Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Educational System Gets a D

Last month the ACT released its annual report, the Condition of College and Career Readiness, and the news is not good. As a whole the nation did not do very well, as the percentage of students meeting college-ready benchmarks (CRB) dropped slightly in all subjects tested, specifically English, science, reading , and math. More disturbing in this age of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) is that math readiness was at a 14 year low indicating that only 40% of 2018 graduates could succeed in a first year college algebra class! This is down from 46% in 2012. (National grade = ‘C’) What makes these numbers even worse is that the graduating students who took this test made up only approximately 60% of the graduating class, and in some states only those students who were applying to higher tier colleges found it necessary to take the ACT. Worse yet 35% of the graduates who took the test met none of the four ACT benchmarks that determine college readiness in subject areas (up from 33% in 2017). (National grade = ‘F’) In conclusion, for the nation as a whole, the average grade would be ‘D’, as the country as a whole did not do very well, and actually appears to be regressing.

How are individual states doing? It is difficult, if not impossible to compare all of the individual states with each other. For instance on the nationwide map for 2018, California has a much higher composite ACT score (>24) than Wisconsin (20-22), but in Wisconsin all high school seniors take this test, whereas in California only 31% took the ACT, and for the most part, those students are applying to higher tier colleges.

In 2018 how did California do compared to prior years? What sort of letter grade, in general, should we give the California Educational System.
From 2013-2017, in general students in California did somewhat better in meeting ACT CRB in Reading and Science, but did worse in Math. (Here the grade appears to be a ‘C’.) However even though there appears to be an improvement in Science, only 54% of graduates taking physics in high school met the ACT CRB! – i.e. only 54% were college ready in physics! Likewise only 56% of those who had 3 or more years of high school math met the benchmark – only 56% of this select group were college ready in math! (Grade = ‘D’)
 If we then look at these same CRB in that select group of graduating seniors in California, the findings are depressing as 20% of that select group who took the ACT failed to achieve a CRB in any of the four tested subjects( 0/4!). (Here I give the California Educational System a grade of ‘F’, as it has apparently failed 1/5 (20%) of those students who took the ACT.)
When we look at different racial subgroups within California, the results are equally depressing, as there is a wide disparity in CRB. White/Asian students met CRB in 3 or 4 of these same subjects about 70% of the time (Grade =‘B+’, whereas African-American/ Hispanic students met 3 or 4 only 25% of the time! (Grade= ‘D’) In conclusion, the California Educational System gets an overall grade of ‘D‘.
We in California are spending quite a lot on education. Are we getting our money’s worth ? An overall grade of ‘D’! . . . I think not, but why not?
The bottom line is that while California is not getting its money’s worth in education, the situation is not getting any better. As usual those Democrats that run the state are either incapable of solving the problem or don’t really care, and those African-American/Hispanic students, that need education the most, are paying the price!

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