California’s education performance
Carl Hoelscher’s letter (“Education,” Dec. 28) claimed that “The California educational system was No. 1 in the Nation in the 1960s, it is now dead last.” I can find no information to support that claim.
He also calls for parents to take an active role in the education of their children. This is good advice, provided we’re not talking about “helicopter parenting.” Part of the educational process involves allowing children to make their own choices and letting them live with the consequences. The obvious exception to that is to step in as needed to avoid catastrophic choices, along with judicious advice from time to time.
The site “Nationsreportcard. gov” provides performance information for school grade levels through the 12th grade. California does not rank last in the nation, although our scores for “reporting” grade levels are not good for the year 2022. These reports are submitted according to subject matter.
Mathematics rankings are a case in point. The range of scores for 4th and 8th grades were set at 0-500 in 2022, but scores ranged from 0-300 for 12th grade. That difference in scoring protocols didn’t matter given that there were no 12th grade reports from any jurisdiction in the country for 2022. Reporting authorities include DC, Puerto Rico, and the Department of Defense.
California’s 2022 math score (4th grade) was 230.36, leaving us among 15 jurisdictions listed as “significantly lower” than the 234.86 national average. We are at the top of that list just below Arizona (231.98) in the “not significantly different” category. The last report to include 12th grade scores was in 2013, and 40 jurisdictions failed to report those scores, with California among them. Our rounded-up (2022) 8th grade score was 270, with the average being 273.
Part of the reason for lack of participation at all grade levels may be the political arguments over the very concept of testing. These arguments range from federal intrusion into state activity to claims of discrimination in the language used for the questions, along with arguments that testing interferes with education. Alabama, Alaska, and Utah have their own state testing programs, nor are they alone.
This subject, along with others, may come into play in political arguments and analysis for the 2024 election season. It is critically important to seek out reliable sources of information and to recognize when politicians are making broad, simplified statements concerning extraordinarily complex issues. Education is one of those complex issues. We could use the entire opinion section for this discussion and still not adequately cover the material.
Stan Conger Bishop