https://www.reddit.com/r/education/comments/1ig7i3d/our_students_are_still_not_learning_back_to/
created by Particular_Reality19 on 02/02/2025 at 20:58 UTC
93 upvotes, 11 top-level comments (showing 11)
Educators did not see the rebound in student aptitude over the past year they were hoping for. Disappointed, finding that reading skills, gauged by the National Assessment of Education Progress, continued a steep decline. 33% of eighth graders tested “below basic” reading levels — the largest number for that category in the test’s three-decade history. Among fourth graders, 40% were below basic, the highest number in 20 years. Math scores showed some progress, but still below prepandemic levels. States that did show some improvement were those that adopted a set of strategies called the science of reading. These “alignearly literacy teaching with cog- nitive science research,” according to the New York Times.
Comment by SaintGalentine at 02/02/2025 at 21:43 UTC
38 upvotes, 2 direct replies
I will say Louisiana has improved in NAEP, and I think part of it is the state Education Superintendent promoting a similar mindset. Teachers shouldn't be doing the job of social workers, extremely disruptive students should be removed, suspension rates shouldn't figure into school rankings, and we shouldn't have to follow a scripted curriculum.
Comment by BlueHorse84 at 02/02/2025 at 21:07 UTC
56 upvotes, 3 direct replies
When are administrators going to wake up and smell the reality?
1. Dumbing down curriculum dumbs down students' abilities.
2. The lack of discipline and over-emphasis on "inclusion" harms all students' ability to learn. Poor behavior is distracting at best and chaotic at worst.
Comment by snipsnaps1_9 at 02/02/2025 at 21:23 UTC
7 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Just so it's mentioned - we have kids making continual progress at my school that externally isn't represented by data because the bands are too broad to pick up on it. So they have made progress but not enough yet to reach a target level. With more time, that progress should continue to where those kids meet their targets. That said, I'm not arguing for or against any particular learning system here (although I do have my beliefs about what does and doesn't work- I prefer an old-school approach). I'm really just saying that the data collection process needs refinement and the methods and length of study need to be considered in order to come to confident conclusions about what data says.
Lastly, Ed-politics are annoying around curriculum rollouts and best practice employment - specifically the aspect that is the constant change to them. I'm pretty confident nothing works over night. I'm okay with teaching a crap system as long as we can stick to it long enough and earnestly enough to explore its actual pros and cons and then do the same with an alternative. We just keep bouncing from one thing to another in pursuit of special political and professional interests.
Comment by Complete-Ad9574 at 02/02/2025 at 22:21 UTC
6 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Schools need to reconnect with parents. More of the same is not going to make things better. School can't just be about the 3rs. The kids already are feeding on these topics the most. Also, how are students who have graduated in the past 2 yrs doing in their post high school work, training or college experiences? Are they floundering more than 5 or 6 yrs ago?
I know the engineers my company have hired these past 4 yrs are not very competent. But I don't blame that on lower math or reading test scores, but lack of foundational learning about working with steel plate and designing large scale machinery. They all have book smarts but no hands-on experience. This has been a problem, in MD since the early 90s when the state required more college bound students to take more class courses and not technical courses.
Comment by Jeimuz at 02/02/2025 at 21:21 UTC
12 upvotes, 2 direct replies
It's a shame it even needs to be called "the science of reading." It's phonics. That's rote memorization like math fluency facts.
Comment by TerribleTerrier1 at 02/02/2025 at 22:17 UTC
5 upvotes, 1 direct replies
The same people that were bellyaching about Common Core being too hard, are also the ones crying about present proficiency levels.
Comment by Visual_Winter7942 at 03/02/2025 at 11:34 UTC
2 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Kids need to be failed when they do not achieve grade level. Denied advancement. Denied diplomas.
What's the point of even using the concept "grade level", when less than 50% (or worse) actually achieve it? The whole thing is a joke.
I routinely see high school "graduates" in my college classes who can't string two sentences together and think 1/2 + 1/3 = 1/5.
Comment by 10xwannabe at 02/02/2025 at 23:52 UTC
4 upvotes, 2 direct replies
As an outsider real question here... What has prevented teachers from teaching. I am in a LARGE metro area and the teachers (through the union) decide on curriculum and how they are going to teach. So when their results suck it is WITH teachers teaching.
So are other districts FORCING teachers to teach a certain curriculum?
From my experience the reason scores suck is no one teaches from textbooks AND/ OR everyone is teaching new ways of doing stuff that has been done for decades with success, i.e. "new math" techniques. My kids are always 99% in math and it is solely because I just teach them the old way to do every math skill and tell them to ignore the new ways teachers/ system teach math concepts.
Not gaslighting just interested to hear the exact ways admin makes teachers teach different. Thanks in advance.
Comment by dsillustrates at 03/02/2025 at 12:18 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
There is far too much focus in education on proving students are receiving good education and not enough focus on actually providing that education. It's become a system that is weighted towards outward appearance rather than quality first teaching
Comment by capineappleinthwpnw at 03/02/2025 at 19:30 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
The Nazis just put in a bill to shutter the department of education
Comment by No_Resolution_9252 at 02/02/2025 at 21:04 UTC
-21 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Would teaching be when teachers unions kept schools closed for a year when all empirical proof was in that it was not warranted?