Schools Cut Back Subjects to Push Reading and Math

nyt ^ | 3/26/06 | SAM DILLON

[freema]

They forgot to report 'the other half of the story'. Here it is:

D.C.'s Distinction: $16,344 Per Student, But Only 12% Read Proficiently
Posted Mar 23, 2006

The District of Columbia spends far more money per student in its public elementary and secondary schools each year than the tuition costs at many private elementary schools, or even college-preparatory secondary schools. Yet, District 8th-graders ranked dead last in 2005 in national reading and math tests.

D.C.'s public elementary and secondary schools spent a total of $16,334 per student in the 2002-2003 school year, according to a Department of Education study. That compares to the $10,520 tuition at St. John's College High School, a District Catholic school that sends almost all its graduates to four-year colleges.

Last year, however, only 12% of 8th-graders in the District's public schools scored at grade-level proficiency or better in reading in the federal National Assessment of Educational Progress tests that were administered in the District and all 50 states. Only 7% of the District's public-school 8th-graders scored grade-level proficiency or better in math.

Not one U.S. state can boast that a majority of the 8th-graders in its public schools last year had achieved grade-level proficiency or better in either reading or math.

How much money did your state spend per pupil while failing to adequately educate in reading and math the majority of students in its public schools? The answers are in the chart below.

They eloquently make the case for school choice.

The state spending figures below are the total median expenditure per student as reported in "Revenues and Expenditures by Public School Districts: School Year 2002-03," published by the Department of Education in November 2005. The NAEP 8th-grade reading and math scores were published by the Department of Education in October 2005.
State Per Pupil Spending
Percentage of 8th-Graders at Proficiency or Better
in Reading Percentage of 8th-Graders at Proficiency or Better
in Math
Alaska $16,665
27%
29%

District of Columbia
$16,344
12%
7%

New York
$13,989
33%
31%

New Jersey
$12,419
37%
36%

Wyoming
$12,116
35% 29%

Delaware
$10,874
31%
30%

Connecticut
$10,765
34%
35%

New Mexico $10,602
19%
14%

Rhode Island
$10,189
29%
23%

Massachusetts
$9,952
44%
43%

Wisconsin $9,805 34%
36%

Maine
$9,787
38%
30%

New Hampshire
$9,731
38%
35%

Vermont
$9,614
37%
38%

Maryland
$9,298
30% 30%
Pennsylvania
$9,298
36%
31%

Minnesota
$9,133
37%
43%

Colorado
$8,948
31%
32%

Montana
$8,927
37%
36%

West Virginia
$8,845
22%
17%

Texas
$8,826
26%
31%

Nebraska $8,714
35%
35%

Indiana
$8,673
28%
30%

Michigan
$8,651
28%
30%

Hawaii
$8,632
18%
18%

Kansas
$8,620
34%
34%

Oregon
$8,577
33%
33%

North Dakota
$8,552
37%
35%

Illinois
$8,465
31%
28%

Nevada
$8,458 22%
21%

Washington
$8,454
34%
36%

Georgia
$8,393
24%
23%

California
$8,262
21%
22%

South Carolina
$8,226
25%
30%

Ohio
$8,208
24%
34%

Virginia
$8,087
35%
33%

South Dakota
$8,001
35%
36%

Iowa
$7,789
34%
34%

Florida
$7,571
25%
26%

Idaho
$7,554
32%
30%

North Carolina
$7,469
27%
32%

Missouri
$7,462
31%
26%

Louisiana
$7,443
20%
16%

Alabama
$6,942
22%
15%

Kentucky
$6,934
31% 22%

Arizona
$6,933
23%
26%

Utah
$6,859
29%
30%

Oklahoma
$6,817
25%
20%

Arkansas
$6,774
26%
22%

Tennessee
$6,460
26%
21%

Mississippi
$6,387
19%
13%



http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=13458

[freema]

Here's a ping back atcha, check out my post here...and thanks for your ping!

[Darkwolf377]

"reduced the hours of instructional time spent on history, music and other subjects" "not exactly a good thing" No it's not a good thing. It's interesting that most of the comments on this have of the "sarcastic" kind.

What's interesting to me is how some have let the vague phrasing there determine their response to this.

Look at this quote from the article: ""Only two subjects? What a sadness," said Thomas Sobol, an education professor at Columbia Teachers College and a former New York State education commissioner. "That's like a violin student who's only permitted to play scales, nothing else, day after day, scales, scales, scales. They'd lose their zest for music."

