“Government’s first duty is to
protect the people, not run their lives”
-- Ronald Reagan
By Tommie Saylor
Kennedy High School Principal
I did not write this update. It
is an article I found on the Internet written by a Middle School English
teacher named Daniel Dawer. The article is rather long, but well worth the
read, because it adds support to what I have been saying for years and what we
already know to be true.
You've heard the story before:
American schools are in crisis. Our students are being outperformed on
international tests. Kids can't read, they can't write, they lack basic
knowledge about history, civics, geography — and they have poor work habits.
You might look at all this and conclude that public education in the U.S. has
declined drastically. But you would be wrong. In fact, there is plenty
evidence to suggest that, overall, American schools are doing just fine — or at
least not any worse than they've done before. They are a collection of
pervasive myths continue to drive discussions about education policy in the
U.S., despite their mythical status. Here I debunk three myths about the
"failure" of American education, and identify a problem in education that,
while entirely real, is typically ignored.
Myth #1: U.S. test scores are declining
- Fourth grade: 208
- Eighth grade: 255
- 12th grade: 285
And here's how they did in 2008:
- Fourth grade: 221
- Eighth grade: 264
- 12th grade: 288
But those numbers don't tell the
whole story. To see how much NAEP scores have really improved, consider our
improvement in reading scores when broken down by ethnicity:
Changes since 1971
White
Black Hispanic (since 1975)
Fourth grade:
+14 pts +34 pts
+25 pts
Eighth grade:
+7 pts +25 pts
+10 pts
12th grade:
+4 pts +28 pts
+17 pts
Not impressed yet? Here is the same
data, for NAEP Math:
All students
1971 2008
Fourth grade:
219 243
Eighth grade:
266 281
12th grade:
304 306
Changes since 1971
White
Black Hispanic (since 1975)
Fourth grade: +25 pts
+34 pts +32 pts
Eighth grade: +16
pts +34 pts +29 pts
12th grade:
+4 pts +17 pts
+16 pts
To summarize: American students'
scores on the NAEP are going up across the board -- for all subgroups, in all
grade levels, on math and reading tests. And achievement gaps between white and
minority students are gradually narrowing.
Myth #2: We're falling behind the
rest of the world
American students never led the world
on international tests and have never come close to being No. 1. And our scores
on international tests haven't declined — they've either stayed pretty much the
same, or improved slightly. When the First International Mathematics
Study (FIMS) was administered in 1964 to 12-year-olds in 12 different countries
(Israel, Japan, Belgium, Finland, Germany, England, Scotland, Netherlands, France,
Australia, the U.S., and Sweden), the U.S. ranked 11th out of 12, beating
out only Sweden. On the last Trends in International Mathematics and
Science Study (TIMSS), administered in 2011, the United States ranked 11th out
of 57 in fourth grade math scores and 9th out of 56 in eighth grade scores. In
both cases, U.S. students scored above the international average. Since the
TIMSS was first administered in 1995, average fourth grade scores have improved
by 23 points (541 vs. 518) and average eighth grade scores have improved by 17 points
(509 vs. 492).
If you're not convinced yet, consider
how the U.S. has performed on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).
The PISA was first administered in 2000 to 15-year-olds in the 28 OECD nations
and four other non-OECD nations, and measures proficiency in reading, math
literacy, and science literacy. The test has been re-administered every three
years, and in 2009, 65 nations participated.
Here's how U.S. students performed on
past administrations of the PISA:
- 2000 Reading: 504 (15th out of 30)
- 2003 Math: 483 (24th out of 29)
- 2006 Science: 489 (21st out of 30)
And here's how students performed in
2009:
- Reading: 500 (17th out of 74)
- Math: 487 (31st out of 74)
- Science: 502 (23rd out of 74)
To summarize: We saw a tiny decrease
in reading scores, a tiny increase in math scores, and a modest increase in
science scores. It would be a stretch to characterize those results as a
crisis.
Myth #3: We are producing a shortage
of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) graduates
because our math and science education is declining
The truth is that American schools
are producing a surplus of qualified STEM graduates, not a shortage.
Education researchers have repeatedly
demonstrated the fallacies of the so-called STEM crisis. Lindsay Lowell and Hal
Salzman, of Georgetown University and Rutgers University,
have demonstrated not only that the U.S. is producing more qualified STEM
graduates than ever before, but also that there are more STEM graduates than
STEM jobs to fill. Chief among their findings:
American high school students are
taking more math and science courses than ever before. In 1992, the average
student completed 2.6 math credits and 2.2 science credits; by 1998, the
average number of credits completed rose to 3.5 in math and 3.2 in science.
Additionally, over the same period, the percentage of American 13-year-olds
enrolled in Algebra and Pre-Algebra rose to 22 and 34 percent, from 16 and 19
percent.
From 1972 to 2006, mean SAT Math
scores increased from 510 to 518.
