STATE'S STUDENTS NEAR BOTTOM IN MATH, READING.Byline: Susan Abram Staff Writer California's fourth- and eighth-graders continue to rank near the bottom in reading and math proficiency compared with students nationwide, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a national report card released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Education. State education officials said California's poor showing had more to do with its vast numbers of English-learning students - the most in the nation - than a faulty education system. According to The New York Times, the New York Times, The Morning daily newspaper, long the U.S. newspaper of record. From its establishment in 1851 it has aimed to avoid sensationalism and to appeal to cultured, intellectual readers. 2005 National Assessment of Education Progress is the first nationwide test to appraise appraise v. to professionally evaluate the value of property including real estate, jewelry, antique furniture, securities, or in certain cases the loss of value (or cost of replacement) due to damage. President George W. Bush's signature education law, No Child Left Behind, which has emphasized math and reading over other subjects. Nationally, the tests yielded mixed results. Math scores were up slightly, but eighth-grade reading showed a decline, and there was only modest progress toward closing the achievement gap between white and minority students, which is one of the Bush administration's primary goals. In many categories, the results indicated, the gap remains as wide as it was in the early 1990s. ``The absence of really bad news isn't the same as good news, and if you're concerned about education and closing achievement gaps, there's simply not enough good news in these national results,'' Ross Wiener, policy director of the Education Trust, told the Times. His group seeks to bring attention to the needs of poor and minority students and has consistently supported No Child Left Behind. Only fourth-graders in Mississippi and the District of Columbia District of Columbia, federal district (2000 pop. 572,059, a 5.7% decrease in population since the 1990 census), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), on the east bank of the Potomac River, coextensive with the city of Washington, D.C. (the capital of the United States). scored lower than California students in reading on the 2005 National Assessment of Education Progress. Students in just five states scored lower than California fourth-graders in math. Overall, students in Massachusetts led the nation, followed by students at schools operated by the Department of Defense, and in New Hampshire New Hampshire, one of the New England states of the NE United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts (S), Vermont, with the Connecticut R. forming the boundary (W), the Canadian province of Quebec (NW), and Maine and a short strip of the Atlantic Ocean (E). and Delaware. The worst performers were students in Alabama, California, Idaho, Arizona, Maryland, Virginia and Kentucky. ``California's poor showing ... in reading is at least in part due to the fact that California has the highest proportion of English learners in the nation and also that we assessed a higher proportion of our English learner students than any other state,'' said state Superintendent Jack O'Connell
Jack T. O'Connell (born October 8, 1951) is a California politician. in a prepared statement. California excluded just 12 percent of its English-learning students, whereas Texas excluded 37.5 percent and New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of excluded 29 percent. The NAEP NAEP National Assessment of Educational Progress NAEP National Association of Environmental Professionals NAEP National Association of Educational Progress NAEP National Agricultural Extension Policy NAEP Native American Employment Program , a comprehensive reading and math examination given to hundreds of thousands of students periodically since 1990, including in 2003 and last spring, was the first nationwide exam to allow a direct comparison between two successive test administrations since Bush signed the law in January 2002. Bush, meeting with Education Secretary Margaret Spellings at the White House on Wednesday, called the report encouraging because results show that children from low-income groups are improving and in some cases closing the gap with high-income white students. ``It shows there's an achievement gap in America that is closing,'' Bush said. Similar to 2003, test results showed that 50 percent of California's fourth-graders lacked basic reading skills. Eighth-graders slipped a percentage point in reading since 2003, with 40 percent of them demonstrating below-basic reading skills. Educators say that while the results offer a national perspective on reading and writing skills, standards for testing vary from state to state, and various factors in the way data are culled must be taken into consideration. ``The results should be taken as another indicator and measure nationwide, to see where we stand as a state,'' said Esther Wong Esther Wong was born August 13, 1917 in Shanghai, China, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1949. She was a punk rock and New Wave music promoter. She got started as the owner of "Madame Wong's" clubs, and when Polynesian bands weren't filling her restaurants, she decided to try , assistant superintendent Assistant Superintendent, or Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), was a rank used by police forces in the British Empire. It was usually the lowest rank that could be held by a European officer, most of whom joined the police at this rank. of planning, assessment and research for the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. . ``This is valid in that it gives you a national picture, but it's a snapshot in time.'' Others say the results show that while teachers are succeeding in boosting reading and math scores in grades K-3, policymakers can do more to expand programs as children get older, specifically in middle schools. ``Generally speaking, we're heading in the right direction, but we're a work in progress,'' said Judy Burton, president of the Alliance for College- Ready Public Schools, a nonprofit charter management organization that runs four public schools in low-income, overcrowded o·ver·crowd v. o·ver·crowd·ed, o·ver·crowd·ing, o·ver·crowds v.tr. To cause to be excessively crowded: a system of consolidation that only overcrowded the classrooms. communities in Los Angeles. ``We have to expand the perimeters to be able to make change, which isn't happening fast enough,'' she said. ``Across the country, as long as we have huge and impersonal middle schools, you're not going to see any improvements.'' Daily News wire services contributed to this story. Susan Abram, (818) 713-3664 susan.abram(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): box Box: THE NATION'S REPORT CARD SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), as part of the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES), collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance information in the United States; conducts studies Associated Press |
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