How is it happening that high school students arrive unable to read or do basic math?

Question

Every year, more and more students arrive at my high school reading on a 4th grade level and only being able to handle 3rd grade math. I don't get it-our state emphasizes these subjects in the lower grades and has lots of standardized tests, but somehow I keep getting new ninth graders who can't spell, have no concept of grammar, don't know their multiplication tables and have very limited vocabularies! Any ideas out there?

Answer 1

I expected this to happen with, "No Child Left Behind." The way it is set up, ALL students must be at the same (minimum) level at the same time - in several years. So what incentive do schools have in the meantime to retain them, when the standards are getting more unreasonable every year? Therefore - some kids would be shuttled through the system just to prevent the schools from being measured more severely the next year.

We need to measure the progress of every child - starting with their current ability. We must not insist they function at the same level of every other child in their current grade. That would do a lot to;

1. Ensure ALL children are making reasonable progress every year.
2. Remove the fear of schools failing when all kids can't be at the same level.

It is unreasonable and abusive to expect a Downs child to function at the same grade level as his / her peers. (And they are part of the 100% of students who must make the minimum NCLB standard).

No teacher worth their salt would argue that every child should make progress while in their class. And a good teacher can readily prove how each and every student has made progress with them.

p.s. Our students compete very well with all children worldwide through 4th grade, so the tendency to blame elementary schools doesn't pan out with the facts. And NCLB is punishing schools who are making standards - by taking their funding away to give to poorly performing schools.

Answer 2

Look at the options for kids.

Core Plus math is replacing Traditional math, and slowly becoming a way for kids to take an "easy" math course. Those kids ultimately end up regressing in their levels of thinking.

Look at sciences. My school includes an 'integrated science' course for those that cannot handle a normal science classroom envrionment.

Look at all of these areas. We're hightening our standards, but at the same time givings kids an avenue through which they can escape being forced to learn.

So, I'm guessing on average, the intellect of these kids hasn't changed. It's just become more polarized; prepared students are advancing faster and better, and kids that lag behind are left behind, and are allowed to be such.

I have a 3.1 Grade Point Average. I excel in major subjects, and have lagged behind in some classes because I'm not a "chemistry" brain and whatnot. Still, one of our valedictorians (tied this year) has never taken an AP course or honors course, got only a marginal ACT score (25 I believe,) and will most likely get a well-padded money package going to college. Even with my 33 ACT, I cannot get any recognition at the collegiate level. I'm not trying to complain, but the fact of the matter is, whatever the case, there is always going to be a class of kids that can get by and do well on paper, but really don't have the mind or motivation to succeed.

It's a shame. As a future teacher I know I'll encounter this, and I hope I can do something to motivate kids to challenge themselves.

Answer 3

well,
I think the problem lies with the management. Most of the time students get promoted to higher class even with average marks.
the teachers try to pass the student if he is failing with few marks .

Also there is some problem with teachers too.In most of the schools teachers at junior level take their job lightly. They just do the formality of teaching. Sometime just to make their result better they pass every student.This creates problem for the student at their higher studies.They don't think that they are giving the shape to the future of the country.

Sometime student just learn the process by heart a day before the examination and jot it down during exam. But they don't know the basics behind the problem.This also creates problem at their 10.

Moreover it is seen that parents financially strong can't see their child failing and hence take up illegal method of bribe etc. to get their child promoted to higher class.this further degrade their standard of studies.

Answer 4

I don't blame the schools. My kids live in enviornments that are beyond my comprehension. I have students who move at least once a month, who have had one or both parents die before the reach the 9th grade, who exercise and learn to fight so they can stop their fathers next time they come home. Really. I'm not defending the kids, and I don't accept any of these things as excusing from them (seeing that the world only cares about results, not reasons) -but I also don't accept critisism from overblown airheads who have never taught and have no desire to dedicate their lives to something they'll probably fail at (as I will fail with many more of my students than I will help).

The main issue that I find is that the kids want to learn something, but something valuable to them... I call it Social Capitial. They memorize crazy stuff that will impress other 15 years, but could care less about what will impress me. In their worlds, there is no one who cares about math or multiplication. Even their parents care more about Chris Brown and Beyonce.

I'd love to tell you how to fix this, but I don't know. We fight, we teach, we challenge mediocrity... but in at the end of the day, at least we get to go home.

Answer 5

Personally, I feel that its the failure of the school systems and standardized testing. Most teachers are forced to teach according to what test scores are , so that the school can receive funds. I know that part of the reason that I did decently in school is not because of my teachers, but because I choose to learn. That is another problem, students don't want to learn anymore. I think its a combination of things, and all the different aspects need to be addressed, in order for things to change.

Answer 6

Well let's see...kids come on here, put on their homework and people do it for them. They don't learn that way.

