News

Public Schools Failing Our Children: Majority Of 8th Graders Are Not Proficient In Reading And Math

The National Assessment of Educational Progress released a report revealing that approximately two-thirds of eighth graders in American public schools were not proficient in math and reading last year.

The report was released by the U.S. Department of Education and it revealed that 65% of eighth graders in America’s public schools were not proficient in reading and 67% of the children were not proficient in math.

The report also revealed that public schools in urban districts have significantly worse results.

CNS News reported the following:

  • Only 5 percent of Detroit public-school eighth graders were proficient or better in math. Only 7 percent were proficient or better in reading.
  • In the Cleveland public schools, only 11 percent of eighth graders were proficient or better in math and only 10 percent were proficient or better in reading.
  • In the Baltimore public schools, only 11 percent were proficient or better in math and only 13 percent were proficient or better in reading.

CNS News carefully noted that the Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics describes proficiency in math for eighth graders as being able to “understand the connections between fractions, percents, decimals, and other mathematical topics such as algebra and functions. Students at this level are expected to have a thorough understanding of Basic level arithmetic operations—an understanding sufficient for problem-solving in practical situations.

In regards to the children’s reading skills, the NCES defines proficiency in reading for eighth graders as being able to “provide relevant information and summarize main ideas and themes. They should be able to make and support inferences about a text, connect parts of a text, and analyze text features. Students performing at this level should also be able to fully substantiate judgments about content and presentation of content.

Seems like the U.S. educational system is failing our children, both in terms of education and morality. The system once charged with educating and encouraging free thought is now about indoctrination.

And just like many times before, “Insufficient Funding” will be declared as the ‘obvious’ reason these kids are failing, but no matter how much you fund a failing system it will never produce the results you are looking for. Public schools don’t seem to realize this.

Technology and alternative learning methods are slowly making many traditional schooling methods increasingly irrelevant. Our educational system needs to be upgraded.

In our opinion, maybe schools should care more about the actual learning process and not just about passing. Things would probably be different then.

The Latest

To Top