Feb
13
68% Of US Fourth Grade Children Read Poorly, National Tests Show – Repeating Grade Does Not Help – Mediocre Teachers Deliver Bad Education
By Paolo von Schirach
February 13, 2012
WASHINGTON – The latest and quite distressing news about US public education is that Colorado legislators, on a bipartisan basis, want to pass a law whereby third graders who are below basic in reading skills would have to do the year again. Apparently, similar laws are being considered also in Iowa, New Mexico and Tennessee; while Florida, Illinois and other states have already enacted provisions allowing schools to retain third graders who cannot read.
Children cannot read
That said, there seems to be a bit of controversy as to whether repeating the grade is really helpful or unhelpful. Some education experts argue that it does not help. Therefore you may as well pass the children who cannot read to the next grade.
In all this I see two major problems, both serious. The first one is that most American children cannot read at the level supposed to be normal for their age. The second one is that keeping them an extra year in third grade does not seem to help. Both issues are really distressing. Taken together, they mean that A) children do not learn much in school; B) even staying in school longer does not help much. (You see how B is really dependent on A: you repeat the grade, you stay the same).
68% of US children have basic or below basic reading abilities
But let’s look at the first problem: the staggering number of children who cannot read in America. Data compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics and reported by The Wall Street Journal in an article on this very topic indicate that only 7% of American fourth graders have achieved an “advanced” level of reading ability. So, these are the super smart kids: only 7%. Then there are the good ones, 25% of the total, who are deemed to be “proficient“. And the we fall off the cliff. 34% of US kids have only “basic” reading ability and an astonishing 34% are “below basic“.
I do not know what “basic” and “below basic” really means in practical terms. But I assume it means that these kids do not know how to read or can barely read. Now, that is 68% of the student population. There you have it America: 2/3 of your children start out with something that I would call basic illiteracy.
Big socio-economic divide starts here: reading abilities
And here you have the beginning of future and real class distinctions in America based on academic achievement, or lack thereof. Assuming that in many cases this reading ability gap will persist and that it will extend to lack of proficiency in other subjects, just on the basis of how well or how poorly kids do on these these readings test we can make predictions as to where most of them will end up. Those in the blessed 7% “advanced” group will probably end up in a good school, and then on to an Ivy League education or equivalent. Those in the “proficient” 25% group will probably do alright. So, that is about 1/3 of the total student population.
But the remaining 68% will not do well. Most likely they will have a comparatively inferior education. Many of them will not finish high school and, having really few marketable skills, they will end up at the bottom of society, performing low skills or menial jobs. Sadly, a good number of them will get in trouble and end up in jail.
May be this too harsh. May be some kids will catch up later. May be some are late bloomers, who knows. But this inability to read, based on national standards certainly not designed using geniuses as the unreachable model, should be looked as a calamity. How can this country tolerate the fact that so many children attending public schools learn so little?
Repeating the grade does not help? This means that schools do not teach
And this leads me to the second point. I find it astonishing that some argue that having children repeat third grade does not really help much because their reading levels do not improve. Wait a minute, if this is so, then what do children do in school? If repeating the grade does not help, it means that they get very little help from their teachers. And this leads me to the most depressing conclusion: most children get their real education at home. This is just a guess; but I suspect it to be close to the truth.
Proficient kids have well educated parents
My hunch is that, on average, children do not learn that much in public schools. Therefore, kids who read very well are probably from privileged families, with well educated parents who have books at home and who most likely teach their children how to read or who can at least help them a lot at home. Those who cannot read or read poorly are not so lucky. They do not get help at home, because their parents are not well educated and so there are no adults who will read with them.
Public education systemic failure
And here we get to the most unpleasant conclusion. Public schools do not work as intended. In theory, they are supposed to be the equalizers. Good public schools should be the ladders that will allow children of poor people to climb out of poverty by acquiring the knowledge and the skills to get ahead in the world. If we say that repeating a grade is not helpful, I conclude that this is because of bad schools and inferior teachers. And this is the real problem.
Effective schools are about good teachers
Yes, America, schools are about good teachers who teach well and with passion. If we do not remedy this disaster of inferior public education delivered by mediocre to bad teachers, the US, much like European medieval societies, will become a country in which “birth is destiny“, meaning that the socio-economic environment you are born into is the strongest predictor of how well you will do in life. So much for American “exceptionalism” based on the fact that this was supposed to be an “opportunity society“.
I am not sure what will happen to the legislation proposed in Colorado and in other states aimed at improving children reading proficiency. But I am sure that without good teachers you can have kids repeat grades all you want. They will not learn much, because they are not taught much.
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