Reply #3: They have been deploring declining test scores for generations [View All]

[Thor_MN]

I recall stories of how our scores were lower than previous scores (high school 1981). One thing that never seems to be accounted for is that it has become less accepatible to allow kids to "drop out" of school over the years. Don't get me wrong, this is a good thing, but how do you normalize the scores of the most recent years against earlier years where is was accepted, even expected that students who were not doing well would quit school? The earlier years have the "benefit" of removing the worst scores therefore increasing their average. As the years pass and efforts to keep everyone in school and "main stream" students who had not been allowed in public schools increase, what is going to happen to test scores? I don't know that you can make valid comparisons across the years.