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University Daily Kansan
Nation/World
Friday, Feb. 21, 1986
Test scores getting better
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Education Secretary William Bennett said yesterday in a national report card that the past decade's huge decline in the quality of education seemed to have bottomed out and students were doing better in school and dropping out less.
Nationally, the average American College Test score was up a slight 0.1 percent last year, to 18.6 on a 36-point scale, while the average Scholastic Aptitude Test score was up nine points to 906 out of 1,600, the largest annual gain in 22 years, Bennett's report said.
Graduation rates improved 1.2 percent, the department said.
"This is good news," Bennett told a news conference. "But it is also clear that we still have much to do."
Bennett said the same states perpetually at the bottom of test score lists were still there and the 1972-82 decline in education was so great it might take a decade to recover to the levels of 20 years ago.
But Bennett, cited the state-by-state comparison of ACT and SAT test scores and dropout rates for 1982 and 1985, said the states with the most room for improvement
had improved the most.
More than one million college-bound students take the ACT and SAT tests annually. Bennett dismissed criticism that it was unfair to use the results to rank state education programs. He said state officials might think their improvement was reflected in their state's ranking.
The American College Testing Program, which runs the ACT, and the Educational Testing Service, which runs the SAT, have accused the government of misusing their data.
A public interest group, FairTest, called the practice an abuse that did harm to school curricula by focusing on test scores rather than learning.
"This year's state test score gains represent a dramatic turnaround compared to findings in the first report covering the period between 1972 and 1982," Bennett said. "Over that decade the test scores in every state declined.
"The best news in the 1986 wall chart is that high school students in 35 states have improved their academic performance since 1982," he said.
The graduation rate increased in 39 states.
None of the states reached improvement.
Officials said the comparison between the 1982 and 1985 years was chosen because it appeared the improvement trend began after 1982.
goals set by President Reagan.
"It certainly looks like we've bottomed out," said Bennett, citing the new results as proof the administration's excellence in education and back-to-basics movements were working.
were working. The top-scoring states were Iowa, New Hampshire and Wisconsin, while those showed the greatest improvement were South Carolina, Utah, Alabama, Kentucky and the District of Columbia.
States in the bottom rankings were in the South, including Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina. Bennett said these states were among the leaders of the reform effort.
In general, the higher the test score, the higher the graduation rate.
He said the figures also indicated:
■ Education expenditures had a weak association with test scores and dropout rates, suggesting the way money was spent was more important than how much. For example, Florida increased spending, while test scores dropped.
Downpour ends in West, floods still threaten area
United Press International
The sun shone on the West yesterday, breaking the weeklong deluge that killed 18 people and caused $285 million in damage, but gorged rivers burst levees in low-lying parts of California and sent 3,500 people scrambling for safety.
The last of the Pacific storms that drenched California, Nevada and Utah with the worst floods in decades rolled into the Rocky Mountains; dumping up to 3 feet of snow in Colorado.
Residents of the low-lying communities of Thornton and Walnut Grove, Calif., in the Sacramento River delta between Sacramento and San Francisco, were forced to flee after high tides destroyed three levees along the Mokelumne River.
Runoff from the storms flooded Utah and Colorado, straining dams to the breaking point. Heavy snow in northwest Colorado snapped power lines, cutting electrical and telephone service.
Flood control officials said runoff from heavy rain could push waters even higher
in the agriculture and resort area. Three islands and thousands of inland acres were already under water. Cows were left standing forlornly in water up to their knees.
Gov. Norm Bangerter declared three more northern Utah counties as flood disaster areas, saying Cache, Wasatch and Weber counties no longer had the ability to battle the heavy runoff.
A small earthen dam in Morgan County above Peterson, weakened by seven days of rain, could break at any time, county Sheriff Bert Holbrook said.
"The water is coming down the face of the dam. Both the geological people and the engineers are telling us the dam is totally unstable," said Holbrook.
In Colorado, the snow storm piled snow on frozen rain and caused hazardous driving conditions. Heavy snow accumulations of up to 15 inches buckled power lines.
Bitterly cold air spread across the northern Plains and spilled south as far as Texas, chasing out record highs. Winds 25 to 40 mph pushed wind chills to 40 below zero across northeastern Montana.
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