by Christopher Hessman
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. Assessments are conducted periodically in mathematics, reading, science, writing, the arts, civics, economics, geography, and U.S. history.
Since NAEP assessments are administered uniformly using the same sets of test booklets across the nation, NAEP results serve as a common metric for all states and selected urban districts. The assessment stays essentially the same from year to year, with only carefully documented changes. This permits NAEP to provide a clear picture of student academic progress over time. May 4, 2011 it dropped its latest bombshell. America's present and future citizens know less and less about the democracy they will inherit.
As retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said in a statement, "Knowledge of our system of government is not handed down through the gene pool. The habits of citizenship must be learned.... But we have neglected civic education for the past several decades, and the results are predictably dismal."
Some of the shocking results.
Item: Many high school students (being at least 18 years of age) may be old enough to vote, but just one quarter of them demonstrate at least a "proficient" level of civics knowledge and skills. As if this figure weren't bad enough on its own, this 24 percent figure actually represents a slight dip from the proportion of 12th graders scoring proficient or "advanced" in the subject four years ago.
76% of these high school students could not name a single power granted to Congress by the Constitution. Neither could they identify a single effect of foreign policy on other nations.
Item: Just 22 percent of U.S. eighth grade students had any idea of the purpose of the Bill of Rights and were unable to identify even a single one of these rights. This result is now chronic. This result has not changed at all since first measured in 1998.
Only 1 in 10 of these eighth graders demonstrated acceptable knowledge of the checks and balances between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches,the bedrock of our entire way of governance.
A tiny ray of light.
Amongst all the dismaying news in this study, there are, it is true, two aspects which show improvement. Since we must take our good news as we find it, even if meager, here it is:
Item: The average 4th grade score rose compared with both 2006 and 1998, the first time "the nation's report card" was given. Twenty seven percent were proficient or better in 2010, compared with 24 percent in 2006.
Item: Hispanic students, a growing proportion of the country's population and student body, narrowed the gap between their scores and those of non-Hispanic white students. On average, Hispanic eighth-graders scored 137 and non-Hispanic whites 160. This 23-point gap was down 29 in 2006.
We stopped teaching civics, and such egregious results are inevitable.
Justice O'Connor's comments upon the release of the newest NAEP survey are apt. If you fail to teach what used to be called "civics" in my day... you get students (and future citizens) with inadequate information on what our government is and how it works. (Justice O'Connor last year founded a non-profit organization icivics.org. It teaches civics through Web-based games.) Ignorance is endemic, systematic, embedded and completely predictable.
It's time to attack this pervasive problem root and branch. What we must do:
1) Recognize the problem. We cannot solve a problem unless we recognize that there is a problem. Here there is more than a problem; there is incipient catastrophe. The President himself must recognize the grave seriousness of the matter and direct the nation's attention to it, basing his remarks on the solid foundation of these important data from NAEC, which was created by Congress in 1988 and not a minute too soon.
2) You cannot have students proficient in civics where their teachers are not proficient. The lack of civics awareness can be traced to several causes, one crucial aspect of which is the abysmal level of teacher training in civics. Teacher proficiency and student proficiency must take place together, for to blame students for the inadequacies of their teachers is unjust and unproductive.
This leads ineluctably to what teachers are taught in their training programs and what they must teach in the classrooms of our civics challenged students. We must agree that there are certain civics topics which both students and teachers must know, so to be introduced into the curricula of each. And then, though the teachers unions will scream bloody murder, these teachers, no matter what level of seniority, must be tested (as their students are) in the subject matter they are expected to know.
3) We must reward students (and even teachers too) who demonstrate superior civics knowledge. When my mother was in high school in the 1940s, she received two medals for civics education; I have them still. I received honors, too, in the same subject. We can help students excel in civics by giving them tangible reasons to excel. There was nothing to be gained by destroying a culture which recognized and rewarded merit. We are suffering the consequences now and will continue to suffer them, and even worse, if this critical problem of our endangered democracy is not dealt with now... and with the total focus and seriousness it requires.
http://ProvenAutomatedBiz.com
http://technology-pennystocks.com
CLICK HERE Website is FREE YES FREE JOIN NOW!
> http://allsolutionsnetwork.com/CH/CH22720
http://christopher7374.eliteweightlosspackage.com
http://christopher7374.theroulettekiller.net
http://christopher7374.firstclassrecipes.com
http://christopher7374.paid-surveys-broker.com
http://christopher7374.tattoodesignhelp.info
http://christopher7374.gettvonurpc.com
http://christopher7374.sweatawaytoday.net
http://christopher7374.stopspeedticketsystem.net
http://christopher7374.my-real-estate-wealth.com
http://christopher7374.get-any-girl-system.net
http://christopher7374.cure-your-snore.net
http://christopher7374.catch-ur-cheating-spouse.net
http://christopher7374.cure4acne.net
http://worldprofitassociates.com/t16.cfm?id=24113
http://worldprofitassociates.com/t32.cfm?id=24113
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=oa6QkQ4r
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=hx6A0jIl
COME IN AND SEE!! GET IN NOW!!
http://chessman.ipastour.com/
DUBturbo - Urban Beat Production Software!!
Award Winning Design, Converts Way Better Than Any
Beat Maker,Cheap Intl Traffic, Three Hot 1-Click-Upsells
& A Whole Backend With More Products
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=iv6BMnVE
250,000 Free Advertising Credits
>http://worldprofitassociates.com/250000AdCredits/?id=24113
The #1 Internet Home Based Business!
>http://cashquest.com/homebusinessexperts/?id=24113
50,000 Free Visitors
>http://www.50000FreeVisitors.com/default.cfm?id=24113
Get This MASSIVE TRAFFIC PACKAGE Absolutely FREE!
