XPost: alt.education, alt.politics.radical-left, alt.politics.republicans   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   From: leroysoetoro@americans-first.com   
      
   https://apnews.com/article/naep-reading-math-scores-12th-grade-   
   c18d6e3fbc125f12948cc70cb85a520a   
      
   WASHINGTON (AP) — A decade-long slide in high schoolers’ reading and math   
   performance persisted during the COVID-19 pandemic, with 12th graders’   
   scores dropping to their lowest level in more than 20 years, according to   
   results released Tuesday from an exam known as the nation’s report card.   
      
   Eighth-grade students also lost significant ground in science skills,   
   according to the results from the National Assessment of Education   
   Progress.   
      
   The assessments were the first since the pandemic for eighth graders in   
   science and 12th graders in reading and math. They reflect a downward   
   drift across grade levels and subject areas in previous releases from   
   NAEP, which is considered one of the best gauges of the academic progress   
   of U.S. schools.   
      
   “Scores for our lowest-performing students are at historic lows,” said   
   Matthew Soldner, the acting commissioner of the National Center for   
   Education Statistics. “These results should galvanize all of us to take   
   concerted and focused action to accelerate student learning.”   
      
   While the pandemic had an outsize impact on student achievement, experts   
   said falling scores are part of a longer arc in education that cannot be   
   attributed solely to COVID-19, school closures and related issues such as   
   heightened absenteeism. Educators said potential underlying factors   
   include children’s increased screen time, shortened attention spans and a   
   decline in reading longer-form writing both in and out of school.   
      
   The dip in reading scores appeared alongside a shift in how English and   
   language arts are taught in schools, with an emphasis on short texts and   
   book excerpts, said Carol Jago, associate director of the California   
   Reading and Literature Project at UCLA. As a high school English teacher   
   20 years ago, Jago said it was common for her high school students to read   
   20 books over the course of a year. Now, some English classes are   
   assigning just three books a year.   
      
      
   “To be a good reader, you have to have the stamina to stay on the page,   
   even when the going gets tough,” Jago said. “You have to build those   
   muscles, and we’re not building those muscles in kids.”   
      
   Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the scores show why the Trump   
   administration wants to give states more control of education spending.   
      
   “Despite spending billions annually on numerous K-12 programs, the   
   achievement gap is widening, and more high school seniors are performing   
   below the basic benchmark in math and reading than ever before,” McMahon   
   said.   
      
   House Democrats said the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the   
   Education Department will only hurt students. The declines show a need for   
   federal investment in academic recovery and educational equity, said   
   Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, ranking member of the House   
   Committee on Education and Workforce.   
      
   “Eliminating the very agency responsible for supporting public schools and   
   enforcing civil rights protections of students will only deepen the   
   achievement gaps identified by this assessment,” Scott said.   
      
   Fewer students show basic proficiency in math and reading   
   The test scores show more students are not reaching what would be   
   considered “basic” achievement across subject areas, said Lesley Muldoon,   
   executive director of the National Assessment Governing Board. While   
   NAEP’s definition of “proficient” is a high bar, Muldoon said, it is not   
   an unreasonable one, and it is based on what researchers believe students   
   should be able to achieve by the end of high school.   
      
   “These students are taking their next steps in life with fewer skills and   
   less knowledge in core academics than their predecessors a decade ago,”   
   she said. “This is happening at a time when rapid advancements in   
   technology and society demands more of future workers and citizens, not   
   less.”   
      
   In reading, the average score in 2024 was the lowest score in the history   
   of the assessment, which began in 1992. Thirty-two percent of high school   
   seniors scored below “basic,” meaning they were not able to find details   
   in a text to help them understand its meaning.   
      
   In math, the average score in 2024 was the lowest since 2005, when the   
   assessment framework changed significantly. On the test, 45% of high   
   school seniors scored below “basic” achievement, the highest percentage   
   since 2005. Only 33% of high school seniors were considered academically   
   prepared for college-level math courses, a decline from 37% in 2019.   
      
   The high school reading and math assessments, and the eighth grade science   
   test, are given less frequently than the biannual fourth and eighth grade   
   reading tests, which were last released earlier this year. The new scores   
   reflect tests taken in schools around the country between January and   
   March 2024.   
      
   Achievement gaps are widening   
   The gap between the highest- and lowest-performing students was its widest   
   ever among eighth grade science students, reflecting growing inequality in   
   the American school system. The achievement gap widened also in 12th grade   
   math.   
      
   The scores also reflect the re-emergence of a gender gap in science,   
   technology, engineering and math courses. In 2019, boys and girls scored   
   virtually the same on the NAEP science assessment. But in 2024, girls saw   
   a steeper decline in scores. A similar pattern occurred in state math   
   assessments, according to an Associated Press analysis.   
      
   Schools had largely closed the gender gap in math and science, but it   
   widened in the years following the pandemic as special programs to engage   
   girls lapsed.   
      
   On a NAEP survey of students, a shrinking percentage of eighth grade   
   students said they regularly took part in inquiry-based learning   
   activities in the classroom. The pandemic disrupted schools’ ability to   
   create those hands-on learning experiences for students, which are often   
   critical to understanding scientific concepts and processes, said   
   Christine Cunningham, senior vice president of STEM learning at the Museum   
   of Science in Boston.   
      
   Still, she noted declines across subjects began well before schools closed   
   in 2020.   
      
   “We don’t know exactly what the cause of it is, but it would be incomplete   
   to assume that if we hadn’t had COVID, the score would not have gone   
   down,” Cunningham said. “That’s not what the data showed even before the   
   pandemic.” ___   
      
   Feathers reported from New York.   
      
      
   --   
   November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump.  We look   
   forward to America being great again.   
      
   We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that   
   stupid people won't be offended.   
      
   Every day is an IQ test. Some pass, some, not so much.   
      
      
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