What BS. Math teaches one's mind how to think logically; reading teaches one how to retrieve and process information.

I find it funny that people are tsk-tsking the reduction of history in this thread, where on any other thread we'd be--properly--talking about how history is the subject where the majority of prosletyzing for liberal ideas happens. I work in a school--I see this first hand. I hear the discussions about the war being only for oil, the conspiracy theories about Bush, etc.--all of it directly from the history classes.

There is only so much time in a school day. This article focuses mostly on how one school has ham-handedly fumbled when faced with the NCLB requirements. Instead of coming up with creative responses, they've done the petulant liberal act and said "Fine, we'll just CUT HISTORY!"

In my personal experience I've seen that cutting class time leads to less spinning and more focus on facts, dates, etc. If a kid knows how to read, he can educate himself on ANY topic--the only one where that doesn't help so much is math.

Focusing on reading and math is probably the single most significant education establishment GAIN since Bush came into office. As someone who works in a school (not as a teacher), I can only applaud this. I can also read for context, and one tossed-off comment in an article merely obfuscates what can only be seen as a good thing.

If ALL our kids got out of school was a diploma that meant they could read at the very best of their abolity, then their K-12 education would be worth it. That's not the case, and this article attempts to turn a silk purse into a sow's ear. What's interesting is how readily some FReepers accept the New York Times' word on this.

[Amelia]

My only concern is if they turn the entire school into remedial math for just 1 student. They need to find ways to let kids advance at their own rates and not the rate of the slowest student(s).

That seems to be what they are doing. From the article:

At Martin Luther King Jr. Junior High School in Sacramento, about 150 of the school's 885 students spend five of their six class periods on math, reading and gym, leaving only one 55-minute period for all other subjects.

[Amelia]

They don't need to cut those subjects. They say that to force parents to object to NCLB. It's nothing but extortion!

In some places, yes, they do.

It's not uncommon to get 9th graders who've been socially promoted but can't read. Some are as old as 17, and they don't want them corrupting influencing the younger children at the middle and elementary schools.

But it's not uncommon to get 9th graders who are reading at 3rd and 4th grade level, and I've had them reading and doing math as low as kindergarten level.

[Miss Marple]

What grades are your children? Science doesn't start until the third grade in my grandkids' school, but it is a very advanced textbook and they are learning about photsynthesis, parts of the cell, etc.

History classes in Indiana start in 4th grade, with Indiana history. American history starts in 5th grade.

[finnsheep]

If you can read and do math, you can learn all about everything else on your own.

If, however, you only learn basketweaving, political correctness, and modern art (?), you are doomed never to learn anything else.

[MediaAnalyst]

You guys still mostly don't get it. What the MSM doesn't mention is that the "math" and "reading" curriculums used now are so pathetic that it easily takes twice the amount of time to cover the same material as when many of you were in school.

In other words, an hour spent on direct instruction on multiplication tables will result in a marked improvement in the kids' performance. An hour spent writing (or discussing) why you like math (which, believe me is done), or the various ways to attack a multiplication problem is virtually worthless. Needless to say, today's public schools spend most of their time on the new-age approach.

[metmom]

I just saw the math text used for our public schools 8th grade. If they'd actually teach math it would help. What the heck does knowing how to make numbers in sign language do to help these kids math scores? It's a PC indoctrination manuel.

[Lizavetta]

Why would it be so hard to teach someone to read material that incorporates World History and Geography? This has stumped me for some time.

Incorporating geography into history classes means you don't need geography teachers, which means fewer dues-paying union members, silly.

And besides, one can only be a credentialed geography teacher to instruct the little ones about rivers, continents and natural resources

[wintertime]

But it's not uncommon to get 9th graders who are reading at 3rd and 4th grade level, and I've had them reading and doing math as low as kindergarten level.

My kids were admitted to community college at the very young ages of 13, 12, and 13, so I had an opportunity to spend a lot of time observing what went on in this college.

Our local community college routinely took kids who could barely add and subtract ( forget long division or fractions) and had very poor reading skills and bring to the level where they could succeed in their college classes. The process took about 2 years.

So....if the community college can do this in 2 years, why aren't our government schools doing it in 13? These are the same kids, from the same families, from the same community. These kids can and do want to learn. They wanted to learn in their government school too, but the government school failed to teach them.

Sorry,,,,but I am disgusted with the educational abuse these young adults had to suffer as children.

