"Sir John Howard" <pmjwhowardi@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:d9719a48-c9cf-4947-b667-a2150b1b3544@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
> On Feb 11, 7:59?pm, Sir John Howard <pmjwhowa...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> > Grades worse than in 1960s
> >
> >
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/grades-worse-than-in-1960s/2008/0...
> >
> > THE literacy and numeracy performance of Australian students has not
> > improved since the 1960s, suggesting the increase in money invested on
> > education has been misdirected, a study has found.
> >
> > Research by the economists Andrew Leigh and Chris Ryan, from the
> > Australian National University, said government investment in reducing
> > class sizes, while allowing teacher salaries to decline, relative to
> > other professions, may explain why standards had fallen.
> >
> > "Over the past three to four decades, neither literacy nor numeracy
> > have improved, and may have declined slightly," Dr Ryan said. "In
> > numeracy, the typical young teenage student in 2003 was approximately
> > a quarter of a grade level behind his or her counterpart in 1964.
> >
> > "Over this time, per-child spending has increased substantially. Yet
> > this additional expenditure does not seem to have succeeded in raising
> > literacy or numeracy."
> >
> > The research compared the numeracy and literacy test results of 13- to
> > 14-year-olds. It found a statistically significant drop in numeracy
> > levels between 1964 to 2003 and in numeracy and literacy between 1975
> > and 1998.
> >
> > Data was taken from two national sets of tests. Numeracy results were
> > compared from 1964 to 2003 and literacy scores from 1975 to 1998.
> >
> > The researchers said there was a 10 per cent increase in school
> > expenditure from 1975 to 1998 and a 258 per cent increase between 1964
> > and 2003.
> >
> > Productivity was measured in terms of literacy and numeracy points per
> > dollar spent on education. The results suggested a drop in
> > productivity over the past three to four decades.
> >
> > The researchers did not regard the results as being inconsistent with
> > Australia's strong performance when compared with other countries on
> > international tests, as "the previous research has suggested that test
> > scores in other OECD countries may also have flatlined over recent
> > decades", Dr Leigh said.
> >
> > "We cannot rule out the possibility that Australian students today are
> > doing better on outcomes that were not measured in the 1960s, such as
> > verbal communication or social skills.
> >
> > "But it is possible the additional education spending over the past
> > few decades was misdirected.
> >
> > "Decisions to reduce class sizes while allowing teacher salaries to
> > decline relative to other professions may not have been in the best
> > interests of students."
>
> I love the statement on the news tonight from the Education Union
> spokesmans saying that the most im****tant thing to teachers is kids
> education!!
> What a load of **** they where so focused on hating howard they forgot
> the teach the kids.
>
> ****BAGS!
You said it!
Teachers shouldn't be focussed on political agendas.
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