From 1977 to 2007, the number of
American undergraduates who pursued STEM degrees increased consistently, as did
the number of students pursuing Masters degrees in STEM fields. The number of
students pursuing PhDs in STEM fields has stayed relatively stable.
From 1977 to 2007, the percentage of
American undergraduates who pursued degrees in Science and Engineering remained
relatively stable (roughly 33%). The percentage of students pursuing Masters
and doctorate degrees has also remained stable.
Annually, American schools produce a
STEM graduate pool that is approximately 50 percent larger than the amount of
openings in STEM fields.
To summarize: The U.S. is producing
more qualified STEM graduates than ever before. And there is no shortage of
graduates--instead, the number of graduates exceed available STEM jobs.
Reality: The problem is poverty
One measure on which the United
States has fallen behind the rest of the world is the amount of children living
in poverty. Out of 35 developed countries, the United States ranks 34th on the
percentage of children living below the poverty line. In 2011, about 22%
of all children in the U.S. — that's nearly 16 million children — were living
in poverty.
That number has increased from about
16 percent in 2001. The corrosive effects of poverty on learning have
been well documented. For the families of many students, poverty means
inadequate access to health care (and prenatal care), food insecurity,
increased exposure to harmful environmental pollutants, and greater family
stress. Students whose families are homeless, transient, or living in
substandard conditions are more likely to miss school and less likely to
receive support at home on their schoolwork. And poor students are more likely
to schools that are under-funded and under-resourced. And family income
is the most consistent predictor of success on standardized tests.
Perhaps what's most remarkable, then,
about the United States' improved performance on the NAEP over the past 40
years is that it has improved even as child poverty has increased. In
fact, if the U.S. didn't have so many of its children living in poverty, we
would likely measure up very differently against the rest of the world on
international tests. Consider the PISA, on which American students ranked 17th
in reading, with an average score of 500. If we look only at American
schools with <10 percent of students living in poverty, the average reading
score is 551 – higher than the overall average of any other nation that participated
in the test. American schools with between 10 and 15 percent of students
living in poverty averaged a score of 527, putting them behind only Finland and
South Korea.
But American schools with >75
percent of children in poverty averaged a score of 446 — a score that would
rank them 33rd out of the 34 OECD countries. Poverty is the
most serious problem facing American schools. Until we are able to debunk
another popular myth — that "poverty doesn't matter" in education —
we will continue to see our poorest students struggle in school.
Why We Accept These Myths?
You might be asking yourself: Why do
these myths continue to dominate discussions of education policy if they aren't
true? The answer may lie more in who controls those discussions and less
in the substance of the discussions themselves. The myths described above
— that American students' test scores are declining, that we are falling behind
the rest of the world, and that we are producing a shortage of STEM graduates are
repeated most often by school reformers who want to restructure schools. Their
agenda of systemic change is more persuasive when paired with a narrative of
crisis, even if that narrative is founded on myths.
In other words, we are more likely to
accept policy reforms in schools if we believe the entire system is broken,
even if it isn't.
As a teacher, I experience the
strengths and failings of our public education system every day when I go into
work. Our schools are not perfect — there is plenty more we can do to improve
student learning, particularly for our country's poorest students. But I
can also attest that our schools are not in a crisis, and that the characterization
of American schools as failed institutions are false. Of course we should
continue to identify areas for improvement when diagnosing America's schools.
But instead of simply buying into myths that cast public education as a colossal
failure, we should also recognize areas in which we have succeeded.
The above article was written by a
Middle School English teacher named Daniel Dawer, and can be found at the
following URL:
One last note that plays along this
same line: We have a student at Kennedy High School that is homeless, a student
that has been homeless for some time, a student that finds it difficult to
manage the very basics of life to include shelter, clothing and food.
This student, who was living in a car, a car that did not run, and did
not perform very well on the standardized state mandated tests, the ACT, Work
Keys and MME.
With this being said, according to
the State of Michigan and according to the federal government, this student is
a failure, or more accurately, the schools have failed this student. This
is what happens when you evaluate public schools based solely on standardized test
scores.
But let me tell you the other half of
the story. This student’s counselor, Ms. Kim Santiz, not only made arrangements
to make sure that this student could get to school, she helped to get this student
through high school. Upon completion, Ms. Santiz has made arrangements
for this student to attend college. The student will be going from living
in a car and scrounging for the most basics of life to living in a dorm room
with a warm bed, a bathroom and a meal plan. The college even has a reputable
placement service, all but guaranteeing employment upon completion.
According to our government, if one
were to look at this student’s test scores, public education failed this
student.
But according to this student, and to
those who know this student, public education and Ms. Santiz saved this student
from a desolate life. Public education cannot be measured on how well a student
scores on a battery of tests. It can only be measured by how we touch each
student’s life.
Remember, their future is in our
hands. Making Kennedy the school of Choice. Excellence by design.
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