The LSU paper (from Courtney)
Report finds high school grades inflated
by Garesia Randle
|
But The Nation's Report Card, which informs the public about the academic achievement of elementary and secondary students in the United States, has recently shown that advanced high school courses may not be up to par when it comes to effective college preparation.
Two reports released Feb. 22, The Nation's Report Card: 12th- Grade Reading and Mathematics 2005 and The Nation's Report Card: America's High School Graduates, showed conflicting results about the educational advancement and achievement of 12th-graders in their reading skills.
In 2005, students across the nation received the National Assessment of Educational Progress exam, which tests skills in various subjects such as math and reading.
The NAEP assessment results included a nationally representative sample of 21,000 high school seniors in 900 schools and shows the percentage of students reading at or above the Basic level has fallen from 80 percent to 73 percent since 1992.
Daria Hall, assistant director for K-12 policy for the Education Trust, a nonprofit organization representing urban schools, said colleges and universities should show concern about this issue.
"This is something that everyone one should be concerned about," Hall said. "The student, teachers, parents, government, everyone should take this as a serious problem."
The percentage of students performing at or above the Proficient level declined from 40 to 35 percent during the same time.
According to The Nation's Report Card, students were divided into groups of basic, proficient and advanced-level readers. Basic readers demonstrate a partial mastery of knowledge and skills to be proficient at a given grade level, while proficient and advanced readers demonstrate solid academic performance and competency.
In a Feb. 22 news release Darvin Winick, chairman of the National Assessment Governing Board, said "the results provide little comfort and seem to confirm the general concern about the performance of America's high school students."
The NAGB oversees and sets policy for NAEP exams.
"The findings also suggest that we need to do much more about the level of rigor associated with the courses that high school students are taking," Winick said.
Stephanie Germaraad, public affairs specialist for the National Assessment Governing Board told The Daily Reveille that progress could not be tracked for math results because of format changes in the math section, but students are expected to do as well, if not better, than in reading.
"The test questions are made by experts from across the country who determine what students after 12 years of school are expected to do and know," Germaraad said. "The reading test has remained the same, so a downward trend should not have happened."
The New York Times reported high school students' over-all grade point average was a 2.98 in 2005, one-third of a letter grade higher than in 1990.
But critics contend that although students take more advanced classes, "grade inflation," in which students get better grades for completing the higher level courses, and mislabeling classes to make them seem more rigorous may be the reason for higher GPAs.
"If, in fact, our high school students are taking more challenging courses and earning higher grades, we should be seeing greater gains in test scores. The consensus for strengthening our high schools has never been stronger," said Margaret Spellings, secretary for the U.S. Department of Education, in a news release.
Hall said the digression in reading skills is not a reflection of the students' ability but of their school's preparation methods.
"What we see is the high school students are doing what we are asking them to do," Hall said. "They are taking more rigorous courses and doing better. But they are not really learning any more than they did in the past."
Hall said high schools that label courses as important without raising the standards are "lying to the students."
"These courses make students believe they are better prepared for college," Hall said. "But now, taking these classes does not mean they will be able to go on and be successful and stay past their first year. Some students, even after taking the advanced classes, find that they have to enroll in remedial classes before getting to credit-bearing classes. And that's a big problem."
Dr. Saundra McGuire, University director for the Center of Academic Success and chemistry professor, said she does not think this is not a significant problem for University students.
"I think students come here with the capability to do well," McGuire said. "I think what is missing is a lot of students who come to college may have never had to study in high school. So they don't necessarily have the learning strategies they need. There is a big gap between what students do here and what they are expected to do in high school."
McGuire said while reading is important in education, it is not necessarily what makes students fail in college.
"It is unfortunate that students don't come to college with better reading skills," McGuire said. "Although it would be desirable for students to read at a higher level, that is not an obstacle for students to be successful in college. But our goal should be to help students develop analytical and critical skills they need."
No comments:
Post a Comment