[wintertime]

You guys still mostly don't get it. What the MSM doesn't mention is that the "math" and "reading" curriculums used now are so pathetic that it easily takes twice the amount of time to cover the same material as when many of you were in school.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

In my state, our university professors ( both private and government ) joined together to petition the governor to protest the abymal math instruction in our government K-12 schools. They are appalled!

Interestingly not even one professor of math education joined them.

My own homeschooled children used the Saxon math books. We thoroughly studied every example and worked every problem. By the age of 13, 12, and 13 they scored in the 96th, 98th, and 97th percentiles for children of their ages. They were admitted to college at these ages and did very well there. They graduated from university at an age when their peers were still in high school.

By the way,,,,my kids are normal. The top 1/5 of any government high school could be doing as well. It is a shame. It is the institutionalized government schooled children who are socially and academically delayed.

[wintertime]

Science doesn't start until the third grade in my grandkids' school

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

To call what children learn in elementary, middle, or high school "science" is very misleading to the children.

It is NOT "science". We should call it what it is: General information about the natural world.

Children on these levels are completely incapable of doing any real "science". Why? Because they lack the math and statistic concepts needed.

[Amelia]

So....if the community college can do this in 2 years, why aren't our government schools doing it in 13?

You're looking for one single answer, and there isn't one. There are a number of reasons, and they may vary depending on the student.

Social promotion is one. I suppose the elementary teachers and administrators think the students will someday magically acquire the skills they didn't get in one grade, rather than falling further and further behind because they don't have the skills to do more advanced work.

By the way, students figure this social promotion thing out early. I've had primary school teachers tell me they had students who didn't do half their work, because they figured out that they'd pass anyway. It could be that the students weren't motivated when they were younger.

We also have the social trends. Teaching, nursing, and secretarial work used to be the major fields for career-minded women - now there are many more opportunities, so the "best and brightest" young women often take other career paths now. We also have the breakdown of the family, a general loosening of societal mores, the pop psychology that says we shouldn't "repress the creativity" of children, etc.

There is also the civil rights issue. In the South when I was young, the students who were above grade level were put in one class so they could learn at an accelerated rate, and those below grade level were put in a remedial class. Unfortunately, this sort of grouping was declared by the courts to be "de facto segregation", and largely outlawed. This has frequently resulted in advanced students moving more slowly and slower students not getting the remediation they needed.

There's more, but maybe that's a start?

[Salvation]

**Schools Cut Back Subjects to Push Reading and Math**

It's about time!

[wintertime]

There's more, but maybe that's a start?

You have blamed everyone except the government school system.

The kids doing remedial work in the community college are still the same kids, same families, same community environment....the community college teaches in 2 years what should have been learned in 13 and the government school doesn't.

[Amelia]

You have blamed everyone except the government school system.

I beg your pardon, but who do you think is doing the social promotion?

The kids doing remedial work in the community college are still the same kids, same families, same community environment....the community college teaches in 2 years what should have been learned in 13 and the government school doesn't.

Maybe at that point the students have figured out there is a reason they need to learn these skills? In other words, at that point they have some intrinsic motivation.

[Old Professer]

Michael Faraday was apprenticed to a book binder as a boy as his family was poor and the boy received room and board along with the craft; what no one expected was that, through the reading of the books he bound and a brilliant mind, young Michael went on to become one of the most influential men in the field of electronics and mechanics of his time, ending up with a chair at the Royal Society along with his mentor Sir Davy Humphrey.

[wintertime]

Maybe at that point the students have figured out there is a reason they need to learn these skills? In other words, at that point they have some intrinsic motivation.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Hmmm????.....So in the three moths between H.S. graduation and the beginning of community college they suddenly developed motivation?

Amelia,,,,you are still blaming everyone except the government school.

[Serenissima Venezia]

My only concern is if they turn the entire school into remedial math for just 1 student. They need to find ways to let kids advance at their own rates and not the rate of the slowest student(s).

Bingo. That is one of the conclusions from the Third and Fourth International Math and Science Studies. The top-ranking countries all had kids in the classes that were at the same level and ready to move on. However, the U.S. - last in math and 2nd to last in physics - had a wide variety of levels of kids in one class.

I foolishly decided to teach for one semester - and it was impossible to adequately provide guidance for all the kid since their abilities varied so much. To 'teach to the middle', the more advanced kids were bored and not challenged enough and the lower end kids were left out completely. And the administration couldn't have cared less. For so little money, I wasn't about to put in hours and hours to fix a problem that I didn't cause. So, I left. As I imagine most teachers who have a choice do!