Math and reading scores for American 13-year-olds plunge to lowest levels in decades

[Auburn85 438]

https://apnews.com/article/math-reading-test-scores-pandemic-school-032eafd7d087227f42808052fe447d76

 

Quote

 

By COLLIN BINKLEY

 

June 21

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Math and reading scores among America’s 13-year-olds fell to their lowest levels in decades, with math scores plunging by the largest margin ever recorded, according to the results of a federal test known as the nation’s report card.

The results, released Wednesday, are the latest measure of the deep learning setbacks incurred during the pandemic. While earlier testing revealed the magnitude of America’s learning loss, the latest test casts light on the persistence of those setbacks, dimming hopes of swift academic recovery.

More than two years after most students returned to in-person class, there are still “worrisome signs about student achievement,” said Peggy G. Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, a branch of the federal Education Department.

“The ‘green shoots’ of academic recovery that we had hoped to see have not materialized,” Carr said in a statement.

In the national sample of 13-year-old students, average math scores fell by 9 points between 2020 and 2023. Reading scores fell by 4 points. The test, formally called the National Assessment of Educational Progress, was administered from October to December last year to 8,700 students in each subject.

Similar setbacks were reported last year when NAEP released broader results showing the pandemic’s impact on America’s fourth- and eighth-grade students.

Math and reading scores had been sliding before the pandemic, but the latest results show a precipitous drop that erases earlier gains in the years leading up to 2012. Scores on the math exam, which has been given since 1973, are now at their lowest levels since 1990. Reading scores are their lowest since 2004.

Especially alarming to officials were outsize decreases among the lowest-performing students. Students at all achievement levels saw decreases, but while stronger students saw slides of 6 to 8 points, lower performing students saw decreases of 12 to 14 points, the results show.

There were also differences by race. Students from almost every race and ethnicity saw math scores slide, but the steepest drops were among American Indian students, at 20 points, and Black students, at 13 points. The decline for white students, by comparison, was 6 points, while Asian students held even.

The scores reflect the disproportionate impact of the pandemic’s disruptions on Black and Latino students and those from low-income families, said Denise Forte, president and CEO of the Education Trust, a nonprofit advocacy group.

“Students want to succeed, attend college, start a rewarding career and reach their full academic potential,” Forte said. “But they can’t if they continue to lose precious ground.”

Pandemic setbacks appear to be lingering even as schools across the U.S. spend billions of dollars to help students catch up. The federal government sent historic sums of money to schools in 2021, allowing many to expand tutoring, summer classes and other recovery efforts.

But the nation’s 13-year-olds, who were 10 when the pandemic started, are still struggling, Carr said.

“The strongest advice I have is that we need to keep at it,” she said. “It is a long road ahead of us.”

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said the results confirm what the Biden administration knew all along: “that the pandemic would have a devastating impact on students’ learning across the country and that it would take years of effort and investment to reverse the damage as well as address the 11-year decline that preceded it.”

Still, Cardona said he’s encouraged by signs of improvement elsewhere, with some states returning to pre-pandemic levels on their own math and reading assessments.

The exam is designed to measure basic skills in math and reading. Students were asked to read passages and identify the main idea or locate certain information. In math, they were asked to perform simple multiplication and tackle basic geometry, calculating, for example, the area of a square. Most questions were multiple choice.

Asked about their reading habits, fewer students than ever say they’re reading for fun every day. Just 14% reported daily reading for pleasure — which has been tied to better social and academic outcomes — down from 27% in 2012. Almost a third of students said they never or hardly ever read for fun, up from 22% in 2012.

The test also revealed a troubling increase in student absenteeism. The share of students missing five or more days of schools in a month doubled since 2020, reaching 10% this year. Students with fewer missed days had higher average scores in both reading and math, according to the results.

 

 

[AURex 2,262]

The pandemic is no excuse. Knowledge/skills among students was falling even before the pandemic. It is a sad commentary on the U.S. schools.

If you delve into the numbers, you find that white kids from wealthy families are performing well. The lower you go on the family income level, the worse the scores. Why? Well, of course funding for schools has *nothing* to do with it. School lunch programs have nothing to do with it. Availability of tutors and summer programs have *nothing* to do with it.

Defunding of community social programs and crime deterrence programs have nothing to do with it. Let's cut off all social support services to kids in need and watch while the kids from well-to-do families (white) excel, while the kids from poor families fall behind.

