Getting a Bit Testy

American children, particularly those in our public school systems, are getting a profoundly raw deal. Bottom line: they will not be prepared to compete in the global labor force with anywhere near the skill-sets that various incarnations of political leaders have pledged for decades. The completely discredited No Child Left Behind Act has produced another demonstration of failure, but this one is likely to ripple through America’s future for decades.

This past spring, the National Assessment of Educational Progress Test, designed to monitor schools, teachers and students in math and reading under the Act, was given to 329,000 fourth and eighth graders. The math results (released on October 14th) produced the following anomalous results: 39% of fourth graders and 34% of eighth graders performed at or above the “proficient” level. The reading results will be published later. The vast majority of our children remain at the “less than proficient in math” level… a completely unacceptable result.

This is the worst our schools have done in a long time. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan reacted to these results: “This is the first time in 19 years that fourth-grade math scores are flat… We’ve got to get better faster.” Another reaction reported by the October 14th New York Times: “‘The trend is flat; it’s a plateau. Scores are not going anywhere, at least nowhere important,’ said Chester E. Finn, Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a research organization in Washington. ‘That means that eight years after enactment of No Child Left Behind, the problems it set out to solve are not being solved, and now we’re five years from the deadline [the Act set standards for 2014] and we’re still far, far from the goal.’”

A more detailed analysis of the results shows a particular failing in inner city schools: “The latest scores were especially disappointing because score gaps between white and minority students did not diminish at all since the last time the math test was administered, in 2007. On average, the nation’s fourth graders scored 240 on a 500-point scale, just as they did in 2007. White fourth graders, on average, scored 248, Hispanics scored 227 and blacks scored 222…Eighth graders, on average, scored 283 on the same scale, up from 281 in 2007. White eighth graders, on average, scored 293, while Hispanics scored 266 and black eighth graders scored 261…The gap of 32 points separating average black and white eighth graders represents about three years’ worth of math learning.” The Times.

So we are cutting state educational budgets, and the federal assistance to education doesn’t remotely make up the difference. We need a work force to be able to earn enough future money to handle the massive debt load our government has incurred. Instead, we seem to be creating a legion of children who are more likely to need welfare and populate our prison system, exceptionally expensive alternatives, than participate in an optimistic future of joyful and production employment.

I don’t know about you, but you believe in America and her future as I do, this should really piss you off! We’re better than this!

I’m Peter Dekom, and I approve this message.