Page 9 - HOH

A4 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 31 OcTOber 2019

Continued from Front years.
Nationwide, a little more Students made big gains
than a third of eighth grad- in math in the 1990s and
ers are proficient in reading 2000s but have shown little
and math. About a third improvement since then.
of fourth graders are profi- Reading scores have risen
cient in reading, while more a little since the tests be-
than 40% of fourth graders gan in 1992.
are proficient in math. The decline in both read-
Education Secretary Betsy ing and math performance
DeVos said the overall na- among eighth grade stu-
tional results demonstrated dents preparing to enter
a "student achievement high school was especially
crisis" that can't be fixed by concerning, officials said.
pouring more money into "Eighth grade is a transi-
the traditional public school tional point in preparing
system. She renewed her students for success in high
pitch for expanded school school, so it is critical that
choice, including her pro- researchers further explore
posals for federal tax cred- the declines we are seeing
its for donations made to here, especially the larger,
groups offering scholarships more widespread declines
for private schools, appren- across states we are see- In this April 18, 2019 file photo, Elize'a Scott, a Key Elementary School third grade student, right,
ticeships, school vouchers ing in reading," Peggy Carr, reads under the watchful eyes of teacher Crystal McKinnis, left in Jackson, Miss.
and greater reliance on pri- associate commissioner Associated Press
vately run charter schools. of the National Center for
"Our children continue to Education Statistics, told larly disappointing results at city schools still performed era of poor performance in
fall further and further be- reporters during a confer- the lowest end of the spec- below the nation as a our nation's urban public-
hind their international ence call. trum." whole but further narrowed school systems has ended,
peers," she said in a speech Both low- and high-achiev- Officials noted gains in the gap. In the last 20 years, and it has been replaced
Wednesday. "If we em- ing eighth graders slipped Mississippi, where for the the achievement gap be- by results, accountability
brace education freedom, in reading, but the declines first time in the test's his- tween big-city schools and and promise," the council's
American students can were generally worse for tory, fourth graders scored the nation has narrowed by executive director, Michael
achieve. American stu- lower-performing students. above the national aver- about 50% in reading and Casserly, said in a news re-
dents can compete." Daniel Willingham, a pro- age in math and at the na- math, the Council of the lease.The results are a par-
In Washington, schools fessor of psychology at the tional average in reading. Great City Schools said. The ticularly welcome victory
Chancellor Lewis Ferebee University of Virginia, said The state remained behind schools are now about five for Washington, D.C., pub-
credited the improved that it's hard to find a co- national averages in eighth to eight points below na- lic schools, which endured
performance by the city's herent story across differ- grade but continued to im- tional averages on NAEP's a string of high-profile scan-
students to a number of ent state and local school prove in math and held its 500-point scale. "We still dals at the high school level
factors, including the 2008 districts, but that he hoped ground in reading despite have more to do, but the last year.q
institution of universal free the results would "spur us to nationwide losses.
pre-K schooling for 3- and do something a little more "Our achievement is at an
4-year-olds living in D.C. vigorous." all-time high in Mississippi,"
That first crop of Washing- "We've just absolutely said state Superintendent
ton preschoolers to benefit stalled," Willingham said. Carey Wright.
from the program would One theory is that de- The state has been among
be in high school now, Fe- creased performance is a a number with a heavy fo-
rebee said. residue of economic de- cus on improving early lit-
"Many of our students are cline and spending cuts eracy, but Wright said Mis-
getting a strong start in their by school districts. Michael sissippi also has devoted
learning," said Ferebee, Petrilli, president of edu- resources to helping teach-
who also credited Wash- cation reform group the ers improve math instruc-
ington's commitment to Thomas Fordham Institute, tion after it adopted new
comparatively high teach- has pointed to data show- standards.
er salaries that "allow us to ing that performance has "When you improve kids'
be competitive at a time risen and fallen on the test reading ability, it's not sur-
when there's a nationwide in the past in sync with the prising that kids' math abil-
shortage of good teach- economy. ity falls in line," Wright said.
ers." "What we saw is that great The nation's large-city pub-
The nationwide test is given calamity had lingering im- lic schools, which educate
to a random sampling of pacts," Petrilli said. He said more poor students and
students in the fourth and that could also be why English language learners,
eighth grades every two "we'd be seeing particu- also saw good news. Big-