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I don't think there are any more immigrants in Mississippi than Nebraska (could be wrong!) but poverty is probably a likely culprit...
I believe that it historically has been lower in the South and think socio-historically. With this said, I think you have to consider a lot of things in regards to the numbers. For instance, NY will be influenced by NYC schools and it higher ESL/immigrant student populations in its urban school districts. This along with other urban issues.
This is certainly going to be very regional/local, but most people in the US CAN read and the literacy rates pretty much follow income and delinquency rates. It's not surprising that students that do not attend school on a regular basis and/or are habitually in trouble with the law can't read. The trend also pretty much follows graduation rates and test scores. Places like Washington DC, one of the worst areas nationally for public schools also has 19% of the population that can't read vs places like MN, IA, etc. that top the nation in most education categories have a 6% rate. Keep in mind a good portion of that 6% will never be able to learn to read too.
Looking back at this thread, I misspoke. I should not have challenged the statement that, "Most people in the US who graduate high school have basic reading skills." I guess it depends on how you define the word "most." I think the article in the link above provides realistic statistics on literacy. It states:
You can read into these statistics whatever you want. Are the 19% of high school graduates who can't read illiterate? How does that correspond with the 14% of adults in the U.S. who can't read? Does that infer that recent high school graduates are reading at a lower level?
My experience with this comes from subbing in nine rural/small town school districts. It has been a shocking to see first hand the issues that schools are facing today. There is a tremendous effort going on in schools to help students. There is much more support then when I was in school in the 1960s and early 1970s. There are learning support teachers, Title 1 reading teachers, and learning support aides. Testing is done to determine learning disabilities. IEPs are written to provide an individual plan for students with issues. Elementary schools have guidance counselors. School districts have school psychologists. Problem students are sent to an assortment of alternative schools.
I have run into very few illiterate students, but I have run into many who struggle to read. I've taught numerous classes where we have read material aloud in class at the high school level and some struggle to read a paragraph. What many tell me is they hate to read and they don't remember what they read. I have had high school classes tell me they prefer to read an article aloud as a group, because they do not remember what they read if they read it silently.
Despite all the help students get, one of the biggest issues is a lack of motivation. Many students just don't care since they know they will be pushed to graduate while making no effort.
Last edited by villageidiot1; 03-07-2015 at 10:27 AM..
Sure, kids are graduating, but can they read??? People complain about standardized testing but the reality is, it is one way to compare schools nationally, same test, taken on the same day, same material. A lot of states are moving toward using the ACT as their graduation standard test. I think the results are more telling...
There is a major flaw in just looking at the state numbers.
For example, look at Michigan - the State of Michigan requires ALL students who will earn a diploma to take the ACT. Every student at my HS took the ACT, including the special education students. 100% of high school graduates in Michigan took the ACT and the average was 20.1.
In Delaware only 18% of high school graduates took the ACT and the average was 23.2. Does it not make sense that since Delaware doesn't require all graduating seniors to take it - the 18% of Delaware kids who do take it will be above average students applying to colleges?
How is it fair to compare the average of just college bound kids in 1 state to the average of ALL kids in another state?
There is a major flaw in just looking at the state numbers.
For example, look at Michigan - the State of Michigan requires ALL students who will earn a diploma to take the ACT. Every student at my HS took the ACT, including the special education students. 100% of high school graduates in Michigan took the ACT and the average was 20.1.
In Delaware only 18% of high school graduates took the ACT and the average was 23.2. Does it not make sense that since Delaware doesn't require all graduating seniors to take it - the 18% of Delaware kids who do take it will be above average students applying to colleges?
How is it fair to compare the average of just college bound kids in 1 state to the average of ALL kids in another state?
It isn't a flaw if you understand that those 18% of kids in Delaware are college bound, and probably top students trying to get more money. More states are moving to using the ACT for their grad standard test. I would expect to see MN's average score drop some next year because they are moving toward that this year for that reason. But, when you see states like NC and their 18% average, that's pretty sad....especially when I keep hearing how "wonderful" the schools are in NC ..or Florida...people in Florida think they have the best schools in the world...
