Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion NYT piece on test standards for writing

I am completely and utterly gobsmacked by the writing samples in this piece:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/e...-still-lack-rigor.html?_r=2&ref=nyregion

Truly, my second grader writes better than this:

"Even though their is no physical conflict withen each other. Their are jealousy problems between each other that each one wish could have."

That sentence apparently merits a 3 (passing) on scale of 1 to 6--for a student about to graduate from high school.

Not surprising at all, sadly. My brother-in-law teaches a first level English college course and has had many students who were barely literate come through. And plenty who use 'txt-speech' for written essays!

The essay is graded on a 1-6 scale, and the unintelligible drivel quoted above merits a 3, yet this scores a 4:


Ye gods.

I read this article and thought about posting it here. To some extent the poor writing may be the result of poor teaching in K-12, but I think the primary cause is low intelligence in many students. About 1/6 of the population has IQ <= 85, and the writing samples may illustrate the thinking and writing that the left tail of the bell curve is capable of.

These are worse than terrible. I could forgive atrocious spelling if the writer was trying to convey something germane and interesting. But there appears to be a serious lack of understanding.

Sad.

Low IQ would explain some of the poor writing, but it wouldn't explain the grading.

It does if it is politically unacceptable to flunk too many people out of high school. The political pressure to graduate everyone is increasing. In his latest State of the Union Address, the president told states they should require everyone to stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18.

We have the same situation out here, Master of None. Last year in 5th grade, ds wrote more than 35 reports and essays, in additions to 5 speeches and 5 power point presentations. He had an amazing teacher.

This year in 7th grade he has written two reports.

Two years ago when dd was in this middle school, the students were writing in every class including P.E. Why? Because the state mandated writing tests and our district's scores are shameful. Most of these so-called writing samples were peer reviewed. The others were never returned and dd received zero feedback.

The writing frenzy stopped this year because the state cut the tests due to budget restraints.

So, let me see if I understand correctly.

Children spend hours and hours doing all this writing and teacher doesn't check it?

And they wonder why the kids don't learn how to write?

And what does this say about the value of homework? How much other homework never gets checked?

My senior AP English class couldn't correctly grade an essay in peer review (thankfully, the teacher gave his own grades). I shudder to think what elementary kids are doing to each other.