Last night I was researching for some articles to get me started on the project and I ran across this one from the Smart City Memphis Blog (smartcitymemphis.blogspot.com) entitled, "Yo! What About The Other Failing Schools?".
The first quote that struck me was this one: "to be judged as proficient in reading in Tennessee classrooms, an eighth grader has to answer only 40 percent of the questions right...Last time, we got one of our children’s report cards, that test score was a solid "F" no matter who calculated it."
It also states that the percent you need to score right to pass has also dropped from 51 percent to 40 percent in the past few years.
To pass a test not even answering half of the questions right is insane. Getting a 69 or below on test (out of a 100 percent) was failing when I was in the eighth grade. And this is the reading test. I read earlier that our math was in bad shape but it looks like reading can use some work too. Reading is a necessary skill of life, and to pass kids along when they haven't learned the skills they need at that age is crazy.
Checking out some other resources, like the Shelby County report card from the TN Department of Education website, it seems like schools really are falling over the years. The Memphis Blog also stated that "And the fact is that the board has looked the other way year after year as traditional public schools affecting the lives of tens of thousands of students fail to meet standards even as the standards themselves were being reduced." Kids' grades are getting worse and worse (according to this and that report card too) and yet they keep lowering the standards?!
It's sort of like here at U of M. They keep lowering the minimal ACT score to get in (as I heard from a professor I had last semester), but that doesn't mean the standards to stay here are lowered. If anything, the standards should be raised to get kids up to the level they need to be.
Being only 13 or 14 years old as an eighth grader, and knowing that I didn't even need to get half the answers right to pass, I doubt I would be working exceedingly hard to improve my reading abilities. That's probably the mind set of a lot of people. As long as we pass, then it's okay right?
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3 comments:
I remember seeing that article. I think I printed out along with other information. I did not read it completly, but I just saw the title and skimmed it, but I will read it. Sometimes we just got to see how and what areas schools are failing. Now I mostly see schools focusing on math and reading scores and skills. What about the other subjects?
Hey Brittney. I was wondering if you could send me your email again...i must have wrote it down wrong...thanks...
Great job!
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