I would jump up and down to celebrate because of math score improvement. What, do you want to see news items that says readings and math scores are both bad? At least that's an improvement in math. Well, America still have MUCH to catch up in math.
“We’re not asking them to read nearly enough,” Ms. Pimentel said.
Sure. Well, who are this we? It is got to be the PARENTS! Come on parents, keep an eye on how your kids are doing in school. READ with your kids. BUY them books. TAKE them to the library. Don't blame the school system too much if your kids can't read.
Waita minute, how do you test reading ability? Outrageous difficult words in pick-antonym test? The English language needs a clean sweep of useless words(!) Heck, I survived college (and in the work force) and I still can't do so well in those antonym test of unused words. One day I digged out a high school vocab book and I am so ashamed I don't know half of them BUT most are useless words!
I think reading comprehension in more common words is much better way to test reading ability.
Anyway, for those math students who think reading skill is not so important? You're wrong. Yes, you barely need to read anything besides silly word problems in high school. But you will need a lot of reading ability to understand more advanced concepts and you need a lot of writing skills to convince your reader (write proofs). The very essence of mathematics is able to convey (mathematical) ideas in words. Equations merely let you write in more compact forms.
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