{"id":63094,"date":"2022-10-28T06:00:46","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T10:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=63094"},"modified":"2022-10-24T18:23:33","modified_gmt":"2022-10-24T22:23:33","slug":"math-reading-scores-plunge-to-record-lows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/10\/math-reading-scores-plunge-to-record-lows\/","title":{"rendered":"Math & Reading Scores Plunge to Record Lows"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Math scores for fourth and eighth graders dropped to their lowest level ever.\u00a0 Reading scores erased three decades of progress.<\/p>\n

These were the findings<\/a> of the 2022 National Assessment of Student Progress, also known as \u201cthe nation\u2019s report card.\u201d\u00a0 Average math scores for eighth graders dropped to 274 out of a possible 500.\u00a0 Their reading scores dropped 3 points to 260. Fourth graders dropped to 236 in math and 217 in reading.<\/p>\n

The drops were across the board, in every state and every demographic.\u00a0 According to Beverly Perdue<\/a>, head of the research group, \u201cThere was really hardly any difference between a poor, economically deprived rural community and a very sophisticated ZIP code.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

The obvious culprit would be the COVID shutdowns.\u00a0 Some school districts had canceled in-person classes for two years, attempting on-line learning instead.\u00a0 So a drop in test scores was expected.<\/p>\n

But test scores also declined in schools that remained open!\u00a0 So the failure to learn in American classrooms must not just be due to the COVID shutdowns.\u00a0 There must be deeper problems.<\/p>\n

I would propose some factors:\u00a0\u00a0bad curriculum, bad teaching, and bad teacher training.<\/p>\n

See, for example, our post Resolution and Resistance in Teaching Reading<\/a>, about how science has conclusively demonstrated that the most effective way to teach reading is by phonics, and yet how the education establishment is resisting that approach anyway.\u00a0 And see our post Teacher Education Programs Don\u2019t Teach How to Teach<\/a>, about how university education departments have been neglecting instruction in teaching methods in favor of political indoctrination and oppression studies.<\/p>\n

I suspect this focus on \u201ccritical pedagogy,\u201d with its emphasis on indoctrinating children on issues of race, gender, and the LGBTQ+ cause\u2013aside from being morally problematic\u2013is taking time away from academic instruction.<\/p>\n

At least educators seem to be shaken by this data of academic collapse. Says Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe results in today\u2019s Nation\u2019s Report Card are appalling and unacceptable. . . . This is a moment of truth for education. How we respond to this will determine not only our recovery, but our nation\u2019s standing in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Says Peggy Carr<\/a> of the National center for Education Statistics:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThese mathematics results are historic. . .\u00a0 \u201cThey are the largest declines in mathematics we have observed in the entire history of this assessment.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Says Beverly Perdue<\/a> again:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the result simply of a horrible three years for students, this is a result of a realized generational decline.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Some educators are blaming social injustice, student\u2019s mental problems, and their inability over this period to collaborate with each other, reflecting the social and psychological preoccupation in education today, as well as the over-emphasis on group work over individual achievement, all of which, I would argue, contribute to the decline in learning.<\/p>\n

Here is my suggestion.\u00a0 In light of the failures of the current educational theories, try something else.\u00a0 Try classical education<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Illustration:\u00a0 FAIL by Amboo Who? via Flickr, Creative Commons 2.0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Math scores for fourth and eighth graders dropped to their lowest level ever.\u00a0 Reading scores erased three decades of progress. This decline was in both schools that shut down because of COVID and those that did not. They were across the board, in every state and demographic. 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