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AntZ
02-22-2011, 04:06 PM
Keep this in mind next time you see video of those assholes protesting and whining about their pay and pensions!

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Two-Thirds of Wisconsin Public-School 8th Graders Can’t Read Proficiently—Despite Highest Per Pupil Spending in Midwest


Tuesday, February 22, 2011
By Terence P. Jeffrey



(CNSNews.com) - Two-thirds of the eighth graders in Wisconsin public schools cannot read proficiently according to the U.S. Department of Education, despite the fact that Wisconsin spends more per pupil in its public schools than any other state in the Midwest.

In the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests administered by the U.S. Department of Education in 2009—the latest year available—only 32 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned a “proficient” rating while another 2 percent earned an “advanced” rating. The other 66 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned ratings below “proficient,” including 44 percent who earned a rating of “basic” and 22 percent who earned a rating of “below basic.”

The test also showed that the reading abilities of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders had not improved at all between 1998 and 2009 despite a significant inflation-adjusted increase in the amount of money Wisconsin public schools spent per pupil each year.

In 1998, according to the U.S. Department of Education, Wisconsin public school eighth graders scored an average of 266 out of 500 on the NAEP reading test. In 2009, Wisconsin public school eighth graders once again scored an average of 266 out of 500 on the NAEP reading test. Meanwhile, Wisconsin public schools increased their per pupil expenditures from $4,956 per pupil in 1998 to 10,791 per pupil in 2008. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator the $4,956 Wisconsin spent per pupil in 1998 dollars equaled $6,546 in 2008 dollars. That means that from 1998 to 2008, Wisconsin public schools increased their per pupil spending by $4,245 in real terms yet did not add a single point to the reading scores of their eighth graders and still could lift only one-third of their eighth graders to at least a “proficient” level in reading.

The $10,791 that Wisconsin spent per pupil in its public elementary and secondary schools in fiscal year 2008 was more than any other state in the Midwest.

Neighboring Illinois spent $10,353 per student in 2008, Minnesota spent $10,048 per student; Iowa spent $9,520 per student. Among Midwest states, Nebraska was second to Wisconsin in per pupil spending in its public schools, spending $10,565 per student.

Of these nearby states, only Minnesota did slightly better teaching reading to its public school students. In 2009, 39 percent of eighth graders in Minnesota public schools earned a rating of “proficient” or better in reading, and the average eighth grade reading score in the state was 270 out of 500.

In Illinois, only 32 percent of eighth graders earned a rating of “proficient” or better in reading, and the average eighth grade reading score was 265 out of 500. In Iowa, only 32 percent of eighth graders earned a rating of “proficient” or better in reading, and the average reading score was 265 out of 500. In Nebraska, only 35 percent of eighth graders earned a rating of “proficient” or better in their public schools, and the average reading score was 267 out of 500.

Nationwide, only 30 percent of public school eighth graders earned a rating of “proficient” or better in reading, and the average reading score on the NAEP test was 262 out of 500.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress explains its student rating system as follows: “Basic denotes partial mastery of prerequisite knowledge and skills that are fundamental for proficient work at each grade. Proficient represents solid academic performance. Students reaching this level have demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter. Advanced represents superior performance.”

In other words, despite the $10,791 that taxpayers were paying to educate students in Wisconsin public schools, two-thirds of eighth graders in those schools showed at best only a “partial mastery of prerequisite knowledge and skills that are fundamental for proficient work” at that grade level.

In fiscal 2008, the federal government provided $669.6 million in subsidies to the public schools in Wisconsin.


http://cnsnews.com/news/article/two-thirds-wisconsin-public-school-8th-g

Southern Belle
02-22-2011, 04:16 PM
Wow!

Hal-9000
02-22-2011, 06:36 PM
this is disturbing...

"Nationwide, only 30 percent of public school eighth graders earned a rating of “proficient” or better in reading, and the average reading score on the NAEP test was 262 out of 500."


I wonder if more schools moving towards using computers and the internet in classrooms has anything to do with this? My niece (who's smart as a whip) had been schooled using pc's in the classrooms.She says if the network is down, they don't read and a lot of students have shortened attention spans....these are her observations/comments to me.

Godfather
02-22-2011, 07:25 PM
Strange trends, increased spending without results....

That is disturbing :wha:

I remember they gave us these test in the 8th grade that gauged our levels of reading, writing and math. I think I tested 4 grades higher than the grade I was in which I was proud of at the time, but that wasn't really abnormal amongst friends. The school on the whole was a bit above average so teachers were happy...

...except for the native kids. For whatever reason when we got the marks back their averages were set apart from ours (probably because the 70 or so of them would drag the entire average down which administration didn't want). They were pretty atrocious, even in the same school, same classrooms, as us :wha: Really sad... their dropout rates were miserable.

Godfather
02-22-2011, 07:27 PM
8-[

(it says "scores worse in math (math in tiny writting)
http://i54.tinypic.com/1zlamvc.png

Deepsepia
02-22-2011, 07:33 PM
Painfully, the problem with US schools isn't spending. Places that spend fortunes of money per pupil do very badly (Washington DC spends the most)

Places that don't spend much money do very well (the Dakotas)

The variable is culture and parents.

Schools can't fix a broken home with marginally literate parents. And even lousy schools can't impair a child with a mom and dad who both can read and value education.

When you look at cultures with over-achieving kids, its not the schools -- its the moms. Japan, China, India, Korea -- what do they have in common? Moms hovering over their kids, making sure homework gets done perfectly.

Goofy
02-22-2011, 07:37 PM
When you look at cultures with over-achieving kids, its not the schools -- its the moms. Japan, China, India, Korea -- what do they have in common? Moms hovering over their kids, making sure homework gets done perfectly.

