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Middle schoolers' reading and math scores plummet

axios.com

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Re: Middle schoolers' reading and math scores plummet

#11

Post by shortrounddev2 »

alach11 wrote: post #2

This is devastating. Whatever you think about covid lockdowns and remote education, it's clear that something drastic has happened. The question is... is there anything we can do to fix it? I'd hate to be a high school teacher right now. Also, I was surprised and disappointed by the lack of graphs in the article. The actual report has some illustrative ones: https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/highlights/ltt/2023/

If you think that test scores are that important, maybe. They're not reliable indicators

Re: Middle schoolers' reading and math scores plummet

#12

Post by lockhouse »

shortrounddev2 wrote: post #10
lo_zamoyski wrote: post #6

Apart from the effects of the disastrous consequences of a largely pointless lockdown, the education system is and has been failing to educate in the true sense of the word for some time I have always been dismayed by the overemphasis on funding at many educational institutions. "We need all this equipment! We need this, we need that!" As far as equipment is concerned, a good, true education is not that expensive. A…

>largely pointless lockdown I think you forgot about the whole "pandemic" thing that happened

There is a lot of evidence that the lockdowns harmed the education of a generation of children, did massive damage to the economy, permanently shuttered thousands of small businesses, and we all still got COVID.

With the benefit of hindsight, it’s really hard to argue that lockdowns were the right call.

Re: Middle schoolers' reading and math scores plummet

#13

Post by lockhouse »

lo_zamoyski wrote: post #9
rngname22 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disempower the administrators and parents that won't let teachers do their jobs. Vote for school district officials and attend meetings and question why they won't let teachers dictate policy as opposed to administrators, standards-makers, or boards that don't have teaching experience or no longer teach.

The administration today is about as untrustworthy as it gets, having become a vector of ideology. Parents are responsible for their children, and their primary teachers, not administrators, not teachers, and so they have more than just a say, but the deciding say; all other authority are deputized. I seriously doubt that parents are the primary reason for the mediocrity of education standards, but even if they were,…

Most teachers I’ve talked with wish that parents were more involved in their students education. Doing things like reading to your children starting from birth (or better yet in the womb), reviewing their homework, and discussing the importance of their grades and education in their long term success go a very long way.

Re: Middle schoolers' reading and math scores plummet

#14

Post by rngname22 »

lockhouse wrote: post #8
rngname22 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disempower the administrators and parents that won't let teachers do their jobs. Vote for school district officials and attend meetings and question why they won't let teachers dictate policy as opposed to administrators, standards-makers, or boards that don't have teaching experience or no longer teach.

Do you have an example of parents interfering in teachers ability to do their jobs?

I've read countless, I started spending some time on the /r/nursing and /r/teachers subreddits during the pandemic to understand some of how it was affecting them and you learn quickly that parents often interfere in their children's learning, whether it be preventing punishments, doing their child's homework for them, not feeding them, threatening school districts with lawsuits such that school principals and administration force teachers to acquiesce to whatever the student's parents want, getting mad if the teacher is being a better parent to the student than the parent themself etc.

Doing a search on the sub for 'parents' is a good start: https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/search/?q=parents&restrict...

Re: Middle schoolers' reading and math scores plummet

#15

Post by rngname22 »

lo_zamoyski wrote: post #9
rngname22 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disempower the administrators and parents that won't let teachers do their jobs. Vote for school district officials and attend meetings and question why they won't let teachers dictate policy as opposed to administrators, standards-makers, or boards that don't have teaching experience or no longer teach.

The administration today is about as untrustworthy as it gets, having become a vector of ideology. Parents are responsible for their children, and their primary teachers, not administrators, not teachers, and so they have more than just a say, but the deciding say; all other authority are deputized. I seriously doubt that parents are the primary reason for the mediocrity of education standards, but even if they were,…

If you'd like to hear some of what I'm referring to, check out some anecadata here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/search/?q=parents&restrict...

Re: Middle schoolers' reading and math scores plummet

#16

Post by ragequittah »

lockhouse wrote: post #12
shortrounddev2 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>largely pointless lockdown I think you forgot about the whole "pandemic" thing that happened

There is a lot of evidence that the lockdowns harmed the education of a generation of children, did massive damage to the economy, permanently shuttered thousands of small businesses, and we all still got COVID. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s really hard to argue that lockdowns were the right call.

The lockdown were to slow the curve, not prevent people getting covid. No health official in their right mind ever thought you could stop this thing after a certain threshold, we generally had lockdowns when our hospitals were extremely close to collapse. At least where I am.

Re: Middle schoolers' reading and math scores plummet

#17

Post by adammarples »

ragequittah wrote: post #16
lockhouse wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a lot of evidence that the lockdowns harmed the education of a generation of children, did massive damage to the economy, permanently shuttered thousands of small businesses, and we all still got COVID. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s really hard to argue that lockdowns were the right call.

The lockdown were to slow the curve, not prevent people getting covid. No health official in their right mind ever thought you could stop this thing after a certain threshold, we generally had lockdowns when our hospitals were extremely close to collapse. At least where I am.

Hospitals don't actually collapse though. In the worst case scenario, they start turning patients away, and some of those people die.

Re: Middle schoolers' reading and math scores plummet

#18

Post by ragequittah »

adammarples wrote: post #17
ragequittah wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lockdown were to slow the curve, not prevent people getting covid. No health official in their right mind ever thought you could stop this thing after a certain threshold, we generally had lockdowns when our hospitals were extremely close to collapse. At least where I am.

Hospitals don't actually collapse though. In the worst case scenario, they start turning patients away, and some of those people die.

Which is a disaster far beyond kids missing some school in my opinion. Kid gets in a car accident, or falls of their bike in a bad way, they're then (preventably) missing school forever.

Re: Middle schoolers' reading and math scores plummet

#19

Post by hgsgm »

Axios is an SEO hack shop that doesn't cite sources.

Where is the real article?

Edit:

Here is real article:

https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/highlights/ltt/2023/

Scores dropped more for the lower percentile performance cohorts, much more for lowest.

The article isn't really about the genius children of HN posters.

Re: Middle schoolers' reading and math scores plummet

#20

Post by lockhouse »

ragequittah wrote: post #16
lockhouse wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a lot of evidence that the lockdowns harmed the education of a generation of children, did massive damage to the economy, permanently shuttered thousands of small businesses, and we all still got COVID. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s really hard to argue that lockdowns were the right call.

The lockdown were to slow the curve, not prevent people getting covid. No health official in their right mind ever thought you could stop this thing after a certain threshold, we generally had lockdowns when our hospitals were extremely close to collapse. At least where I am.

We remember the "2 weeks" to slow the curve, but the messaging changed after 2 weeks. Schools stayed locked down long after there was any credible risk of hospitals collapsing.
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