Rise of Grades, But Not of Knowledge

During our last class period, we talked about tracking and if it is beneficial or detrimental in schools. During our discussion I began to think about my time in highschool and about the different classes which I took. My senior year I decided to take Senior English, instead of the AP English class. I did have some friends who decided to take the AP English class that year, so we were able to talk about the things we were studying in both classes. In the midst of my studying, reading and paper writing for my senior English class, I would often find myself explaining the concepts of the stories to my friends who were in the AP English class. As it turns out my teacher provided an in-depth look into the stories we were studying, which of course means a whole lot of homework and other assignments; however the AP English classroom was coasting by with the bare minimum of work.  Multiple students from the AP class informed me that my English class was much more difficult then theirs, and they were in the “harder” class!

ok, I am not ranting about AP classes, this is not what the blog is about. However I did find an interesting article in the education section of the new york times which talks about how grades of high-school students have rose over the past couple of years, yet the basic reading and math skills have significantly dropped. Although more and more high-school students make the choice to take AP and/or honor classes instead of basic classes, they are lacking the basic abilities needed to get the most out of the subjects they are studying.

“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. The test results also showed that the overwhelming majority of high school seniors have not fully mastered high-school-level math.”

So how exactly are students taking Advanced Calc if they can’t do basic algebra? In some cases it could be the basic “remember it for the test and then forget it” type of deal. Students study the information, do fine on the exam but the second they turn in the exam that information is out the window. Now this is not true for all students. Most of the students in AP classes deserve to be there because they have worked hard to do so. But what about the other students in the school who just take the required courses? Some highschools only require 2 years of math classes. Will a student who has took pre algebra and geometry at the beginning of highschool really remember the information by the time they graduate? The article again takes information from  the National Assesment of Educaitonal Progress:

“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. The share of students proficient in reading dropped to 35 percent from 40 percent in 1992. At the same time, the gap between boys and girls grew, with girls’ reading skills more than a year ahead those of boys.In math, only 23 percent of all 12th graders were proficient, but the exam has been revamped, so the results could not be compared with those from earlier years, officials said. The new test has fewer questions requiring arithmetic and more using algebra and geometry. Some 39 percent of 12th graders lacked even basic high school math skills. “

This can all relate back to the fact that the education criteria of day forces teachers to spend more time focusing on teaching the material which will be on the MEAP and ACT then to make sure that students know the basics skills pertaining to the subjects. The crunch for time makes it difficult to make sure students know the basics of subject before plowing on to get to the in-depth studying. If there were only a bit more space in the curriculum to go over the needed information, i believe that great progress could be made in this area. Although I am sure that more and more national test will show the same results; that students today need to know the basic information no matter which direction they choose to follow after highschool.

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