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A Wasted Generation?

Mike

Well-known member
Scores Stagnate at High Schools
Wall Street Journal | April 18, 2010 | STEPHANIE BANCHERO


New data show that fewer than 25% of 2010 graduates who took the ACT college-entrance exam possessed the academic skills necessary to pass entry-level courses, despite modest gains in college-readiness among U.S high-school students in the last few years.

...

While elementary schools have shown progress on national achievement exams, high-school results have stayed perniciously low. Some experts say the lack of rigor in high-school courses is partly to blame.

"High schools are the downfall of American school reform," said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington. "We haven't figured out how to improve them on a broad scope and if our kids aren't dropping out physically, they are dropping out mentally."

...

In the recent results, only 24% of the graduating class of 2010 scored high enough on the ACT in math, reading, English and science to ensure they would pass entry-level college courses. This is a slight uptick from last year, when 23% were ready for college, and from 2008, when 22% were ready.

Still, 28% of students didn't score high enough on even one subject-matter exam to ensure college readiness.

...

The average ACT composite score has actually fallen since 2007, after increasing during the five-year period before that. This year, the average composite was 21.0, compared with 21.1 last year and 21.2 in 2007. The test is scored on a 1-36 point scale.

ACT officials say a more diverse test-taking population partly explains the less-than-stellar results. African-American and Hispanic students made up 24% of the test-taking pool this year, compared with about 19% four years ago. African-American and Hispanic students generally post lower scores than their white and Asian counterparts.
 

Steve

Well-known member
maybe the "educators" are having a bit of trouble with their math skills..
Detroit Public Schools reported a 58 percent graduation rate in 2008-09, compared with a statewide rate of 89 percent. An Education Week report put Detroit’s graduation rate at 24.9 percent,

goes to show .... you can't teach a subject if you don't understand the subject to begin with.
 
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