Much recent attention has been directed at students who are not doing well in school and toward those who have dropped out. That attention is good. In part, it is an effort to make sure that in our emphasis on "excellence" we don't forget the equity issues ... that we don't devote all our efforts to those who are taking math, science and foreign languages and neglect those who are still struggling with reading and writing. This is important not only because it serves the interests of justice but also for a practical reason: Declining numbers in our workforce mean that our economy and our standard of living will not be maintained unless we're successful with many more students.
But the focus on "at risk" often implies that the other students in the U.S. are doing well and that if minority group and economically poor children did better in school, all would be well. Unfortunately, that's just not true. If they were at the level of white or middle-class children, they -- and this nation -- would still be in deep trouble. In a way, we face just as great an educational crisis with our top and "average" students as we do with our bottom ones.
Last February, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) issued a study that presented an overview of its 20 years of student assessment in reading, mathematics and science. The study, Crossroads in American Education, gives a very good picture of our progress in education and where we stand today.
There are only two pieces of "good news" in the report. The first is that blacks and Hispanics have made great strides during the last 20 years in reading and math. Twenty years ago, minority 17-year-olds who were still in school were eight years behind white 17-year-olds. Now there are more minority students who remain in school, and the gap has narrowed to three to four years. That's still a huge gap, but it represents maJor progress.
The second piece of good news is that everybody has mastered the "basics" by now. Students can read simple material and add, subtract, multiply and divide whole numbers. From there on, there's plenty of bad news. Beyond the bare minimum basics, large percentages of students don't perform well. In fact, the gap between the actual performance of the majority of our students and the skills expected of their age and grade levels is huge.
One of the most troubling aspects of the NAEP studies summarized in this report and of an earlier Writing Report Card is the small number of graduating seniors in our high schools who are ready to do real collegelevel work or handle a good job. Remember, when we look at what 17-year-olds are able to do on these assessments, we're only testing those who are still in school. Most of the dropouts are gone, so we are testing our better, more successful students.
Try to guess what percent of these successful students can grasp a complex paragraph that begins: "In the years between 1940 and 1960, literature, the arts and culture in general became increasingly oriented to the many. In an economy of high productivity, deluging millions of people daily with movies, magazines, books and television programs, American culture achieved a degree of homogeneity never dreamed of before. However, if such cultural homogeneity spelled loss of individuality -- which it undoubtedly did -- and if mass culture was often produced primarily for profit and only secondarily for aesthetic reasons, nevertheless mass production of' art' made available to millions of people what in previous times had been the privilege only of the aristocratic few... "
What percent of 17-year-olds can do a multi-step math problem such as: "Christine borrowed $850 for one year from the Friendly Finance Company. If she paid 12% simple interest on the loan, what was the total amount she repaid?"
What percent of 17-year-olds could write a letter trying to convince a school principal to change a rule and come up with one as good as this? "I am writing this letter in order to discuss the rule of 'sharing lockers'. I know I don't like this rule and I'm sure many other people don't like it either. I think I can understand why you would like lockers to be shared. I guess the first reason would be so that new kids to the school can have an almost 'automatic friend'. Another reason could be a shortage of lockers.
"I believe this rule should be abolished because I know about myself and others who had books 'borrowed' without permission. This causes trouble when one is forced to go to class without his books. My locker partner also smokes, which is a severe problem. Our locker always smells of smoke. The locker shortage can be solved by placing a row or two of lockers in the basement.
"Thank you very much for taking your time to read this and I hope you will give it some thought."
Only 2.6% of "successful," graduating seniors could write a letter like this. Only 6% could solve this multistep problem and do basic algebra. Only 5% could grasp the above paragraph.
What does this mean? Only about 5% of our graduates leave high school prepared to do what is considered real college-level work. Compare that to the 17-24% of the high-school students in the United Kingdom, Germany and France who demonstrate that they can do work at levels higher than these in order to meet national standards for higher education. It means that the overwhelming majority of American students who go on to higher education will be learning in college what their European colleagues learned in high school or even junior high. If an inability to handle college work doesn't trouble you, then consider this NAEP finding: about half of our in-school 17-year-olds could not do math much beyond adding, subtracting and multiplying with whole numbers, and few could provide enough information in their writing exercises to communicate their ideas. In other words, most of them don't qualify for good jobs.
All this also gives us some powerful clues as to what we must do to improve our schools ... a topic I'll write about next week.