Nation's Report Card Shows Drops in Science, Math and Reading

Posted4 months agoActive4 months ago

cmriversepi

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EducationStandardized TestingUs Politics

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The Nation's Report Card shows declines in US students' science, math, and reading scores, sparking debate about the causes and responsibility, with some commenters blaming teachers unions and others criticizing the focus on test scores.

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Discussion (6 comments)

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tyleo

4 months ago

2 replies

There’s a dead comment by oldpersonintx which is a bit negative. I can’t comment on it but I want to reiterate the argument with more positivity because I believe there is a kernel of truth.

At least part of the decline of US education has been caused by pandering to unions. As a specific example teachers unions were against in-person learning during COVID even when parents were actively observing bad outcomes for their children.

In the interest of improving education the Democratic Party partnered with teachers decades ago. There were real improvements during this period. More recently though I believe the party has become captured by teachers more than accountable for outcomes.

Teachers know the most here and they deserve to be a big voice, but they aren’t the only voice. Frankly parents also aren’t the be-all-end-all here. I believe the best way to improve outcomes would be more cooperation between both groups instead of devolving into us-vs-then dynamics.

braebo

4 months ago

It was also everyone’s first global pandemic emergency so we can cut teachers some slack for not wanting to die for 40k USD. When schools go without funding and we’re devoid of regulation in industries like tech, and the cost of basics like a good school and healthy food becoming unaffordable for many parents, I feel like we have plenty of reasons to explore before we blame the people doing gods work for peanuts.

aredox

4 months ago

>As a specific example teachers unions were against in-person learning during COVID even when parents were actively observing bad outcomes for their children.

Schools were accelerants of COVID propagations. Kids are contagious, like with every other infectious disease. COVID infections cause statistically significant intellectual decline.

It also kills teachers.

bitlax

4 months ago

1 reply

The public school stakeholders are not trying to maximize test scores and have said as much. NPR listeners have had complete control of these systems for decades so if they'd like to focus on different metrics they have the liberty to do so.

https://www.fox5dc.com/news/fairfax-county-public-schools-su...

braebo

4 months ago

1 reply

Please help me understand what I’m supposed to take away from that article.

bitlax

4 months ago

Ok! So first, how would you summarize the piece from NPR? Who are the major players? What is the issue? What are the causes? How could the problems be solved?

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