U.S. Fourth Graders Losing Ground on Int'l Test of Literacy

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

Another testament to the "success" of NCLB

4TH-GRADERS LOSING GROUND ON LITERACY

Associated Press -- November 28, 2007
by Nancy Zuckerbrod

U.S. fourth-graders have lost ground in reading ability compared with 
kids around the world, according to results of a global reading test.

Test results released Wednesday showed U.S. students, who took the test 
last year, scored about the same as they did in 2001, the last time the 
test was given — despite an increased emphasis on reading under the No 
Child Left Behind law.

Still, the U.S. average score on the Progress in International Reading 
Literacy test remained above the international average. Ten countries or 
jurisdictions, including Hong Kong and three Canadian provinces, were 
ahead of the United States this time. In 2001, only three countries were 
ahead of the United States.

The 2002 No Child Left Behind law requires schools to test students 
annually in reading and math, and imposes sanctions on schools that miss 
testing goals.

The U.S. performance on the international test of 45 nations or 
jurisdictions differed somewhat from results of a U.S. national reading 
test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the 
nation's report card. Fourth-grade reading scores rose modestly on the 
most recent version of that test, taken earlier this year and measuring 
growth since 2005. During the previous two-year period, scores were flat.

On the latest international exam, U.S. students posted a lower average 
score than students in Russia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Luxembourg, 
Hungary, Italy and Sweden, along with the Canadian provinces of Alberta, 
British Columbia and Ontario.

Last time, Russia, Hong Kong and Singapore were behind the United States.

Hong Kong and Singapore have taken steps since then, such as increasing 
teacher preparation, providing more tutoring and raising public 
awareness about the importance of reading, said Ina Mullis, co-director 
of the International Study Center at Boston College, which conducts the 
international reading literacy study.

The results also showed:

- Among jurisdictions that took the test in 2001 and 2006, scores 
improved in Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Italy, Russia, Singapore, the 
Slovak Republic and Slovenia.

- Average test scores declined in England, Lithuania, Morocco, the 
Netherlands, Romania and Sweden. England, the Netherlands and Sweden 
were the top three performers in 2001. Sweden still outperformed the 
United States this time, but average scores in England and the 
Netherlands were not measurably different from the U.S. average.

- Girls scored higher than boys in the United States and all other 
countries except for Luxembourg and Spain, where the boy-girl scores 
were the same.

- The average U.S. score was above the average score in 22 countries or 
jurisdictions and about the same as the score in 12 others. The U.S. 
average fell toward the high end of a level called "intermediate." At 
that level, a student can identify central events, plot sequences and 
relevant story details in texts. The student also can make 
straightforward inferences from what is read and begin to make 
connections across parts of the text.

Background questionnaires administered to students, teachers and school 
administrators showed that the average years of experience for 
fourth-grade teachers in the United States decreased from 15 years to 12 
years between 2001 and 2006. The international average was 17 years.

U.S. kids seem to get more reading instruction than others. U.S. 
teachers were more likely to report teaching reading for more than six 
hours per week than those elsewhere.

___

On the Net:

Information about the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study:

http://timss.bc.edu/