Education Law

Take that John Stossel! Some good education news!

Ok. BoardBuzz admits, we’re picking on media’s most vocal school-basher. But educators should be forgiven if they gloat over these results: at every age, by every student group, in both reading and math, American schoolkids are outperforming their counterparts from 30 years ago. Moreover, our 9- and 13-year olds are scoring at their highest levels since scores have been collected.

According to NAEP’s Long-Term Trends released today, reading and math scores also increased by statistically significant margins in the four years between 2004 and 2008, with the one exception of 17-year-olds in math. In addition to higher student performance, the report shows dramatic increases in the numbers of students taking high-level math. Nearly two-thirds of 13-year-olds (62%) were taking algebra or pre-algebra compared to one-third in 1986. And a whopping 72% of 17-year-olds had taken courses Algebra II and higher, up from 47% in 1978.

The folks at Education Week had a markedly different take on the matter.

For more information, be sure to check out the Center for Public Education.  You can also participate in an online discussion hosted by NCES at 2:00 p.m. ET.  Click here to submit your question in advance and participate in the chat.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on April 28, 2009 (boomark / email).