And most people, like my grandfather, left school after 8 years fully prepared to be productive members of society. And my grandfather definitely knew more than the average HS graduate of today and could build an entire house alone except for the really heavy lifting. But then, education shifted from educating students to holding young adults hostage to employ more guards, I mean teachers.

I teach biology in NY and it is usually taught to 9-10th graders, yet I have seen many schools successfully provide the same course to 7-8th graders. Also, the middle-schoolers generally possess more enthusiasm and seem to pick up the concepts just as readily as high-schoolers.

That being said, I’m reminded of the concept that adolescents’ brains undergo fundamental changes through the middle school years, and the brain of a 5th grader is significantly different from that of a 10th grader. Perhaps, just as how languages are best learned by a certain age, other concepts such as algebra are also best learned by a certain age. Therefore, by stretching a curriculum well into young adulthood, maybe we are handicapping students from acquiring those same problem-solving skills that so many education experts promote.

Gotta agree with you on this one. There’s no excuse for any kid without a significant handicap not to be able to read in fourth grade. The fact that it takes the whuppin’ stick of an exit exam eight years later to highlight the problem is just disturbing.

The study argues that fourth graders who can’t read or count should get extra tutoring so that they will eventually pass the high school exit exam. Passing the exit exam is a decent goal, I suppose, but… Hello? We’re talking about fourth graders who can’t read. They should be getting extra tutoring because THEY’RE IN FOURTH GRADE AND THEY CAN’T READ!. They should get extra tutoring, and not only that, they should have been getting extra help in third grade, second grade and first grade.

Sorry for the yelling, but this reduces me to impotent fury. And I’m glad NCLB is making schools start to look at helping struggling elementary school students.

Those of us who teach a course with a high-stakes test attached have that sinking feeling when we check out our new students math and reading skills (or, I should say, lack of skill). Those who come into physical science with almost no math skills generally don’t pass. Those with OK reading skills, but sub-standard math skills, frequently don’t. Those with poor reading skills, but good math skills, often do.