The Lead: American Kids Falling Far Behind
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Test scores for American students fell for the first time since the National Assessment of Educational Progress began tracking them in the 1970s. Before you blame the pandemic, consider that these scores are from pre-pandemic times when children were in classrooms and brace for them to be even worse next time around.
Experts say that part of this is because the lowest performers did even worse, proof that the nation continues to leave many a child behind.
Here are some lowlights: math scores for 9-year-olds dropped for the 10th and 25th percentiles and for 13-year-olds dropped for the 10th, 25th and 50th percentiles.
“All of these results are concerning,” Peggy Carr, the associate commissioner in the assessment division of the National Center for Education Statistics, said according to U.S. News and World Report. “I asked them to go back and check because I wanted to make sure [the results were accurate]. I've been reporting these results for years – for decades – and I've never reported a slide like that.”
Also alarming is the drop in the number of students who reported that they read for fun. Only 10% of 9 year-olds read for fun compared to 16% in 2020. Ten. Percent. HOW, I ask you, can a nation produce leaders that are not readers??
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