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Students Taking Tougher Courses, Dropout Rates Soar
PRI in the News
By: Chris Levister
3.2.2007
Black Voice News Online, Thursday, 01 March 2007
CALIFORNIA Nation’s Report Card “Sobering and Puzzling”The newly released results from the 2005, 12th grade National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) known as the "Nation's Report Card" and the 2007 California Education Report Card present a mixed picture of educational achievement for high schoolers. Overall high school achievement is stalled, the education gap between whites and low income students and students of color is widening and dropout rates are soaring.
Over a quarter of high school seniors can't read at a basic level. That's a big drop from 1992 the baseline for the tests. The results in mathematics are worse, only one in five 12th graders scored at the proficient level ready for college math. Almost half are below the basic level in science.
 Two new reports say over a quarter of high school seniors lack even basic reading skills.
"On the one hand high school students are earning more class credits, enrolling in supposedly tougher courses and earning higher grade point averages, on the other hand the reading score was the lowest since 1992." said Charles Smith director of the NAEP Governing Board which oversees the tests.
As bad as these numbers are, the data on the achievement of low-income students and students of color is even more painful and alarming.
The report card shows more than four in 10 African-American and Hispanic students fail to graduate and that overall 75 of every 100 students who enter 9th grade will make it to the 12th grade four years later.
"This is not a report card that any student would want to bring home to their parents, and it's not a report card that I am proud to deliver to the California taxpayers."
That's Lance T. Izumi, director of Education Studies at the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free market think tank based in San Francisco. Results of the 2007 California Education Report Card: Index of Leading Education Indicators are just as sobering.
PRI graded 17 aspects of California's education system, including accountability systems, test standards, graduation rates, courses and pupil funding, there were six "F's", five "D's", four "C's", one "B" and one "A".
"Accountability" received an "F", the report states under the Academic Performance Index (API) many low performing schools will take decades to raise their performance to proficient levels.
California Standards Tests also received an "F". Only four in 10 students grades two through 11 scored at or above the proficient level in English language arts and math in 2006.
Fewer students in California are taking difficult math and science courses compared to the national average and a large majority of students are not taking college preparatory courses.
There was at least one bright spot in the report. Since 1990, Black graduates have closed a 6 percentage point gap with white graduates in the percentage completing at least a midlevel curriculum.
A national education official who asked to remain anonymous claims since the inception of No Child Left Behind five years ago, schools have been jumping through hoops chasing testing dictates all the while academic achievement is going no where.
"The real question here is, is Calculus 101 as rigorous as they claim?" The course names may have changed, the GPA's may have improved but the expectations and instruction have not changed."
"This problem underscores the fact that issues of curriculum and teacher quality are more acute for students of color. For example, African-American graduates who completed Calculus perform math at the same levels as white graduates who completed just Pre-calculus or Statistics," says Kati Haycock, president of the Education Trust, a Washington think tank.
In the classroom many educators are reaching the same conclusion. Maria a Rialto high school math teacher says schools have different expectations for different groups of students.
"It's not enough to put fancy new titles on courses with weak curriculum and call them "advanced", naturally less prepared kids from lower performing schools will fall behind, thus the achievement gap widens and the dropout rate grows."
Maria says schools need to get serious about accountability. "We've got to ensure that all students have access to qualified teachers who are capable of translating advanced coursework like Calculus into academic achievement."
"High quality coursework that doesn't result in academic achievement is advanced in name only." the educator said. "Without rigorous curriculum and good teaching, the notion that high schools are improving academic achievement is mere pretense."
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