Then let's all scream loudly about EQUALITY pretending that white privilege does not exist.

 

 

[arein0 1,106]

30 minutes ago, AURex said:

The pandemic is no excuse. Knowledge/skills among students was falling even before the pandemic. It is a sad commentary on the U.S. schools.

If you delve into the numbers, you find that white kids from wealthy families are performing well. The lower you go on the family income level, the worse the scores. Why? Well, of course funding for schools has *nothing* to do with it. School lunch programs have nothing to do with it. Availability of tutors and summer programs have *nothing* to do with it.

Defunding of community social programs and crime deterrence programs have nothing to do with it. Let's cut off all social support services to kids in need and watch while the kids from well-to-do families (white) excel, while the kids from poor families fall behind.

Then let's all scream loudly about EQUALITY pretending that white privilege does not exist.

 

 

Also teachers salary hasn't increased the same rate as other professions, cost of education, and cost of living. So it's gone from a profession where you could make a single household living to one that needs a second stream of income. Add in the crazy parent groups you are seeing now and we will see a mass teacher shortage. 

Edit: The pandemic definitely hurt the kids socially as well. 

Edited June 22, 2023 by arein0

[DKW 86 7,914]

40 years of failure...

[Mims44 2,027]

8 hours ago, AURex said:

The pandemic is no excuse. Knowledge/skills among students was falling even before the pandemic. It is a sad commentary on the U.S. schools.

If you delve into the numbers, you find that white kids from wealthy families are performing well. The lower you go on the family income level, the worse the scores. Why? Well, of course funding for schools has *nothing* to do with it. School lunch programs have nothing to do with it. Availability of tutors and summer programs have *nothing* to do with it.

Defunding of community social programs and crime deterrence programs have nothing to do with it. Let's cut off all social support services to kids in need and watch while the kids from well-to-do families (white) excel, while the kids from poor families fall behind.

Then let's all scream loudly about EQUALITY pretending that white privilege does not exist.

 

 

You sure do think highly of white folk huh

[aubiefifty 18,314]

4 minutes ago, Mims44 said:

You sure do think highly of white folk huh

i think a lot of that has to do with more whites can afford private school.

[Mikey 16,781]

8 hours ago, AURex said:

Then let's all scream loudly about EQUALITY pretending that white privilege does not exist.

What you are seeing is economic privilege, not white privilege.

[The Freak 2,551]

9 hours ago, AURex said:

The pandemic is no excuse. Knowledge/skills among students was falling even before the pandemic. It is a sad commentary on the U.S. schools.

If you delve into the numbers, you find that white kids from wealthy families are performing well. The lower you go on the family income level, the worse the scores. Why? Well, of course funding for schools has *nothing* to do with it. School lunch programs have nothing to do with it. Availability of tutors and summer programs have *nothing* to do with it.

Defunding of community social programs and crime deterrence programs have nothing to do with it. Let's cut off all social support services to kids in need and watch while the kids from well-to-do families (white) excel, while the kids from poor families fall behind.

Then let's all scream loudly about EQUALITY pretending that white privilege does not exist.

 

 

Parents and personal responsibility have nothing to do with it either I guess.

[icanthearyou 4,468]

5 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

40 years of failure...

50 years of policy that is all about corporate America and, the economic elite.

[AU9377 6,057]

Education takes more than a nice building.  The young people must value that education.  That starts at home.  A child that has nobody reading to them will have a more difficult time learning to read.  Many children from low income one parent homes, regardless of their race, have few, if any, adults in their lives that serve as some sort of role model.  What they do see every day is substance abuse and violence.

If we don't fund programs outside of the school building and outside of school hours, many of them will be lost.  It takes public and public/private partnerships to give these children the structure they need to succeed.  It doesn't matter how nice their desk is at school or how much money we pay their teachers at school, school alone cannot develop their minds alone.  You can take a group of children from families that have taught their children to respect others and value education and place them in an un air conditioned 3 room school and teach them amazing things.   Likewise, if those values are not taught, you can place those children in the Governor's mansion and they still won't achieve basic educational goals.  We can't give up on public education.  For many, it is the only chance they have to better themselves. 

[creed 1,796]

8 hours ago, icanthearyou said:

50 years of policy that is all about corporate America and, the economic elite.

Please explain.

[Mims44 2,027]

22 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

i think a lot of that has to do with more whites can afford private school.