I totally agree :thumbsup:

Hal-9000
02-22-2011, 07:47 PM
When we entered high school (1981-83) we had a large meeting with all of the kids in the three grades.

We were told that prior graduating classes out of high school entering college, had abysmal reading and writing skills.Our curriculums were adjusted to focus on Language Arts/Literature/English with a strong portion of it on essay writing.

Not that my posting here demonstrates any of that :lol:...I enjoyed it because I had been reading on my own since a young age and had little trouble with spelling, sentence structure etc

Godfather
02-22-2011, 07:50 PM
When you look at cultures with over-achieving kids, its not the schools -- its the moms. Japan, China, India, Korea -- what do they have in common? Moms hovering over their kids, making sure homework gets done perfectly.

I totally agree... though I think 'overachieving' is an understatement with a lot of those cultures.

I know and tutored a few Asian families who were out of bed at 5am starting homework and sports, and not to bed until well after dinner with homework and tutoring (for classes these kids were already acing). There was love there I'm sure, but it was too much pressure... too much based on performance alone. I'm not sure these kids are really enjoying childhood.

There has to be a happy medium

I did very well in school and had a mom who would bring me tea and pat me on the head after a rough day... that was hugely helpful. And when I asked for help with homework, it was always there but my Mom never forced crazy expectations on me.

Goofy
02-22-2011, 07:52 PM
Not that my posting here demonstrates any of that :lol:

I disagree with that actually mate, you're one of only a few people on this forum (or any other i've been on) who can take the time to write a very large post and make it interesting reading........ i tend to get bored after typing a couple of lines :oops:

Hal-9000
02-22-2011, 07:55 PM
:oops: thanks Goof...my posts are atrocious if I read them back to myself.I can write a fairly good story however given some time...

my entries here read like the deranged ramblings of a lunatic ADD mind going through crack withdrawl



EDITS BALANCE OF POST FOR BREVITY'S SAKE :lol:

Goofy
02-22-2011, 07:56 PM
my entries here read like the deranged ramblings of a lunatic ADD mind going through crack withdrawl


Thats what makes them interesting :dance:

Hal-9000
02-22-2011, 07:57 PM
:lol: :lol:

just saw the dumb icon thread tag...

Godfather
02-22-2011, 08:01 PM
I disagree with that actually mate, you're one of only a few people on this forum (or any other i've been on) who can take the time to write a very large post and make it interesting reading........ i tend to get bored after typing a couple of lines :oops:

"I have made this letter longer, because I have not had the time to make it shorter." - Blaise Pascal

:lol: So true

Hal-9000
02-22-2011, 08:09 PM
"I have made this letter longer, because I have not had the time to make it shorter." - Blaise Pascal

:lol: So true

You and I have similar posting habits at times.....18 paragraphs of BLURT!....to say that we're pissed off with the weather :lol:

Hal-9000
02-22-2011, 08:11 PM
You know who's posts I really enjoy reading? JoeyB's.

I swear the guy should have a weekly column and give his opinion on...anything :lol:
He may not be everyone's cup of tea, yet I find there's a lot of thought and humor
in his lines

Godfather
02-22-2011, 09:22 PM
You and I have similar posting habits at times.....18 paragraphs of BLURT!....to say that we're pissed off with the weather :lol:

:lol: So true

Then I have an equally bad habit of editing things I write for another 10 minutes :lol: I don't know what my problem is..

Hal-9000
02-22-2011, 09:25 PM
:lol: So true

Then I have an equally bad habit of editing things I write for another 10 minutes :lol: I don't know what my problem is..

A post must be shaped, encouraged....molded if you will.Each post has a personality and must be crafted individually to suit the mood...nay... the poster's mood to whom you are responding.







listen to this horseshit :lol:

Godfather
02-22-2011, 09:25 PM
You know who's posts I really enjoy reading? JoeyB's.

I swear the guy should have a weekly column and give his opinion on...anything :lol:
He may not be everyone's cup of tea, yet I find there's a lot of thought and humor
in his lines


He was really interesting, made me laugh a lot. Sensitive guy, but his posts were often nothing short of brilliant. He had some very interesting thoughts and quips no doubt, and his rants were some of the best.

On AS he got carried away though. A third of the threads in General Chat were started by him, and were all along the lines of "Hey look at this [me] or else ___."

I defended him from the get go, but it got old and wore thin even on me...

Hal-9000
02-22-2011, 09:41 PM
Yes I think we all want others to read our posts, that's why we put them up there for the world to see.For Joe, the word diva comes to mind :lol:

Arkady Renko
02-23-2011, 11:58 AM
Painfully, the problem with US schools isn't spending. Places that spend fortunes of money per pupil do very badly (Washington DC spends the most)

Places that don't spend much money do very well (the Dakotas)

The variable is culture and parents.

Schools can't fix a broken home with marginally literate parents. And even lousy schools can't impair a child with a mom and dad who both can read and value education.

When you look at cultures with over-achieving kids, its not the schools -- its the moms. Japan, China, India, Korea -- what do they have in common? Moms hovering over their kids, making sure homework gets done perfectly.

Yeah, that's the key factor. A lot of people in the so called western world believe that they have no responsibility in the education of their children, because that's what kindergarten and schools are for, right? Why be the bad parent who sets limits and sees to it that stuff gets done? Let the kindergarten folks and the teachers bite that bullet.

When the embarrassing results of the PISA tests were published over here and it became apprent that our education system was second class in many aspects, a lot of people blamed the government for not spending enough and the teachers for not working hard enough, hardly anyone took into consideration that maybe too many parents leave their kids to their own devices with a game console or the tube.