NYT: Sluggish Results Seen in Math Scores

[alp227]

by Sam Dillon

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/education/15math.html

Scores on the most important nationwide math test increased only marginally for eighth graders and not at all for fourth graders, continuing a six-year trend of sluggish results that suggest the nation will not come close to bringing all children to proficiency by 2014, a central goal of the Bush-era federal education law, No Child Left Behind.

Thirty-nine percent of fourth graders and 34 percent of eighth graders scored at or above the proficient level on the test, administered this spring.

--snip--

“This is the first time in 19 years that fourth-grade math scores are flat,” said Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “We’ve got to get better faster.”

The latest scores were especially disappointing because score gaps between white and minority students did not diminish at all since the last time the math test was administered, in 2007. On average, the nation’s fourth graders scored 240 on a 500-point scale, just as they did in 2007. White fourth graders, on average, scored 248, Hispanics scored 227 and blacks scored 222.

Eighth graders, on average, scored 283 on the same scale, up from 281 in 2007. White eighth graders, on average, scored 293, while Hispanics scored 266 and black eighth graders scored 261.

Here's some background on No Child Left Behind that Dillon provided.

The No Child Left Behind law, which President George W. Bush signed in 2001, raised the importance of the National Assessment, requiring the Department of Education to increase the frequency of its administration in math and reading to once every two years, to help Americans monitor progress toward the goals of universal proficiency and the elimination of the achievement gap.

The federal law’s enactment followed a decade dominated by a standards and accountability movement that brought deep changes to public schools across the nation. Educators and policy makers, in nearly every state, often led by governors, including Mr. Bush when he was the Texas governor, laid out standards as to what students were expected to know in each grade and subject, and required schools to use those standards to guide instruction.

Nearly every state established standardized testing regimes during the 1990s, intended to measure whether students were meeting the standards, with the intent of holding schools accountable for student achievement.

The No Child Left Behind law, proposed by President Bush and passed by bipartisan majorities in Congress in his first year in office, sought to build on the standards and accountability movement with many new federal rules, including a requirement that states administer reading and math tests to every student every year in all elementary and middle schools, and once in students’ high school careers.

It also required that schools publish test scores not just as averages, but broken down by students’ race, sex and other groups, a rule that most educators agree has focused nationwide attention on narrowing achievement gaps.

The law also for the first time made it a national goal to bring every student to proficiency in those subjects by 2014.

[notesdev]

1. If this country were mathematically literate

we'd have long since burnt Wall Street and downtown DC to the ground.

But golly gee I can't find any reason for the abysmal math scores at government schools.

[LisaM]

2. Have they checked for any corresponding drop in music and art programs?

If they are concentrating on just math, rather than giving kids the brain tools it takes to be able to understand math, I don't care how many tests they give.

[Q3JR4]

3. ....

This is why people at the university I live near pay me lots of money to tutor them in math....and physics....and chemistry.

It's a good gig, but--strangely enough--only happens during the school year.

Go figure about that one.

Q3JR4.
Gratuitous semi-related statement, but couldn't resist.

[alp227]

4. Also: The bottom 3 states in math performance: CA, MS, AL

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/14/BADS1A53GC.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea

California math scores among the lowest
by Jill Tucker

If not for the two southern states, California students would be at the bottom of the national heap in mathematics, according to the 2009 Nation's Report Card released Wednesday.

The abysmal standing, which reflects in part the state's diverse population, hasn't changed much over the years. California consistently has ranked among the lowest-scoring states in the biennial National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federally mandated assessment of a sampling of fourth- and eighth-graders across the country.

On the plus side, state students have made steady progress over the years, generally keeping pace with their national counterparts - albeit from the back of the pack.

[harry_pothead]

5. That is shameful.

[Smarmie Doofus]

6. This is what he says:

>>>>“This is the first time in 19 years that fourth-grade math scores are flat,” said Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “We’ve got to get better faster.”>>>>>>

Could this be what he's *thinking*? :

"We've got to make the tests easier faster."