Dumbing Down of America II

After I posted my comments, I returned to my e-mail. I had received from Prof. Knapp a copy of an article on nationwide high school test results.

Many of you received the article, but for those of you who didn't, I'm posting a few paragraphs. As I stated, there are a number of factors contributing to America's lack of understanding of complex issues. Here's another factor in the complexity of this issue itself:

New York Times --February 23, 2007Grades Rise, but Reading Skills Do Not
By DIANA JEAN SCHEMO

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22

High school students nationwide are taking seeminglytougher courses and earning better grades, but their reading skills arenot improving through the effort, according to two federal reports released here Thursday that cite grade inflation as a possible explanation.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress, an exam commonly known as the nation's report card, found that the reading skills of 12th graders tested in 2005 were significantly worse than those of students in 1992, when a comparable test was first given, and essentially flat since students previously took the exam in 2002.

At the same time, however, grade-point averages have risen nationwide, according to a separate survey by the National Assessment, of the transcripts of 26,000 students, which compared them with a study ofstudents coursework in 1990.

Theres a disconnect between what we want and expect our 12th graders toknow and do, and what our schools are actually delivering throughinstruction in the classroom, David W. Gordon, the superintendent ofschools in Sacramento, said at a news conference announcing the results.

The reports offered several rationales for the disparity between rising grade-point averages and tougher coursework on the one hand and stagnant reading scores on the other, including grade inflation, changes in grading standards or the possibility that student grades were being increasingly affected by things like classroom participation or extra assignments.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress is considered theyardstick for academic performance because it is the only test taken allacross the country. The test of 12th-grade achievement was given to a representative sample of 21,000 high school seniors attending 900 public and private schools from January to March 2005.

It showed that the share of 12th-grade 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 percent from 20 percent in 1992.