New scores for High School readers

Why aren’t reading scores higher?  This is the question asked in the NY Times article regarding the latest report on declining scores on standardized reading test given to high school students.  I think that much of this study reflects a trend toward product and not process. 

Today’s high school students are taking seemingly tougher courses and earning better grades, but their reading skills are not improving, according to the results of a national assessment released here today that cited grade inflation as a possible explanation.

I’m not totally convinced that grade inflation is a viable reason for the discrepancy between the test scores and the grades of the students.  I think that a more realistic explanation would include the idea that the emphasis the reading portions of these test fail to give an accurate account of the progress of the students.  The students are being engaged in more difficult classes, perhaps, requiring less pleasure reading which encourages reading fluency and comprehension practice. 

Darvin M. Winick, chairman of the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees the exams, said in a prepared statement that the findings “provide little comfort,” and “suggest that we need to know much more about the level of rigor associated with the courses that high school students are taking,”

The study presents an interesting dynamic with regards to the literacy rates among high school students.  This report reflects a negative trend toward students being unable to extract basic information from a train schedule.  This information makes me question the contributing factors to this decline in abilities.  How can our students receive higher grades on tougher classes without the ability to perform the most basic skills?

The share of students lacking even basic high school reading skills — meaning they could not, for example, extract data about train fares at different times of day from a brochure — rose to 27 from 20 percent in 1992. The share of those proficient in reading dropped to 35 from 40 percent in 1992.

This study raises interesting questions about the emphasis put on high school students to perform.  How can we fail our students on practical matters, while encouraging them to work harder on subjects that are more demanding?  Are the students unable to build their basic skills because of the emphasis put on more complex subjects.  The perspective offered by this article is very unexpected.  I think that this introduces another facet to an already complicated subject of students falling through the cracks of the real world.

Grades Rise as Reading Skills Drop in H.S. Study

By DIANA JEAN SCHEMO

Published: February 22, 2007

To read the complete article, click here.

Is Illiteracy in our Future?

This article from the Christian Science Monitor illustrates the growing trend of retired baby-boomers being replaced by poorly educated and illiterate immigrant workers.  I think that this argument is central in the debate about how to deal with a workforce, and their children, that doesn’t speak English as a first language.  I am concerned that if we don’t find a productive way to educate immigrants and other non-English speaking members of our society, we will develop some of the negative attributes described by this article.

If they can’t reverse the trend, then it could spell trouble for a large swath of the labor force, widen an already large skill gap, and shrink the middle class.

The gap that the author speaks of is exactly what we, as teachers, are trying to avoid in the classroom.  The emphasis on providing a quality education for all students is made much more difficult when combined with a language barrier.  I think that this should definitely be a priority for all teachers.  The influx of different nationalities requires us to take a really hard look at the way our educational system is organized.  I think that something drastic will need to happen to alter the course we seem to be on.

What they hope to do, they say, is call attention to urgent issues that affect not just many Americans’ lifestyle, but the sort of democracy based on an informed middle class that the country was founded on.  

More than half of the immigrant Hispanics lack a high school diploma.

The author of this article makes some suggestions about how to deal with the problem of educating this segment of our society.  They look to the educational system for continued growth and development.  We need to evolve our programming to create room for this growing population.  Many of the positive programs that we have in place need to be expanded upon and evaluated for their value.  Unfortunately, this requires funds and dedication, both of which are hard to find without restructuring the entire system.

Coming US challenge: a less literate workforce

A larger share of workers will have minimal reading skills in 2030 than today, according to a report released Monday.

By Amanda Paulson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

To read the complete article, click here.

VERMONT PRISONS IN EDUCATION

While surfing though the hundreds of articles on my Aggregator, I came upon this article in the Washington Post.  This may be a bit off of my original topic, but I think that this is a very savy way to deal with a very challenging problem.  Many students who drop out of school turn to crime as a way of life.  In the state of Vermont, the department of corrections requires all inmates under 22 years old, who haven’t completed High School, to attend 20 hours of classes per week, while in prison. 

“Most states tend to abandon incarcerated youth and don’t provide much in the way of ongoing education,” said Sam Robinson, an official at the New England Commission on Independent Schools.

While requiring their “captive” students to earn their diplomas, the state of Vermont is hoping to reduce the amount of repeat offenders.  I believe that this may be the best way to deal with the problem of reforming these young people.  Without education, these young adults are released back into society without the hope of transcending the lifestyle that put them in jail in the first place. 

“We are having an effect on the youth population we reach in the facilities because they’re not coming back in,” said Community High School Principal Steve LaTulippe, who went to work for the Corrections Department a year after retiring from his 30-year career as a teacher in South Burlington.

Making a difference in this crime prone segment of our society can have the ability to alter the future of these people and the world.  The statistics of uneducated repeat offenders is staggering.  Just taking an interest in these non-traditional students makes the difference.

Community High School board member Dwight A. Davis said that whenever he asks inmates if anyone had ever taken an interest in their education, they say no.

“As an educator, that’s difficult for me to accept,” Davis said. “A lot of our kids, if they had one caring adult, they would succeed. Unfortunately, they don’t. If we can correct that, we’ve corrected a gross error.”

I think that this type of education is invaluable for those students who slip through the traditional cracks of education.  I think that if more prisons were equipt to deal with the educational deficit most of its prisoners face, many of these people would have opportunities beyond crime and drug abuse.  This is a great way to deal with a difficult problem…congratulations Vermont!!!

In Vermont, Prisoners Go To High School Behind Bars

from washingtonpost.com – washingtonpost.com Education by Wilson Ring

To read the complete article, click here.