There is a crisis in elementary education. Far too many students are unable to read at grade level. Consider this piece by Hannah Schmid at Illinois Policy:
There is an early literacy crisis nationally, and students’ futures are at risk when they are already behind in fourth grade.
In Illinois, only one-third of fourth-grade students met or exceeded reading proficiency standards on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Every two years, fourth and eighth grade students across 50 states and District of Columbia take the national reading exam. According to the Nation’s Report Card, it is “the only assessment that allows comparison of results from one state with another, or with results for the rest of the nation.”
Illinois is one of 35 states and the DC in which just one-in-three (or fewer) fourth grade students met or exceeded reading standards in 2022.
Despite a smaller decline in proficiency following the pandemic compared to some other states, Illinois’ early literacy rate is the same as it was 12 years ago, meaning increases in education spending have failed to improve the literacy rate.
Research has pinpointed third grade as a critical reading milestone because students need to have learned to read by then or they will not be able to absorb the rest of their educations.
For more than 30 years we have been told by Republican and Democratic administrations that higher education was the key to a bright future for the United States. Judging by the above it’s no wonder that most of the employment growth over the last five years has been among immigrants. The jobs on offer either require no education or a college education. Young people educated here can’t hack it. Over that period real spending on education has nearly trebled. Here in Chicago on average a CPS teacher earns $70,000—40% more than the national average. That’s about the household income here and the CTU is angling for more.
My question is what’s the resolution? If young Americans aren’t prepared for college work, what good is college to them? Spending more seems to accomplish little.
I spent 5ish years in Chicago suburb public schools. Before, and after, I was in TN. I went to college in CO. Moved around a bunch.
My point is that reading was easy for me regardless of the public school. As I’ve aged, and dealt with blood clots in the brain and cataracts, I’ve come to realize that maybe it is not just my brain, but also my optic sensors. And I wonder if we don’t pay enough attention to the physical issues that may be affecting _kids the days_.
Much of the problem resides in the teachers themselves. They are forever chasing after new manias of how to teach things, like “look and say.” Phonics works, but it is not the new thing, so it is rejected.
Teachers are recruited from the stupidest of the incoming freshmen, and are walked through 4 years of twaddle before being unleashed on children. One good start would be to eliminate colleges of education. Insist that every candidate for a teaching career first have an undergraduate degree in a real discipline, like mathematics or history, no X studies crap. Whatever teaching techniques might be needed can be taught in one or two semesters, including some time in actual classrooms.
The other problem is that the ideologues who control our schools refuse to recognize racial differences in learning, or even that races exist. The current wave of immigration is coming from countries notable for poor education and economics, and the few children in the wave likely have no English skills nor any significant education. Schools that cannot help native born American children have no hope of teaching immigrant children.
It would be interesting to compare US schools of a hundred years ago that taught and acculturated millions of immigrant children from Europe. What did those teachers do?
I am not really seeing a crisis here. Test scores are down a bit after the pandemic in every state in the country but that is improving. Long term, again using test scores, we have seen slow but gradual improvement in most numbers, with some ups and downs. At worst, they have been flat. We have always performed poorly in comparison to other first world countries in international test scores. There are exceptions with states like Massachusetts and New Jersey performing well by international standards.
However, if you want to concentrate on results, our education system have turned out the people who have given us the best economy in the world for an awful long time. During that same time period other countries sent their kids to our schools to get what they perceived as the best education (and to make friends with the rich kids).
Now, if you want to complain about spending that’s a separate issue. That’s largely controlled by local schools and governments.
Also, just a note, I think Camarota is pretty biased against immigration. Look at his claim about prime age native LFPR where he claims it’s low compared with other peak business cycles. I pulled it up and it actually looks like the 25-54 LFPR is the highest it has been since about 2002, higher by far than during the Trump years which some people think are the best years we ever had for the economy and a time when illegal immigration was supposedly low. (I used BLS numbers.) I looked at both men and women. He looked only at men.
Steve
There are a few critical ages, but I do not recall them, exactly. I think birth to 2 years is one period. I think 3rd grade was another, but I forgot the rest. The human brain is truly fascinating.
I suspect part of the problem is pre-K and pre-pre-K. Children are not able to learn “reading, writing, and arithmetic” at those ages, actually kindergarten either.
My mother taught kindergarten for 40 years and then, pre-K for another 10. She explained that the reason for fat pencils and wide spaced lines is because young children do not have the necessary motor skills for proper writing.
If they are taught wrong initially, they need to be untaught, and then re-taught correctly. By that time, they are behind, and most will never be able to catch up. (This pertained to writing, specifically.)
Of course, I could be wrong. In kindergarten, we learned the alphabet, not to eat the paste, colored, and played outside. That might explain why I am not quite as bright as today’s young folks.
There’s no crisis here, with our economy we can attract all the foreign educated skilled workers and managers we need.
Most successful American born POC will find careers in advertising and entertainment with the remaining remnants of legacy Americans supported by social programs and mollified by various approved media outlets and games. Or for those not already comfortable with social decay you could check out school choice vouchers.
Honestly think that’s a dead end as teachers unions power is almost absolute and it’s life partner, the democrat political class has complete control over the process.
Of note, BLS says median high school teacher pay in the US is $65,000. For kindergarten teachers and elementary it’s about $63,000. 40% less than 70k is 48k so that’s quite a difference as per BLS numbers CPS teachers are making just a bit above average. As an aside, I was surprised to see that estimates of teacher pay are given by multiple sources with a very wide range. The NEA says average pay is about $70k while another source, Talent.com, says it’s $42k or $20/hour.
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/high-school-teachers.htm
Steve
Also, link to Harvard-Stanford report. Appendix A-1 shows NAEP scores going back to 1990 and shows our steady improvement, especially in math. Lots of detail if you are interested in efforts on recovery from pandemic effects. We arent back to 2019 levels yet but the one year improvement was pretty remarkable, twice the average improvement of the last 30 years.
https://educationrecoveryscorecard.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/ERS-Report-Final-1.31.pdf
Steve
“…40% less than 70k is 48k…”
Actually, I think the figure is $50k x 140% = $70k. That is, $50K. Or, alternatively, 60% of $70 is $42K. Fun with numbers, and what you use as a basis. Maybe new math…..
In any event, gross, peanut butter-like statistics are useless. NYC or Chicago teachers, or say Naperville North/New Trier teachers, aren’t going to have the same salary as, oh, I don’t know, Springfield, OH teachers. Nor are testing results in different venues going to be the same.
So to Dave’s query, you have to have a view on causes before you can provide prescriptions. I’m in the camp that says the two bad actors are the teacher unions leadership, and parents. And as long as the Democrats are so reliant on the reliable voting bloc of the teachers nothing will change there. And parents? This is a well worn topic. Good ones, and bad ones. Situational. The travesty that is the urban black community (say, on Chicago’s west and south sides) started with The Great Society programs. Government is no substitute for parents. But those are enshrined. And yet, the vast majority of parents in places like that simply want safe, competent education. And no watered down testing. I could go on. In Naples, FL some of the most affluent people in America are horrible, and absent, parents.
You can’t change the human condition. But you don’t have to make it easier.
Dave asks “so what good is college?” Thats right. No good, if you are unprepared. And yet who is it that subsidizes colleges? Government. Who then wants to throw the associated debt onto the taxpayer? Joe and Kamala. And who is it that benefits most? Academia. Any wonder they are 95% Democrats?
I see steve is doing contortions to exonerate public education, no doubt because he knows this is a government failure. All you can do is shake your head.
Once again, as is nearly always true with you guys, your claims are evidence free when there is evidence available.
On the math you are correct. I almost went back and corrected it but didnt seem worth over 2k.
Steve
” Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. ”
Those are the 5 states where teachers are not unionized. Note that all of them do worse than Illinois in the report Dave’s author cites.
Steve