Why Are So Many 12th Graders Not Proficient In Reading And Math? ▬ The Conversation

Why Are So Many 12th Graders Not Proficient In Reading And Math?

The Conversation: 2.10.2021 by
Elizabeth Leyva
Director, Entry-Level Mathematics, Texas A&M-San Antonio
David J. Purpura
Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, Purdue University
Emily Solari
Professor, University of Virginia

Math and reading scores for 12th graders in the U.S. were at a historic low even before the COVID-19 pandemic forced a massive shift to remote learning, according to results of the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress released in late 2020. We asked three scholars to explain why so many high school seniors aren’t proficient in these critical subjects.

Reading Performance On 2019 National Test

2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress

Emily Solari, Professor, University of Virginia

How kids learn to read is a well-researched aspect of human learning. Scientists have identified what happens in the brain when children learn to read and why some children have difficulty mastering this skill. Despite this wealth of evidence about how reading develops, only 37% of 12th graders read at a proficient or advanced level, according to the national assessment.

While standardized tests are not the perfect measure of reading ability, they do provide a pulse of reading attainment across the country. Importantly, the scores show significant differences in reading performance between particular groups of students. Profound gaps exist between white and Black students and white and Hispanic students.

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Studies show that children should be taught the alphabetic system – the relationship between the sounds of letters and their written form – in order to learn how to read words. The ability to read words combined with vocabulary and language development is essential to reading comprehension.

In addition to what is taught, how children are taught to read is also important. Reading instruction should have a clear scope and sequence, with skills building on each other over time.

However, a recent survey suggests that about 75% of teachers use curricula that teach early reading using a cueing approach. And, 65% of college professors teach this approach to new teachers. This method does not align with the scientific evidence of how children learn how to read.  READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 11

Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 15-17 yrs. old

(Tenth to Eleventh graders)

Why American Students Haven't Gotten Better at Reading in 20 Years via The Atlantic

Why American Students Haven't Gotten Better at Reading in 20 Years

Schools usually focus on teaching comprehension skills instead of general knowledge—even though education researchers know better.

The Atlantic: 4.13.2018 by Natalie Wexler

Every two years, education-policy wonks gear up for what has become a time-honored ritual: the release of the *Nation’s Report Card. Officially known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, the data reflect the results of reading and math tests administered to a sample of students across the country. Experts generally consider the tests rigorous and highly reliable—and the scores basically stagnant.

Math scores have been flat since 2009 and reading scores since 1998, with just a third or so of students performing at a level the NAEP defines as “proficient.” Performance gaps between lower-income students and their more affluent peers, among other demographic discrepancies, have remained stubbornly wide.

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On Tuesday, a panel of experts in Washington, D.C., convened by the federally appointed officials who oversee the NAEP concluded that the root of the problem is the way schools teach reading. The current instructional approach, they agreed, is based on assumptions about how children learn that have been disproven by research over the last several decades—research that the education world has largely failed to heed.

The long-standing view has been that the first several years of elementary school should be devoted to basic reading skills. History, science, and the arts can wait. After all, the argument goes, if kids haven’t learned to read—a task that is theoretically accomplished by third grade—how will they be able to gain knowledge about those subjects through their own reading?

The federal No Child Left Behind legislation, enacted in 2001, only intensified the focus on reading.

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One of those cognitive scientists spoke on the Tuesday panel: Daniel Willingham, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia who writes about the science behind reading comprehension. Willingham explained that whether or not readers understand a text depends far more on how much background knowledge and vocabulary they have relating to the topic than on how much they’ve practiced comprehension skills. 

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Another panelist—Timothy Shanahan, an emeritus professor at the University of Illinois and the author or editor of over 200 publications on literacy—went on to debunk a popular approach that goes hand in hand with teaching comprehension skills: To help students practice their “skills,” teachers give them texts at their supposed individual reading levels rather than the level of the grade they’re in.

According to Shanahan, no evidence backs up that practice. In fact, Shanahan said, recent research indicates that students actually learn more from reading texts that are considered too difficult for them—in other words, those with more than a handful of words and concepts a student doesn't understand.  READ MORE >>

Education & School Reports & Statistics

Ongoing

Condition of Education, NCES
Digest of Education Statistics, American education: pre k-graduate school, NCES
Diplomas Count, Education Week
Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States, USDE, IES, NCES
Education Fast Facts, NCES
Homeschooling in the United States, USDE, IES, NCES

➤Nation’s Report Card NAEP – Reading, NCES
Progress in International Reading Literacy Study PIRLS

Program for International Student Assessment PISA