their first draft writing, on average throughout the decade (V1, pp. 42-46; V2, pp. 40-43, V3, pp. 40-43). 19. Analyses of the fluency and maturity of students' writing did not reveal any changes over the decade for the teenagers, although there were some slight changes for 9-year-olds (V1, pp. 40-42; V2, pp. 37-39; V3, pp. 37-40). 20. At all three ages, a sizeable proportion of young people --10 to 25 percent -- display very serious problems with writing (Vi, p. 52; V2, p. 48; V3, p. 48). 21. At all three ages, about 20 to 25 percent of the students are fearful about writing, have a sense of doom about it and avoid it whenever they can (V1, pp. 142-143; V2, PP. 124-125; V3, pp. 44-45). 22. One-third of the 17-year-olds are doing some writing across all their courses -- at least one paper a week (V1, pp. 48-49). 23. Two-thirds of the 17-year-olds are not doing any appreciable writing in their classes (V1, pp. 48-49). 24. Eighty percent of the 17-year-olds spend a third or less of their English class time studying writing (V1, p. 48). 25. Sixty percent of the 17-year-olds get neither written suggestions back from the teacher on their papers nor discussions with the teacher about their work (V1, p. 49). 26. Only seven percent of the 17-year-olds appear to be receiving comprehensive writing training, i.e., training in prewriting, practice in improving papers and experience in getting good feedback from their teachers (V1, p. 49). National Assessments of Literature There have been two national literature assessments, the first in 1970-71 and the second in 1979-80, when literature was combined with reading. Much of the literature assessment involved asking students to respond in writing to various kinds of literature. The findings below are all discussed in detail in Beading Thinking and writing (RTW). Findings 27-29 are also discussed in Reading Comprehension of American Youth (RCA). Both are available through the Education Commission of the States D.stribution Center. Findings 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. When reading on their own, most teenagers read for less than one hour (RTW, p. 7; RCA, p. 5). 38. Most teenagers do no homework or less than one hour per night (RTW, p. 8; RCA, p. 6). Most teenagers watch television for more than one hour per night: half the 13-year-olds watch three hours or more, as do one-third of the 17-year-olds (RTW, p. 8; RCA, p. 4). More than a quarter of the teenagers say it is usually hard for them to finish a book they have started (RTW, p. 9). One-third of the teenagers say it is hard keeping their minds on reading (RTW, p. 9). Forty to fifty percent of the teenagers say it is hard for them to read materials with "new words" (RTW, p. 9). One-third of the teenagers have problems finishing classroom silent reading (RTW, p. 9). One-third of the teenagers say they have trouble finishing "long books" (RTW, p. 9). When asked to respond to literary works and explain their response in writing by analyzing the work, very few teenagers demonstrated strong analytic skills. In fact, only five to 10 percent of them did so. Another 35 to 50 percent showed they had an inkling of what to do; 25 to 40 percent tended to "retell" the work (summarize the plot or main idea); and 10 to 15 percent proved unable to do it at all (RTW, pp. 15-24). The percentage of 17-year-olds writing adequate analyses to substantiate their opinions about the mood of a literary work declined 10 percentage points between 1971 and 1980 (RTW, p. 23). When asked to discuss theme and main idea of literary passages, students tended most frequently to retell the story or poem (RTW, pp. 33-46). Students' written responses to literary works are heavily influenced by the work. If the characters and situations are close to the students' experience, they respond with a personal analysis, for instance. However, their personal responses were usually undeveloped, unsupported and rather notional (e.g., "he shouldn't have said that to his father," etc.). And, over the seventies, the students became even more notional and judgmental (RTW, PP. 25-46). 39. Thirteen-year-olds tended to move away from retelling responses and more toward superficial evaluations and unsupported judgments (RTW, pp. 33-46). 