THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 26, 1995 TAG: 9512220011
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
On Dec. 12 you printed an article concerning the results of the North Carolina academic proficiency tests. The article gives the impression that most of the Department of Public Education is quite pleased with the results because every school system, except Elizabeth City-Pasquotank, increased its percentage of ``proficient'' students on at least one of three tests. That sounds great - until one looks at the actual proficiency rates.
For the state as a whole, 66 percent of children in grades 3 through 8 were ``proficient'' in reading and 66.1 percent in math. At the high-school level, 40.8 percent were achieving at proficient levels in six core courses.
Read another way, one-third of elementary-school students are unable to read or do math at minimally acceptable levels and three-fifths of high school students are performing below minimal levels.
This is nothing of which to be proud; rather, it is evidence of an abject failure of the educational system. The direct result is that many communities in the state do not have a work force with sufficient education to perform any but the most menial tasks.
Is it any wonder that businesses are finding it so difficult to attract new industry? If three-fifths of a company's products were defective, who would buy the product and who would finance the company? The company would either get new management of it would go broke.
But taxpayers are forced to finance an education system producing three failures for every five students.
Perhaps it is time we took a careful look at the educational system's ``management'' and make some badly needed changes.
JAMES ROBISON
Edenton, N.C., Dec. 16, 1995 by CNB