|
|
 |
|
American Teacher
April 2003--A Nation At Risk
The good
news: Student achievement is up
It's a safe bet that
the 20th anniversary of A Nation at Risk will be welcomed by some groups as
a great opportunity to kick public education in the chops. That's just what
happened on the 10th and 15th anniversaries. Some critics seized the moment
to dust off claims that public schools receive vast increases in
funding--with nothing to show for it.
The charge is
provocative. It grabs lots of headlines. And it's also a great way for some
critics to advance their real agenda: the dismantling of public education in
favor of vouchers, tuition tax credits and reckless charter school plans.
The only problem is that it just isn't true.
Consider:
-
After declining
between 1973 and 1982, math scores for 17-year-olds increased during the
1980s and 1990s on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
Average scores are also higher for 9- and 13-year-olds.
-
Reading achievement
of 9-year-olds increased significantly from 1971 to 1999, according to the
National Center for Education Statistics. Some of the most positive
results can be seen in the 25 percent of students who constitute the
lowest-performing NAEP reading group. Average reading performance for
these students rose through the 1980s and 1990s for white, black and
Hispanic students alike.
-
The latest results
of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study ) shows that U.S.
fourth-graders performed above the international average in math and
science. In science, U.S. fourth-graders ranked second only to Korean
students.
Behind the numbers
lies an important message about the connection between school resources and
progress, researchers stress in the 2000 RAND report, "Improving Student
Achievement: What State NAEP Scores Tell Us."
Differences in [NAEP]
state scores for students with similar families can be explained, in part,
by expenditures and how these funds are allocated, the authors point out.
"States at the top of the [NAEP] heap generally have lower pupil-teacher
ratios in lower grades, higher participation in public prekindergarten
programs and a higher percentage of teachers who are satisfied with the
resources they are provided for teaching."
|
Just the facts
-
Students are
taking more challenging courses. In 1982, only 35 percent of high
school graduates had taken a science class beyond biology. By 1998,
roughly 62 percent of students pursued advanced coursework, with most
of the increase attributed to higher participation in chemistry and
physics courses.
-
During the past
20 years, NAEP scores of 9-,13-, and 17-year-old public school
students have shown more of an upward trend in math and science than
the scores of nonpublic school students of the same ages.
-
The percentage
of 16- to 24-year-olds who either were not in school or had not
completed high school or a GED fell by more than 20 percent from 1983
to 2000. A higher percentage of white, black and Hispanic students are
staying in school.
-
In 2002, 46
percent of that year's high school graduates took the SAT--the highest
percentage ever, including an all-time high of 35 percent of minority
students.
-
In 1985-86, just
over 7,000 high schools offered Advanced Placement classes; in
2001-02, more than 14,000 schools offered AP classes for nearly 1
million candidates.
-
More students go
on to college. From 1972 to 2000, the percentage of high school
students who went on to college the next fall increased from 49
percent to 63 percent. The biggest gains were seen among black
students.
|
Back to:
A
Nation at Risk--Work in Progress
|