>http://www.CashQuest.com/MassiveTraffic/?id=24113
Silver Package Presentation with AutoPlay! JOIN NOW GET ALL THE GOODIES!!
>http://worldprofitassociates.com/t30.cfm?id=24113
Home Business Resource Center
>http://www.MakeMoneyOnlineOurWay.com/?id=24113
GREAT WEBSITE NEW TECHNOLOGY!
http://www.technology-pennystocks.com
COME IN NEW LAUNCH PRODUCTS!
>http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=bg7m8I8m
NEW AND EXCITING COME IN TO SEE!
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=mo5MUc3R
Get Facebook Ads Free
>http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=gc1MLpYN
Auto Click Profits
>http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=hq8edEMH
Copy Paste Traffic
>http://www.provenautomatedbiz.com/?rd=dn841WJR
Free Mass Traffic
>http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=da2xtZAN
Total Profit Plan
>http://www.provenautomatedbiz.com/?rd=nw4Zghg3
Clickbank Traffic Warrior
>http://www.provenautomatedbiz.com/?rd=mk1c3WD6
Auto Mass Traffic
http://www.provenautomatedbiz.com/?rd=jm2OrJld
Auto Traffic Avalanche
>http://www.provenautomatedbiz.com/?rd=xp9pZcQI
The Alkaline Diet - Hot New Launch!
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=ty1xDBl3
Dog Training Home Study Course.
>http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=sh04ytre
Popular! - Pays $22.49/signup - Wholesale Membership
>http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=sr0CS8fU
LINKVIEWER:
>http://www.linkreviewer.com/index.pl?oldrefid=293744
JOIN UP TODAY!
http://herculist.com/members/index.cgi?provenautomatedbiz
CLICK HERE Website is FREE YES FREE JOIN NOW!
> http://allsolutionsnetwork.com/CH/CH22720
Social Network Marketing Extreme
>http://www.provenautomatedbiz.com/?rd=dx3FfJUR
10 Days Membership Profits
>http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=qd3Nunad
JOIN TODAY LIST BUILDER:
http://www.listjumper.com/jump/?s=18649
JOIN TODAY GREAT LIST BUILDER
http://ListJoe.com/j/provenautomatedbiz
ABS STRENGTH
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=ug0wbyBQ
Commission Hijack - $3.65 Epc - $199.15 Ave. Rebill = Highest on CB !
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=vy32Mi9l
Great conversion rate! 50% commission, High Sales!!
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=zq95uEh7
Online Fitness Empire - Make $100 Monthly Recurring Comms For Life
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=lq6OjetO
Profit Jackpot! up to $4.52 Epc, High converting, Super Value
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=qi00aa45
AFFILATE BOOSTER
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=er9USSJG
Affilorama
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=hm3pHSd1
Antinuclear Nutrition
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=yj9sLGq5
Arthritis Remedies
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=vy3DQBrK
Earn $48.50 Per Sale *Giving Away* Free Access To Optin List Profits
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=yc0Nnvuw
E-Book Marketing & Selling
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=jj1mVBhh
Fully loaded classified script that sells itself Make Easy Money!
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=jm7px8f2
Get $10,000 in Ads Free! ::: Plus make $31.85 on the Front end!!
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=ff9txXN9
Hardline Sports Handicapping Service
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=po7gCoBw
How To Lower Cholesterol Quickly and Safely
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=bc8BOM2I
How To Master Blogging, Complete Guide To High Profit Niche Blogs!
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=ms6RCREf
Information Marketing Domination - Affiliates get 65% commission
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=hs2XRmyv
Megaspace Web Hosting | cPanel Web Hosting & Assp Anti-SPAM Email
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=ix9rayqc
Niche Maniacs :: Top Conversions, Low Refunds!
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=kp18xjDD
Potty Training Power - 75% Commissions - High Converting
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=wo4HOxKI
SEOUpgrader - internal SEO tool | Get 75% commission!
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=ef8PzmUG
The Search Submitter: Url Submission
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=uz0iLtFW
Total Traffic Annihilation
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=qm9VeAPq
Traffic Explosion Formula
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=ai8UTd8w
Best Registry Cleaner - Fix Windows Errors
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=pl5N18dX
IllusionMage.com 3d Animation - $52.67 Per Sale + 6% Conversions
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=uq7QlsrJ
Wordpress Remix 3.0
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=xk1zIbCp
Backlink Engines - Backlink creator. Get 1000s of Backlinks.
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=rf1YM2qT
Web Design Business Startup Kit
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=fc7M3NfJ
Profit Siege
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=en41K3BM
The SEO Business Guide
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=gb95slQV
The Penny Stock Prophet
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=ce4jjwow
Surveyspaid
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=oa1shwEn
Niche Profit Classroom
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=wr6kJfSV
Monthly Commissions $$- Learn Adobe Dreamweaver Videos with Help Desk!
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=qf7xH33q
Real Money doubling Forex Robot Fap Turbo - sells like candy!
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=fv8ASPJ3
InteliGator - Online Investigations
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=cn3NtPa2
Viral In Box
http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=xc56nuZV
CELL PHONES-IPODS & LOTS MORE COME IN LOOK AROUND:
- http://www.tmiwireless.com/?aid=52268
CLick here to come in and have a peak! You will be surprised to all the Cell Phones & More
- http://www.tmicell.com/?aid=52268
Click this Link Below to have your very own website! Yes you CAN!
- http://www.tmiwireless.com/affiliate/?aid=52268
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Christopher Hessman http://ProvenAutomatedBiz.com. Check out Massive Auto Traffic -> http://buy2412.massautotr.hop.clickbank.net
No comments:
Post a Comment