Teachers Dumbing Down The Educational System: A's On The Rise In U.S. Report Cards, But SATs Flounder (drug, ratings)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Some of the best teachers I had refused to curve test scores. It was a great lesson for us all when the majority of the class would nearly fail an exam. Failure can definitely be a great teaching tool - it's too bad we don't use it enough today.
Another factor here, and I'm not sure if it's being consider, is how well students take standardized tests. I have known some incredibly intelligent people that were not great in the standardized testing environment. I don't think that fully explains any downward trends, but I wonder if there is a general decline in standardized test taking ability across the board (because of some change in the curriculum across the country)?
Status:
"I don't understand. But I don't care, so it works out."
(set 4 hours ago)
35,580 posts, read 17,916,813 times
Reputation: 50612
So a component of SATs used to be analogies. Dog is to leash as anchor is to rope. That kind of thing. Did this drop in SAT scores begin when the analogies were removed - around 2005? I can do analogies all day long, and get every single one of them correct. I wonder if others had a very similar experience with the analogies of the SAT where they knew every single answer would be correct? And so there was a lowering of the population scores after that?
The biggest part of the problem IMO is that there are kids having kids and the others who are supposed adults aren't much smarter than a kid. You have dummies raising children these days.
So a component of SATs used to be analogies. Dog is to leash as anchor is to rope. That kind of thing. Did this drop in SAT scores begin when the analogies were removed - around 2005? I can do analogies all day long, and get every single one of them correct. I wonder if others had a very similar experience with the analogies of the SAT where they knew every single answer would be correct? And so there was a lowering of the population scores after that?
No, scores were gradually declining from the mid-1980s on. What has changed, and the College Board, the Gates and Broad Foundations, among others, ignore it or demonize anyone who brings it up, is that the pool of test takers has expanded almost exponentially. Not all of those kids should be taking the SAT. My (former) school system, the second worst in the state of Maryland on all measures, requires every 11th grader to take the SAT (school system pays). That includes students in both mainstream and self-contained SPED.
What do you think the aggregate average looks like?
You inferred from the link that " high school graduates who can barely read, write and do basic math are getting A's on their grade cards. How did you manage that?
Did you miss the part that said grade inflation is most pronounced in schools with large numbers of white, wealthy students, especially in private schools.
That seems to imply that grade inflation is not as evident in public schools with large numbers of non- white, poor students who are more likely to struggle in school for a variety of reasons.
Last edited by middle-aged mom; 07-18-2017 at 01:10 PM..
No, scores were gradually declining from the mid-1980s on. What has changed, and the College Board, the Gates and Broad Foundations, among others, ignore it or demonize anyone who brings it up, is that the pool of test takers has expanded almost exponentially. Not all of those kids should be taking the SAT. My (former) school system, the second worst in the state of Maryland on all measures, requires every 11th grader to take the SAT (school system pays). That includes students in both mainstream and self-contained SPED.
What do you think the aggregate average looks like?
This explains it. I hadn't remembered it until seeing your post, but I just looked for this article I had bookmarked last year about how the ACT / SAT's are doing a 'land grab' against the Common Core tests.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