Kids use their calculators to do basic math rather then memorizing math facts.

They can't read because they don't read. From the time I was in grade school I had a summer reading list with book reports. My son in his sophmore year got a summer reading list (his teacher gave him a book, was about a 6th grade reading level. (Stuck in neutral) I made him read it, no one ever checked if he read it or not, not even asked.

Can't spell, no concept of grammar? Look what you are reading here...they no longer recognize the difference between what is right or wrong.

Education is an endless process, not just a school process. We just have to convince parents and kids of this. I used money to teach my son to add and subtract and multiply. At 3, he would count out change for toll booths, he new 5,10, 15... for nickels, and 10,20,30 for dimes. He read the toll cards to figure the amount.

I taught him to cook and fractions were a piece of cake for him when he went to school. Vocabulary- unfortunately the kids speak at the level they are spoken too..my son at 5 wanted to 'negotiate' with his kindegarten teacher and in 3rd grade, while learning spelling...when he was supposed to be guessing oxygen from the letters 'oxy' shouted out oxymoron. Kids learn what they live.

My son is dyslexic, dysgraphic...he could not read in 4th grade, yet the shcool did nothing to develop his strengths...in 2nd grade he took a verbal vocabulary test, he tested at 12th grade. They said the test was flawed, his vocabulary could not be that good. At 2, he told the pediatrician that rhinos and elephants were pachyderms, he knew the gestation period of a beluga whale at 3, as well as other pertinent characteristics to differentiate it from other whales, which he knew were marine mammals. He explained to people the difference between African and Indian elephants. He understood the concepts by which hot air ballons flew.

Personally, he went to school and got stupid because of the school system. His classes were dumbed down to the lowest common denominator, he lost his desire to learn when he realized his teacher was much happier with the typical lower levels of work she received from other kids.

I worked FT and had a mentally unstable husband (soon to bet ex-husband) or I would have home schooled him, where he would have continued to learn.

End of 4th grade..1st grade reading level, I said hold him back, school said why ...he is not immature.

The whole school system needs to be re-vamped. This 2+ months off at summer has to go. Not all kids learn the same, my son at an amazing capacity to learn, yet because he was LD, this was not recognized, he was LD and learned very little not because he couldn't learn but because he learned differently.

Answer 7

And then they get out of high school, somehow get into college, and still can't construct a sentence that makes any sense, use proper punctuation or a spell-checker, and STILL can't do basic algebra. And I get stuck trying to teach them astronomy or physics when they can't rearrange a simple equation, solve for one variable, or think about a problem critically.

I think the answer lies in better primary education - so many of them have basic misconceptions about math and science, and I really think it's due to teachers on the elementary and primary levels with only basic math and science backgrounds themselves. As for reading and writing - practice makes perfect.

Answer 8

I used to teach a middle school elective course.

One student came in from Africa and it was the first time he'd EVER been inside of a school! His English vocabulary was really limited, but I had to work with him.

By school's end, he was immediately accepted into a magnet program.

However, I do understand your frustration.

Answer 9

1. Bad parenting. Fewer and fewer parents are spending quality time with their kids at home. This is causing behavioural disorders and learning problems. The Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry reported that children who experience trauma in childhood (separation from parents, divorce, abusive parents) were up to ten times more likely to experience learning disabilities than children from stable homes. On top of that, "bad parents" are more likely to use TVs and videogames as babysitters instead of spending quality time reading with their children. There's not enough time in a school day for one teacher to teach thirty kids to read- parents need to get involved and participate at home.

2. USA only - Americans ELECTED George Bush, who has funneled countless dollars in the war in Iraq. Think about what your neighbourhood school could do with that money! Schools are pressured financially to pass students who do not meet the minimum grade requirements. They simply don't have enough space to accommodate learners who need to work at different rates. Everyone is expected to learn at a uniform rate (which is, by the way, a relatively new development) and there is no room to meet the needs of learners who need more or less time.

3. Social stigma - Many parents would rather see their kid advance to the next grade rather than be held back. They are concerned that he will be ridiculed and mocked, or called "stupid", if he repeats a grade. They are not willing to consider the possibility that staying back may give that boy the solid foundation of skills he will need to succeed in every future grade.

4. Teacher training programs - Teach for America requires teachers to have FIVE WEEKS of training! Five weeks! In Canada, we need to have a four-year undergraduate degree before we can pursue a TWO-YEAR Education degree. How can you expect your child to learn when his teacher has little more than a month of training? Do you think an elementary teacher can learn to teach math, reading, science, physical education and a second language in FIVE WEEKS? I would never allow my children to be taught by someone with that little teacher training.

Answer 10

Because middle school sucks, and lowers a kid's intellect. I blame the middle school, because I hated it, and they did everything wrong, and made the kids think they were doing it right.