- Reading scores lagging compared with math, By Sam Dillon, March 24, 2010, New York Times: “The nation’s schoolchildren have made little or no progress in reading proficiency in recent years, according to results released Wednesday from the largest nationwide reading test. The trend of sluggish achievement contrasts with dramatic gains made in mathematics during the same period. ‘The nation has done a really good job improving math skills,’ said Mark Schneider, a vice president at the American Institutes for Research and a former official at the Education Department, which oversees the test, known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress. ‘In contrast, we have made only marginal improvements in reading skills…'”
- Reading scores stalled despite ‘No Child Left Behind,’ report finds, By Nick Anderson and Bill Turque, March 24, 2010, Washington Post: “The nation’s students are mired at a basic level of reading in fourth and eighth grades, their achievement in recent years largely stagnant, according to a federal report Wednesday that suggests a dwindling academic payoff from the landmark No Child Left Behind law. But reading performance has climbed in D.C. elementary schools, a significant counterpoint to the national trend, even though the city’s scores remain far below average. The report from the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that fourth-grade reading scores stalled after the law took effect in 2002, rose modestly in 2007, then stalled again in 2009. Eighth-grade scores showed a slight uptick since 2007 — 1 point on a scale of 500 — but no gain over the seven-year span when President George W. Bush’s program for school reform was in high gear. Only in Kentucky did reading scores rise significantly in both grades from 2007 to 2009…”
- State’s fourth-grade readers lose ground, By Amy Hetzner, March 24, 2010, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “The latest scorecard gauging how well Wisconsin’s students read compared with their classmates in other states showed little change from previous years, but the rest of the nation’s fourth-graders have been catching up and Wisconsin’s black students now rank behind those in every other state. ‘Holding steady is not good enough,’ state schools Superintendent Tony Evers said about the results. ‘Despite increasing poverty that has a negative impact on student learning, we must do more to improve the reading achievement of all students in Wisconsin.’ Fourth-graders in Wisconsin posted an average score of 220 on the 500-point reading test administered in 2009 as part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the nation’s report card. That represented a three-point drop from two years before and translated to a 33% proficiency rate…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty