NCES Study Shows Many Students Lack Basic Vocabulary Skills

USA Today (12/6, Toppo) reports that according to a new study from ED's National Center for Education Statistics, "US schoolchildren may not improve their reading skills until they have a better grasp of basic vocabulary." The study "looks at the vocabulary skills of students nationwide and finds that they closely track students' reading comprehension levels. ... The findings represent the first time that the federal government has analyzed vocabulary in isolation, and the results show that students have a long way to go: The average fourth-grader scored 218 points in 2011, essentially unchanged from 2009. The average eighth-grader scored 265, also unchanged from 2009. Twelfth-graders' results for 2009 averaged 296 points, but the test wasn't repeated in 2011." The piece notes that the data comes from the NAEP.

 

The Christian Science Monitor (12/6, Khadaroo) reports that it is the first time that NAEP data has been used to assess students' vocabularies in this manner, noting that the "results show that students' vocabulary knowledge tracks closely with their overall reading ability." The piece quotes NCES Commissioner Jack Buckley saying, "About half of the variation in reading comprehension [on the main test] can be associated with variation in vocabulary." The Monitor adds that the report "also hints that schools and parents have a long way to go to ensure that their children can precisely understand the kinds of texts they will encounter in an academic context."

 

The Huffington Post (12/6, Resmovits) reports that education experts find the results "troubling - but not unexpected," adding that "average performance on the US Education Department's national exams was mostly stagnant at low levels between 2009 and 2011, and the highest performers lost ground during that time." The Post explains that it is "the first time the results of a separate scale for vocabulary questions on the national reading comprehension test have been released."

 

The Wall Street Journal (12/7, Banchero, Subscription Publication) also covers this story, noting that Margaret McKeown of the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh expressed concern about the results, but not surprise. The piece quotes her saying, "There is very little vocabulary done in any classroom at any age. There is quite a bit of research about vocabulary and the best ways to teach it. Unfortunately we are not seeing that go into the classrooms as much as we would like."