History, civics scores decline among U.S. eighth-graders

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: UPI

May 3 (UPI) -- U.S. history and civics scores of eight graders declined between 2018 and 2022, according to The Nation's Report Card from the National Center for Education Statistics. A lack of critical thinking skills are partially to blame.

"A well-rounded education includes a thorough grounding in democratic principles, and these assessments challenge students to show their knowledge and skills as they prepare to become full participants in American democracy," said NCES Commissioner Peggy G. Carr in a statement.

"Self-government depends on each generation of students leaving school with a complete understanding of the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship. But far too many of our students are struggling to understand and explain the importance of civic participation, how American government functions, and the historical significance of events."

Carr said that is partially due to problems with critical thinking skills. For example, to comprehend how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr,'s "I Have A Dream" speech incorporates two ideas from the U.S. Constitution or Declaration of Independence, students need more than reading skills. "Students have to be able to read and know literacy skills, but they need critical thinking to know how to extrapolate an answer to that question," Carr said.

Read more: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2023/05/03/eighth-grader-history-civics-scores-decline/1381683129917/

[intheflow]

2. A lot of this has to do with the education system shutdowns during COVID.

My son's a middle school teacher and says he's experiencing this same thing and it's because of how much learning was lost during COVID. Whether or not that was part of TFG's plan to keep the populace as stupid as possible, it still doesn't bode well for our future.

[jimfields33]

3. Absolutely! Take a child out of school for close to two years

and what do they expect? Scores are low in every subject in every grade across the board. Probably should have had every child repeat a grade. No stigma since it would have been 100 percent.

[MichMan]

6. They just promoted everyone to the next grade instead

[xocetaceans]

11. What would one expect? I'm not sure that the premise hidden in your exclaimed question has been well

...considered. (It is a nice rhetorical flourish, though.)

What particular child do you mean? What age child do you mean? There are some kids who will do just fine if you take them out of school for two years. They read, etc. Others will do terribly. Others might mature a bit and start studying on their own. Still others might slack off incredibly.

Any of those cases might apply. Or do you postulate the existence of the "average" child? That child does not necessarily exist.

However, repeating grades might be a great suggestion. How would that work exactly? New college students would shift upwards in age a bit, etc. Who knows if that would be a problem?

One thing that seems never to be addressed is whether the knowledge being tested for by these "scores" would have been retained anyway. Is this factual knowledge or knowledge of methods such as how to construct a perpendicular to a line through a point? What general knowledge is meant to have been lost, even irretrievably so, under such circumstances as a two-year absence from organized, in-person classes?

[jimfields33]

18. Or we do what has been done.

The test scores are all the proof I need.

[xocetaceans]

21. One gets the distinct impression that something was missed in the article...

...and in my reply. As the article stated, "..., students need more than reading skills."



Here are two of the points from the article that your initial response failed to recognize:

U.S. News | May 3, 2023 / 12:49 PM
History, civics scores decline among U.S. eighth-graders
By Doug Cunningham

...

In U.S. history, NCES said there were declines since 2018 across all levels except for the very top performing students. In civics, scores were down for lower- and middle-performing students and were unchanged among top-performing students.

...

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2023/05/03/eighth-grader-history-civics-scores-decline/1381683129917/

[Zeitghost]

17. We didn't have the accommodations to do that

Without shifting school back from ages 5-18 to 6-19 from then on. Many seniors would have likely taken the GED and just moved on to college.

It would have been a logistical nightmare.


Once vaccines were available, schools should have been opened immediately. Instead we kicked the can down the road for an additional year with no real benefit.

[ffr]

4. According to the test takers, yes. But to Fox & RW'ers your version of civics is actually wrong

Fox & the QOP, with their alternative-facts universe they live in, are teaching children that facts and history don't matter. So long as you play along with alternative facts, you can live in your own reality. Just keep the television on and the AM radio blasting everywhere you go. You won't miss reality one bit.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Kinda of hard to develop critical thinking if you're never allowed out of your

all white, truth scrubbed box.

[MichMan]

7. Did children in blue states score substanially better?

I would be interested in seeing the data broken down that way.

[sinkingfeeling]

14. This is the overall rankings by state, not just history and civics.....

https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/public-school-rankings-by-state

Top to bottom scores

Massachusetts
73.14
Connecticut
67.5
New Jersey
64.36
Virginia
61.71
New Hampshire
61.57
Maryland
60.24
Delaware
58.07
Nebraska
57.81
Wisconsin
57.48
Vermont

[MichMan]

15. I meant how much they declined since 2018

[xocetaceans]

12. Isn't that the new name for Truth Social? n/t

[IronLionZion]

8. History and Civics are being censored in many schools

gotta hide things that make certain folks uncomfortable.

If learning history doesn't make you uncomfortable sometimes, then you're not learning history.

[marble falls]

9. Not to put too much woooo into this, but those who want their workers in dangerous ...

... environments to be children, wouldn't they really want those kids to be stupid, too?

This is about keeping wages low.

[surrealAmerican]

10. Pretty much tracks declines in test scores in other topics.

"... between 2018 and 2022", says the excerpt. Covid and remote learning hurt a lot of student's scores.

[2naSalit]

13. Which is by design...

Last edited Wed May 3, 2023, 11:12 PM - Edit history (1)

Civics education has been in decline for decades. The pandemic was like burning down the education system all at once. Rs should never be in charge of anything ever again.

[not fooled]

19. Yep

Didn't evil old bastard raygun water down civics education? I think the decline started under him. Rs don't want voters understanding how the government works and what it does. Judging by the professed beliefs of my ignorant MAGA neighbors, e.g. "I hate government" and "Government can't do anything right", Mission Accomplished!

[2naSalit]

20. And you know they lack...

Any working knowledge of government by their claims.

I was all done with public school by the time Ronnie showed up but I saw what he did as my younger siblings were still in grade school in California. When I moved out there from New England, went to many schools, I was in the 9th grade and all the text books were the same ones I had in seventh grade. It was hard to stay focused. I ended up walking out and finding my way by going to free trade school classes offered there. Finally went to college in my 30s.

Even in college, it was truly shocking to me to see how far education had fallen from what I understood it to be. I couldn't help thinking that the international students were getting ripped off the most by paying top dollar to attend and getting less than promised. Not that the domestic students weren't getting ripped off in every shameful way.

[tinrobot]

16. Gee, they take the books out of the libraries and scores decline

Who'd have imagined that would happen.

[pfitz59]

22. I self-educated with library books

encyclopedias, and scores of magazines. The tiny fraction of knowledge offered in formal school settings was insufficient to slake my curiosity. School was a social club instilling hierarchy and obedience.

[sarisataka]

23. It is sadly visible

Every day