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Comment by dgabriel | Hacker News Reader

Here's my theory on why so few US children score as advanced level in math:

I have a fifth grader in public school now, and as far as I can tell, schools are nearly incapable of identifying advanced learners, and most teachers don't have the training to teach differentiated math/science. So we settle on curriculums that target the "bottom average." The bright kids get bored and drift away, the slower kids get help, but almost never enough, and the middle group never get properly challenged.

It took two years to get my son math instruction appropriate to his level, and now the school system doesn't seem to know what to do with a 10 year-old who is finishing up Algebra 1. The answer seems to be Kahn Academy, which is not enough. I can't imagine what the battle is like for a single parent with two jobs, or parents who are not native speakers.

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Teachers/administrators/schools do not have their funding tied to the improvement of their high-performing students.

This is a natural by-product of the Texas model of educational reform (NCLB/Race to the Top/etc.): teachers cannot be trusted to teach and assess their students where those students might be (with regards to content mastery) so we implement standardized tests which focus attention on the lowest performing students (often overwhelmingly teaching them test-taking skills irrelevant to real life) and thereby reducing the time allotted to core curriculum for everyone. It's a system that only improves academics on a superficial level (raising scores without raising academic mastery) and diverts billions of dollars out of already constrained school budgets to private testing/content material providers (NCLB requires tests and other measures without providing resources to implement them - hence resources must be stripped from other programs or services at the schools).

Standardized testing is orthogonal to focusing on the lowest performing students.

You could use standardized tests and focus on top students just as easily - we just focus on the underperformers because that's what our political culture demands.

I was identified in 1st grade as being an advanced learner (or whatever you want to call it) and my parents were brought in and were told that I had a lot of potential and if they wanted me to succeed and reach my potential they should take me out of the public school system as soon as possible. Very grateful towards my parents that they took the advice.

  > schools are nearly incapable of identifying advanced
  > learners

I know very little about US schools, but was it not the case that more attention was given to those lagging rather to advanced? The "no child left behind" thing? As I understand it the goal of the program was different, but in reality it turned out differently. Or am I completely off the rails there?

You're correct. But it doesn't work very well for the moderate to very advanced learners, and this leads to fewer kids reaching their capabilities. I don't even call these children "gifted" any more, because school administrators seem to whip out the pitchforks and actively work against "gifted" kids. I wish I were kidding. Massachusetts has ZERO budget for gifted K-12 education. I suppose the private schools will handle that (for those who can afford it), or we'll just ship them in from elsewhere after messing up our own brightest and talented.

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