Hats off to schools for raising the bar

Eau Claire Leader-Telegram:

Reading and math are two of the three "basics" of education, writing being the third. Those not proficient in these areas will be left behind in a society where there is a rapidly dwindling demand for "unskilled labor."

That's why a recent study by the nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance is so encouraging. The group tracked test results of Wisconsin students who took a statewide exam as third-graders in the 2005-06 school year, and then charted that class as they were tested again as sixth-graders last school year.

The good news is that students at 52 percent of Wisconsin schools improved their proficiency ratings in both reading and math. Eau Claire, Altoona, Chippewa Falls and Menomonie were among the schools whose students improved in both areas as they progressed from third to sixth grade. Other area schools' improvements were almost off the charts: Augusta students' scores improved by 24.4 points in reading and 17.5 in math. Colfax, Cornell, Bruce and Somerset in our area also improved by double digits in both subjects.

Critics of standardized tests sometimes warn against taking too much from the results because they say education is about more than memorizing information. But reading and math are pretty straightforward. Either you can read and comprehend information, or you can't. And either you have mastered the building blocks of math and can solve problems successfully, or you can't. Any "teaching to the test" in reading and math can only be a good thing.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at December 1, 2009 1:08 AM
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