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significant: in 1992, the average math score on the SAT was 501, similar to the average verbal score of 500. In the decade that followed, the math score increased by fifteen points while the verbal score increased by only four. However, this was not always the case. In fact, in the 1970s the relationship was precisely the opposite when national verbal scores routinely trumped the national math average by similar margins. Since then, the point gap between the math and evidence-based reading and writing (EBRW) tests has closed significantly: the class of 2019 had an average math test score of 528 and an average EBRW score of 531. Because 50 more points are required to meet the math benchmark than the EBRW benchmark, only 48% of the class of 2019 met the math benchmark while 68% met the EBRW benchmark.
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overrepresented during the very years when this math–verbal gap really takes form. Of the students taking the SAT, the proportion or percentage who are Asian is more than double the Asian proportion in the U.S. population. That is significant because, as Lech pointed out, Asian students themselves averaged 580 (out of a possible 800) on the math portion of the SAT in 2005, but the national math average that same year (which mathematically includes those high-scoring Asian students) was only 520.
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front-loading the math and science AP courses in high school to intentionally "bone-up" for corresponding sections on the SAT/ACT. Indeed there does seem to be a solid preference for better math and science marks by college admission personnel. This would simultaneously explain both better scores on the math portions of the SAT/ACT and stagnating verbal scores on those tests. After all, AP English in 12th grade will not provide
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standardized testing. They were then disseminated to more than 1,500 qualified high school math teachers that were randomly selected from a pool of every high school (both public and private) in the United States. Their responses were tabulated. Lech found that the SAT math questions were not getting easier at all in the eyes of these math teachers; in fact they were getting slightly harder.
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282:(hereinafter ELL) in American schools were on the increase, and certainly that could have a downward pull on the national verbal average on these standardized tests. It would seem likely that ELL status would adversely affect a student's verbal score to a greater extent as opposed to the mathematics portion on the same standardized test.
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math scores. These behaviors also lower math scores—a point that
Rothstein could have overlooked. What Rothstein could not anticipate in 2002 is the exponential proliferation of text messages teenagers send and receive, and the potential for negative ramifications of that activity when it comes to progressing with their verbal skills.
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notes that this "phenomenon is beginning to worry physicians and psychologists, who say it is leading to anxiety, distraction in school, falling grades, repetitive stress injury and sleep deprivation." There may indeed be cause for concern as
Neilsen's reported in 2008 that "American teenagers sent
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To test that hypothesis Lech constructed scores of survey instruments compiled from the math questions derived from publicly released SATs from the early 1980s through 2005. The survey instruments were intentionally created to conceal the source of the questions in order to reduce reader-bias towards
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courses in
American high schools. This wave of science and math AP courses, over that of humanities AP courses, is rising concurrently with higher math scores over that of verbal scores on these standardized tests. He added that this effect could be multiplied if large numbers of savvy students are
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The research hypothesis Lech tested was rejected: the questions on the math portions of the SAT are not getting easier over time. As noted, they are getting a little harder. This confounds the math-verbal achievement gap in general. There were several proposals put forth to explain rising national
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Finally, Rothstein indicated that studies revealed then, as they still do now, that student reading was on the decline while television-watching by
American youth was on the increase. These dual social trends, when combined, could negatively impact student verbal scores at higher rates than their
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Rothstein also suggested that the hugely successful SAT and ACT test preparation courses are unwittingly emphasizing mathematical prowess over verbal acuity. He rationalized that successful test-taking techniques taught in these courses to boost test scores work very well for multiple-choice math
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during these same decades could also be positively influencing these rising SAT math scores (while simultaneously suppressing the verbal scores as many of those students may also be ELL students as well). That's because he noted the number of Asian students taking the SAT are disproportionately
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Lastly, Lech agreed with
Rothstein that another influence on the math–verbal achievement gap could be the quality of the math teachers themselves. Lech referenced literature indicating that U.S. math teachers tend to be much better organized than their humanities counterparts across the hall.
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Around 1990 the national average on the math portion of the SAT began its slow but steady ascension over the national average for the verbal portion. It took only one decade for the math average to eclipse the verbal average, continuing to widen since that point. The difference was sizable and
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article, admitted that "Nobody really knows why we seem to make more progress in math than reading. But one likely cause is that students learn math mostly in school, while literacy also comes from habits at home. Even if reading instruction improves, scores would suffer if students did less
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A qualified High School Math teacher was considered a person with a B.S. in mathematics and a handful of years of instruction, or a teacher without a math degree that taught
Algebra II or higher for a significant number of
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Lech's alternative suggestions for further research in that 2007 dissertation indicated that it is quite likely the math–verbal achievement gap could be partially explained by the rapid proliferation of math and science
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The first academic analysis of this gap was conducted by James Lech Ed.D., M.T.S. Lech posited that this gap could be "collateral damage" from the well-documented academic and social "erosion" known as
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averages, year-after-year, on the difficult math portions of the SAT, as opposed to stagnating national verbal averages on the same test, during the same three decades.
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and received an average of 2,272 text messages per month in the fourth quarter of 2008 ... almost 80 messages a day, more than double the average of a year earlier (
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This achievement gap reveals a growing disparity in the United States between the rising national average on the math portions of the college entry
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432:- Total Dissertation Pages: 34; United States Copyright Office Registration Number: TX 6-534-442; AAT 3263829
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The math–verbal achievement gap: Are we getting better at math, or are the SAT questions getting easier?
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that states a
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out-of-school reading or had a less literate home environment."
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Dumbing down: essays on the strip mining of American culture
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A major contributor to this article appears to have a
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Graph showing the Math–Verbal Achievement Gap in the
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372:Rothstein, Richard (August 28, 2002).
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446:(1997 ed.). W.W. Norton.
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687:2010-06-02
411:2020-08-30
357:References
318:South Asia
39:improve it
1222:Physics C
1214:Physics B
1193:Chemistry
875:Chemistry
827:SAT tests
525:CiteSeerX
430:(Thesis).
326:East Asia
322:West Asia
87:talk page
45:talk page
1393:Category
1286:Japanese
1181:Sciences
1003:AP exams
946:Japanese
595:15996991
345:See also
1356:Related
1312:Spanish
1305:Russian
1281:Italian
1250:Chinese
1188:Biology
1047:English
974:Spanish
968:Russian
962:Physics
941:Italian
881:Chinese
708:June 8,
663:June 8,
547:2728836
493:June 8,
385:June 8,
139:Please
1268:German
1255:French
951:Korean
905:German
900:French
741:
641:16 May
619:16 May
593:
552:16 May
545:
527:
467:years.
450:
324:, and
311:praxis
1291:Latin
956:Latin
682:(PDF)
543:S2CID
513:(PDF)
293:Ibid.
1011:Arts
739:ISBN
710:2010
665:2010
643:2011
621:2011
591:PMID
554:2011
495:2010
448:ISBN
387:2010
219:and
204:The
841:SAT
735:440
581:doi
577:159
535:doi
221:ACT
217:SAT
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