Math is a critical subject for kids to learn in school, but test scores in Maryland are revealing a grim reality. The Maryland State Department of Education released the 2022 state test results and found just 7% of third through eighth graders are proficient in math. That means 93% of kids are not testing where they should in the subject.
Even more troublesome for the state, in its greatest metropolitan area of Baltimore, 23 schools had zero students meet the standard. 2,000 students took the math tests and not one could do math at their grade level.
A Baltimore resident filed a lawsuit against the district claiming it is failing to educate students and, in the process, misusing taxpayer funds.
“These kids can’t do math. You’re not preparing them to buy groceries. You’re not preparing them to do accounting, to count their own money. You’re not preparing them to read contracts and negotiate salaries. It just sounds like these schools, now, have turned into essentially babysitters with no accountability,” Jovani Patterson said in a statement.
This is not just a Maryland problem, and not just a problem in math. The National Center for Education Statistics released a report this month on the decline in children’s education since the pandemic. Half of the students in the country are behind in at least one subject.
While both parties are invested in American education, it’s not something that gets equal coverage by partisan media. This story on Maryland’s test scores was a Media Miss by the left. Not only does Straight Arrow News bring readers the news down the middle, we also point out when one side misses a story altogether. Check out the Media Miss feature here.