40. Seventeen-year-olds tended to move away from responses based upon inferential leaps (right or wrong) and more toward egocentric responses (in which they talk mainly about themselves instead of the work) and superficiai evaluations (RTW, pp. 33-46). National Assessments of Mathematics The first two mathematics assessments were in 1972-74 and 1977-78. Results from the third assessment (1981-82) will be reported in early 1983. The mathematics assessments involved a broad range of exercises assessing all aspects of the elementary and secondary mathematics curriculum except higher algebra, trigonometry or calculus. The results mentioned below come from the following reports: in Mathematical Achievement, 1973-78 (CMA); Mathematical and Sea (MKS); Mathematica! Application (MA); derstanding (MU): Reading, Science and Mathematics Closer Look (RSM); Technical Report: thema \XTR); and Results from the Second Mathematics of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, hed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics All but the last report are available through the Education Commission of the States Distribution Center. 41. The overall mathematics performance of 9-year-olds did not decline significantly between 1973 and 1978 (CMA, P. 1). 42. 43. 44. The overall mathematics performance of 13-year-olds declined 2 percentage points (CMA, p. 1). The overall mathematics performance of 17-year-olds declined 3.6 percentage points (CMA, p. 1). At all three ages, performance on knowledge exercises stayed the same or declined very slightly, but performance on problem-solving exercises declined dramatically: 5.9 percentage points at age 9; 3.4 points at 13; and 4.0 points at age 17. In skills, 13-year-olds declined 2.0 percentage points and 17-year-olds declined 5.0 points (CMA, pp. 12-16; MA, pp. 1-25). 45. Inspite of declines, demonstrated a high skills, especially However, majorities 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. most students at all three ages level of mastery of computational those involving whole numbers. at all three ages demonstrated weaknesses in such areas as geometry, measurement and probability (MA, pp. 13-20). While other groups of 9- and 13-year-old students were showing declines in performance, black young people were not. Black 9-year-olds' overall performance improved 3 points and black 13-year-olds' overall performance remained stable (CMA, pp. 18-22). At all three ages, the highest achievement class declined 3 to 4.3 points, while the lowest achievers did not decline at all (RSM, forthcoming). Over 85 percent of the 17-year-olds in the assessment Nine-year-olds rated mathematics as the best liked of five academic subjects; 13-year-olds rated it as the second best liked subject; and 17-year-olds rated it as the least liked subject (NCTM, p. 134). Thirteen-year-olds said mathematics was the easiest of their academic subjects, but 17-year-olds rated it as the hardest (NCTM, p. 139, 140). Over half the students at all three ages thought they were good at mathematics and said they enjoyed the subject (NCTм, p. 139, 140). A large majority of students at all ages felt that a knowledge of mathematics was important in order to get a "good" job (NCTM, p. 141). Students perceive their role in the mathematics classroom to be primarily passive. They feel they are supposed to sit and listen and watch the teacher work problems, then spend their remaining time working out problems alone. They have little opportunity to interact with their or take on exploratory projects (NCTM, P. National Assessments of Science Science was assessed in the 1969-70, 1972-73 and 1976-77 school years. Changes in science achievement are based upon the responses of 17,000 to 29,000 respondents of each age to 70-92 xercises covering both the physical and biological sciences. The findings are detailed in Three National Assessments of 1 Changes in Achievement, 1969-77 (TNA); Reading, Science Path Gronds: A Closer Look (RSM); and Attitudes Toward ATS,. A. are available through the Education Commission cates Distribution Center. 55. Nine-year-olds declined on physical sciences exercises from 1969-77. However, they improved their performance on biology exercises between 1973 and 1977 (TNA, PP. 6-9). 56. Thirteen-year-olds followed the same pattern as 9-year-olds: a decline in physical sciences and an improvement, between 1972 and 1976, in biology (TNA, PP. 6-10). 57. Seventeen-year-olds declined in both the physical and biological sciences (TNA, PP. 6-11). 58. Declines in science were greatest among the highest achievers, especially white high achievers at ages 9 and 13 (RSM, forthcoming). 59. Teenagers list science as their fourth favorite course, behind mathematics, English and social studies (ATS, p. 5). 60. Porty-four percent of the 13-year-olds and 37 percent of the 17-year-olds say they always or often like their science classes (ATS, p. 6). 61. Eighty-one percent of the 17-year-olds said their science teacher really likes science; 48 percent said the teacher makes science exciting (ATS, p. 8). 62. About half the teenagers say they are interested in scientific careers (ATS, p. 12). 63. About a quarter of the teenagers think a scientific education for a career would cost too much (ATS, p. 15). |