Most of the time when I see stories about comparing schools nationally with the ACT, they justify the comparison by saying "where more than 65% or 75% or whatever students took the test"
I have three children attending the same high school I attended almost three decades ago. The rigor is much more intensive now. The homework is more voluminous. The main track for most students is a full year ahead of when I was in school (then, it was 9th-grade/algebra, 10th-grade/calculus, 11th-grade/trigonometry, 12-grade/pre-calculus - now, the main track for most students begins with geomoetry as freshmen and they wrap with calculus as seniors). Oh, and did I mention AP courses?
It's not even close - today's curricula impart significantly more knowledge to today's high school studends than those of a quarter century ago.
I have three children attending the same high school I attended almost three decades ago. The rigor is much more intensive now. The homework is more voluminous. The main track for most students is a full year ahead of when I was in school (then, it was 9th-grade/algebra, 10th-grade/calculus, 11th-grade/trigonometry, 12-grade/pre-calculus - now, the main track for most students begins with geomoetry as freshmen and they wrap with calculus as seniors). Oh, and did I mention AP courses?
It's not even close - today's curricula impart significantly more knowledge to today's high school studends than those of a quarter century ago.
It agree as well!! When we graduated from high school, the top students would get through pre-calculus. Most high schools did not even offer calculus. I graduated from a top high school, most of us went on to 4 year colleges, pretty selective colleges at that and did well and felt we were well prepared for college. Today, if students took the same course load we did (we didn't have AP classes back then), they would be pretty far behind. The top kids in our kids' high school will have moved through multi-variable calculus now. Our son is a math major in college. He tested out of 2 years of college math based on what he learned in high school.
Now, they tend to hand out A's a little too easily at many schools..but when those 4.0/4.0 students get a 22 on their ACT, colleges know better, especially the kids that might have a 3.6/4.0 at a good high school and score 33 on an ACT
There is a major flaw in just looking at the state numbers.
For example, look at Michigan - the State of Michigan requires ALL students who will earn a diploma to take the ACT. Every student at my HS took the ACT, including the special education students. 100% of high school graduates in Michigan took the ACT and the average was 20.1.
In Delaware only 18% of high school graduates took the ACT and the average was 23.2. Does it not make sense that since Delaware doesn't require all graduating seniors to take it - the 18% of Delaware kids who do take it will be above average students applying to colleges?
How is it fair to compare the average of just college bound kids in 1 state to the average of ALL kids in another state?
In Delaware 100% of the students take the SAT and since all schools in the Eastern part of the US accept the SAT, it's no wonder that only 18% of the Delaware kids take the ACT. I've found that none of my kids were eager to add one more high stakes test to their plate if they didn't have to. If a student does well on the SAT, no surprise that they didn't want to take the ACT.
Which is the same case in Michigan - 100% took the SAT but only 4% took the SAT.
In Delaware 100% of the students take the SAT and since all schools in the Eastern part of the US accept the SAT, it's no wonder that only 18% of the Delaware kids take the ACT. I've found that none of my kids were eager to add one more high stakes test to their plate if they didn't have to. If a student does well on the SAT, no surprise that they didn't want to take the ACT.
Which is the same case in Michigan - 100% took the SAT but only 4% took the SAT.
My point was that if the kids have to take the SAT, they're not going to go out of their way to take the ACT - Delaware kids. And if all the kids have to take the ACT, they're not going to go out of their way to take the SAT - Michigan kids. The only kids that are willing to take both tests are ones that have probably done some prep and expect to do well on the other test. Not that I've found that to be true, but I know that's the only reason anyone willingly takes both tests. So the kids that take ACT and the SAT are not going to be the slackers. I'm actually agreeing with you that the ones that take the ACT are the college bound kids, but I think those kids are not taking just the ACT, they're also taking the SAT.
At Shaker Heights High School in Ohio, Eileen Blattner, chairwoman of the guidance department, said that all but seven of the top 10 percent of the graduating class took both the ACT and SAT, and then took their better test once or twice more.
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Last edited by toobusytoday; 03-08-2015 at 03:52 PM..
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..or Florida...people in Florida think they have the best schools in the world...
