been more math, more
science, more math, more science. . . . . It is quite possible that
reading scores are down because the kids are taking more math and
science courses. Sure there are other more familiar villains to
charge: television, video games, the strange spelling and syntax of
text messaging, even multitasking.
Mostly, though, I think the kids just don't give a damn about NAEP
and I bet they give less of a damn now than they did 15 years ago.
Nor should they care. I once said to then-NAEP Executive Director,
Archie Lapointe, that NAEP systematically underestimates achievement
because kids don't take it seriously. Yes, he laughed, the major
challenge for NAEP was keeping the kids awake during the test. . . .
Motivation bears tremendously on test outcomes.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Find me something that makes seniors take NAEP seriously and then
maybe I'll take 12th grade NAEP results seriously.
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
For some pro and con comments on Bracey's opinion:
(b) scan recent posts on the EDDRA archives
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eddra/>. EDDRA is Bracey's "Education
Disinformation Detection and Reporting Agency." Bracey wrote: "EDDRA
is not a listserv, blog or chat room. . . . EDDRA currently has only
two main purposes: The debunking of dis- and misinformation about
public schools and the dissemination of accurate information."
Hake, R.R. 2007. "High School Grades Are Rising But Learning Is
Lagging," AERA-L post of 28 Feb 2007 12:11:10-0800, online at
<http://tinyurl.com/2elcnw>. The entire Landsberg (2007) report has
been copied into the APPENDIX.
Landsberg, M. 2007. "Grades are rising but learning is lagging,
federal reports find: High school students today have higher GPAs but
lower skill levels, suggesting a failure of education reforms," Los
Angeles Times, 23 February, freely online for a short time at
<http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-students23feb23,1,1407397.story>,
and more permanently at Hake (2007) - scroll to the APPENDIX.