News Herald – Juliann Talkington
WHAT DO RATINGS MEAN?
Many schools tout state testing results, school grades and graduation rates. In most cases, these ratings are not correlated to national standards or international testing levels. Florida has many “A” schools, yet U.S. Department of Education (DOE) data suggests only 1% of the Florida high school seniors are advanced in math and only about 4% are advanced in reading. Also, graduation rates are not correlated to proficiency. Bay County, Florida has a graduation rate of about 82%. However, based on the DOE data, only about 19% of Florida seniors have grade level math proficiency. To make matters more challenging, state testing results are manipulated. For example, last year the state adjusted the FCAT writing scores, because the performance was low.
ARE ADVANCED PROGRAMS ADVANCED?
With 1% of the Florida high school seniors advanced in math (approximately 17 Bay County students) and only about 4% advanced in reading (approximately 68 Bay County students) enrollment in advanced classes should be low. However, there are many more students in advanced programs in Bay County. As a result, most advanced classes must be advanced in name only.
ARE COLLEGE CLASSES COLLEGE LEVEL?
To handle the influx of students with skills deficiencies, many colleges have added remedial classes. These classes are not true college level courses, but classes that cover material that should have been mastered in middle or high school. As a general rule, dual enroll classes are really middle school or high school level courses given at a college or university.
STUDENT GRADES ARE DECEPTIVE
In recent years, there has been tremendous grade inflation. As a result, an “A” no longer means a student has mastered the material. Most top universities weigh SAT or ACT scores heavily, because grades no longer accurately reflect knowledge.
JOB PREPARATION?
Employers complain that K-12 education is not providing workplace skills – strong math and science skills and communication abilities, creativity, curiosity and proficiency in top foreign languages. Few students leave high school with more than exposure to a foreign language and creativity has been culled from the school environment due to legal worries and standardized test preparation. To make matters worse, only about 1% of our high school students leave school with the necessary math and communication skills.
WHAT IS NEEDED
Given the dismal employment statistics for US high school and university graduates, parents need clear, concise information on 12th grade student performance based on DOE standards and international testing levels.