22 hours ago, Mikey said:

What you are seeing is economic privilege, not white privilege.

That's kinda what I was poking fun at.

Generally white people come in 3rd or 4th in a lot of these studies (depending on how the study is broken up) Whites usually end up after Asian, Jewish, and Indians. White priveledge is seemingly the privilege to be average or middle of the pack.  

[Mikey 16,781]

17 hours ago, AU9377 said:

Education takes more than a nice building.  The young people must value that education.  That starts at home.  A child that has nobody reading to them will have a more difficult time learning to read.  Many children from low income one parent homes, regardless of their race, have few, if any, adults in their lives that serve as some sort of role model.  What they do see every day is substance abuse and violence.

If we don't fund programs outside of the school building and outside of school hours, many of them will be lost.  It takes public and public/private partnerships to give these children the structure they need to succeed.  It doesn't matter how nice their desk is at school or how much money we pay their teachers at school, school alone cannot develop their minds alone.  You can take a group of children from families that have taught their children to respect others and value education and place them in an un air conditioned 3 room school and teach them amazing things.   Likewise, if those values are not taught, you can place those children in the Governor's mansion and they still won't achieve basic educational goals.  We can't give up on public education.  For many, it is the only chance they have to better themselves. 

That's what Head Start and Early Start have been doing for over 50 years. Free, available to low income families. If parents don't even bother to take advantage of such programs, then what's your solution? We taxpayers are already tossing billions of dollars at the problem through these programs, yet the results are barely noticeable.

[aubiefifty 18,314]

2 hours ago, Mims44 said:

That's kinda what I was poking fun at.

Generally white people come in 3rd or 4th in a lot of these studies (depending on how the study is broken up) Whites usually end up after Asian, Jewish, and Indians. White priveledge is seemingly the privilege to be average or middle of the pack.  

i have to admit i agree with you two in this. i wonder if this hurts or helps the white kids being home schooled? i know several families that do it or did. some graduated. i just know there is a lot of room but playing hooky so to speak. but the folks i knew did well.

[AU9377 6,057]

4 hours ago, Mikey said:

That's what Head Start and Early Start have been doing for over 50 years. Free, available to low income families. If parents don't even bother to take advantage of such programs, then what's your solution? We taxpayers are already tossing billions of dollars at the problem through these programs, yet the results are barely noticeable.

I'm not claiming to know all the answers.  I do know that giving up and thereby giving up on those kids is not the answer.   What we don't spend much time talking about are the kids that those programs have helped.  Should we focus more on after school community programs?  Sports leagues? 

For some, no amount of effort will change the outcome.  However, for some it will make all the difference in the world.  If we don't continue providing opportunities thru education for people to better themselves, we will become more and more a country of haves and have nots and look more like a South American country than the United States.

[icanthearyou 4,468]

20 hours ago, creed said:

Please explain.

The answer is a book, a long book.  This is a start.  How it began:

People who actually know politics, know that politics is class warfare.  The capital class declared war, stormed the country, looted the treasury, weakened society.

You cannot have liberty, capitalism and, democracy when,,, you have an overclass.

[creed 1,796]

42 minutes ago, icanthearyou said:

The answer is a book, a long book.  This is a start.  How it began:

People who actually know politics, know that politics is class warfare.  The capital class declared war, stormed the country, looted the treasury, weakened society.

You cannot have liberty, capitalism and, democracy when,,, you have an overclass.

Does this book describe how capitalism damaged education? Do capitalist want badly educated workers? This and other random thoughts bouncing around. 

[icanthearyou 4,468]

1 minute ago, creed said:

Does this book describe how capitalism damaged education? Do capitalist want badly educated workers? This and other random thoughts bouncing around. 

Of course, control means influencing every institution including religion.  Power understands the mechanisms of power.  Most of us, do not.

I believe the capitalist want:

A. To destroy public education and, privatize the entire educational system (for profit and control).  The more privatized we become, the less democratic we become.

B. Not truly educated citizens but,,, a highly trained workforce.  There is a substantial difference.

 

I would also urge you to think about all that society has given up over the past 50 years, everything from infrastructure, to the single income family, to pensions, to affordable healthcare (insecurity is essential for control).  These things are not accidental or, coincidental.  They are simply part of the power grab.  You might want to read the Powell memo.  And again, politics is not the partisan nonsense we typically discuss.  Real politics is class warfare.  The middle class is shrinking.  Inequality and government debt are extreme and, growing.  Destroying organized labor and the government are how the capital class fills the power void.  Too many of us believe in the wrong, "golden rule".

 

 

[arein0 1,106]

31 minutes ago, icanthearyou said:

I believe the capitalist want:

A. To destroy public education and, privatize the entire educational system (for profit and control).  The more privatized we become, the less democratic we become.

 

The privatized education is also a way to ensure thier kids are a step ahead of everyone else. 

[AURex 2,262]

On 6/23/2023 at 7:40 PM, arein0 said:

The privatized education is also a way to ensure thier kids are a step ahead of everyone else. 

#1 Humans with education know the difference between there, their, they're and whatever your "thier" is. Maybe it was just a typo. I'll accept that it was just a typo.

#2 Not exactly. Yes, it may be true in school districts, especially in states that provide substandard support for schools in poor counties (cough cough, ahem, ahem). But if you look at the public schools in states that have adequate funding for their public school systems, you see that students of all races, ethnicity, religious denominations, and sexual-orientations are much further along academically and socially.

Wanna know where the top students in the best public and private universities came from? Hint. It ain't privatized education or home schooling.

 

[arein0 1,106]

41 minutes ago, AURex said:

#1 Humans with education know the difference between there, their, they're and whatever your "thier" is. Maybe it was just a typo. I'll accept that it was just a typo.

#2 Not exactly. Yes, it may be true in school districts, especially in states that provide substandard support for schools in poor counties (cough cough, ahem, ahem). But if you look at the public schools in states that have adequate funding for their public school systems, you see that students of all races, ethnicity, religious denominations, and sexual-orientations are much further along academically and socially.

Wanna know where the top students in the best public and private universities came from? Hint. It ain't privatized education or home schooling.

 

1. Typo, my bad.

2. According to niche.com, only 5 of the top 50 high schools in America are public. I stopped counting at 50 because it was pretty consistently 1 public school for every 9 private schools. Where do you think the top universities are going to get a majority of their students from? Those top schools. Who makes up the majority of the student population in those top private schools? Usually children from wealthy families. So here's what happens, wealthy family buys their childs education at top private school and gets average grades. Child goes to one of the top universities because of the combination of their last name and the private school they go to. Child graduates with average grades. Child has no problem finding first job and is on the fast track for the C-Suite. Now take that kids same effort they put into school in a regular public school setting and take away the last name and they are will not be accepted to a top universities and will have a much lower initial salary and will have to work hard to get noticed at work. 

[DKW 86 7,914]

On 6/22/2023 at 11:31 AM, icanthearyou said:

50 years of policy that is all about corporate America and, the economic elite.

Yes Sir...The Elite, White or not, do not care to have our kids competing with theirs for jobs, college entry, and scholarships.

Edited June 25, 2023 by DKW 86

[DKW 86 7,914]

12 hours ago, AURex said:

Wanna know where the top students in the best public and private universities came from? Hint. It ain't privatized education or home schooling.

 

Show us.

[DKW 86 7,914]

On 6/23/2023 at 5:01 PM, icanthearyou said:

The answer is a book, a long book.  This is a start.  How it began:

People who actually know politics, know that politics is class warfare.  The capital class declared war, stormed the country, looted the treasury, weakened society.

You cannot have liberty, capitalism and, democracy when,,, you have an overclass.

This is my view of the world, but you have to remember, Reich is from the Clinton Admin and if there was a more soldout to Wall Street Bunch than that, God help us. I disagree with him that we are beginning to see a turnaround in DC and that we can get Corp $$$ out of DC as well. I cant see anyone up there voting to NOT take the $$$. 

[icanthearyou 4,468]

2 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

This is my view of the world, but you have to remember, Reich is from the Clinton Admin and if there was a more soldout to Wall Street Bunch than that, God help us. I disagree with him that we are beginning to see a turnaround in DC and that we can get Corp $$$ out of DC as well. I cant see anyone up there voting to NOT take the $$$. 

It is up to US to restore the government of the people.  Thus, we are systematically divided in order to ensure that will NOT happen.  It is their country.  We are simply a resource for the use of those with wealth and power.  Extreme inequality is the dysfunction/corruption of capitalism and democracy.  The outcome is human suffering, crime, violence, war, extremism.