In a message dated 9/8/2004 6:21:42 PM Central Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< On a slightly different topic, but related to Doug Mann's discussion: Doug, you've been talking about the nonexistent achievement gap in the '70's for years, and I've been meaning to reply. I remember hearing about how SAT scores started declining about 1970, and continued to decline every year until they plateaued sometime in the '80's. Then the scores again began to increase. I have a cite that more or less agrees with this memory of mine: http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/08/26/sat.scores.ap/ > You memory is not so bad. There was a small decline in aggregate SAT scores during the late 1960's and early 1970s, according to David Berliner and Bruce Biddle. (The Manufactured Crisis: Myths Frauds and Attacks on America's Public Schools; Page 19; Perseus Books, Reading Massachusetts, 1995) >From the mid-1960s to mid-1970s a rapidly growing proportion of high school students took the SAT, especially among the medium and lower-performing students. The proportion of students taking the SAT continued to grow, but tapered off during the 1980s. The proportion of students completing high school also grew very rapidly during the late 60s and early 70s, which lowered the curve on tests taken by high school juniors and seniors. Those stagnating test score averages were also cited as proof that efforts to close the gap were holding back the high achievers, i.e., producing a "rising tide of mediocrity." And evidence of a rising tide of mediocrity got a lot of coverage in the news media following the release of "A Nation at Risk" in April 1983. Big, relentless tuition hikes since the late 1970s have made college less accessible to students from low-to-middle income households, especially those who do not take college preparatory courses in high school. In the Spring of 1974, the cost of tuition at the U of MN College of Liberal Arts was $13 per quarter credit. As I recall, the Minneapolis Community College had a $5 registration fee, and that was it (except for the cost of text books and other school supplies). Some independent students paid for college as they went on a part-to-full-time basis, with part-to-full time employment (and without working 40 and more hours while going to school), little to no help from parents, and no grants or loans. -Doug Mann, King Field Mann for School Board www.educationright.com REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
