SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - There’s been a lot of education news lately, and it’s not very good.

The California Department of Education recently revealed that only about two-thirds of the Class of 2006 graduated. The high school graduation rate was the lowest in ten years. One suggestion as to the cause of declining graduation rates was the high school exit exam, which first became a mandatory part of graduation requirements last year.

The HSEE is pitched at an eighth-grade math level. The test measures only ninth- and tenth-grade English competency.

There is more bad news for high schools from ACT, a college testing organization that distributes the most widely used test by high schools across the U.S. for college admission and course placement.

The organization released a report this last week that analyzed results of the approximately 1.2 million students who took the ACT college admissions test and subsequently graduated from high school last June. The test measured students’ academic readiness for college after high school. ACT then predicted the likelihood students would succeed — that is, achieve a “C” or better in introductory college courses — based on College Readiness Benchmarks. The study concluded that only 26 percent of students taking the test were ready for college-level work in the areas of mathematics, English, social studies and science.

The report’s authors found that high school core courses are not providing the kind of rigor necessary to prepare students for either college or the work force.

For several years, ACT has looked not only at the performance of seniors on the college admissions test, but at the test results of students in grades eight and 10 as well. While the majority of students in those lower grades are by no means achieving at a level that would indicate that they are appropriately on track for college success, there appears to be an accelerating downward spiral, particularly in the last two years of high school. The downturn is particularly pronounced in math and English.

Finally, the National Assessment of Educational Progress data, commonly called the Nation’s Report Card, was made public last week. The NAEP report, which tested students’ historical knowledge in grades four, eight, and 12, found that less than half of our seniors have even a basic understanding of history.

For example, on a question about FDR’s proposal to deal with a contrary Supreme Court in 1935-36, only 28 percent of students correctly answered that the President suggested packing the court. This was a multiple choice question with only four answers, so an expected chance response should have produced about 25 percent correct answers.

One question asked 12th-graders to identify a photo of the Berlin Wall being torn down. The photo was labeled, “Berlin, 1989.” The students also had to explain the impact of the event on U.S. foreign policy. Only 12 percent of seniors gave a correct response.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has called our education system broken and dysfunctional and has said he plans to make 2008 the “year of education.” He can begin to help fix the system by closely inspecting our high schools and figuring out why we seem to be failing so many of our students in so many areas.

Patrick Mattimore teaches at a college preparatory school in San Francisco and was a public high school social studies teacher in South San Francisco for 10 years.

Comments from Examiner Readers

4:07 PM MST on Wed., Dec. 19, 2007 re: "Level-headed discussion needed on merits of waterboarding"

Steven Mayers said:
That�s an interesting way to begin a �level-headed discussion.� But anyone who disagrees with your fundamentalist, red-faced, belligerence should, as you say, �shut up and go away.� Is that not �hasty� and �hyperbolic?� This is how I understand your �argument.� Waterboarding has �merits� because it can save innocent children. That would make a great Super Hero character, the Waterboarder, keeping the streets safe for the children. Even if we have received information from people who have been waterboarded that has saved people�s lives, that does not justify the merit of the tactic and does not prove why it in particular is the only method of extracting information. Our own legal system inevitably condemns innocent people, so capital punishment within our borders kills innocents. Second of all, the secret Kafkaesque network of CIA-run military prisoner camps are holding people indefinitely without ever even telling what they're in for. You see nothing wrong here?

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11:26 AM MST on Wed., Dec. 19, 2007 re: "With rogue states humbled, �axis of evil� vision vindicated"

West Coast Liberal said:
Wow I never knew the axis of idiocy could be right.Kudos to the neocons for the "six days six weeks ... six months" predictions. Rummy forgot six years or six generations whichever comes before the apocalypse. Now Iraq is the most radioactive place on earth, refugees are not welcome to return to Bagdhad and our soldiers are committing suicide at unprecedented rates due to overwork and lack of troop numbers needed to conduct the war. Yes it is a huge success for Halliburton and Cheney/Neocon INC. Axis of evil's leaders need to be impeached not patted on the back.

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12:32 AM MST on Thu., Nov. 8, 2007 re: "Ambrose: Free enterprise system is a capital idea"

Patrick irwin said:
Wow! It seems like maybe you have really spent about ten minutes thinking about this. I didn't know anyone could come up with that many platitudes in just ten minutes!

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3:46 PM MST on Wed., Nov. 7, 2007 re: "Ambrose: Free enterprise system is a capital idea"

Steven Mayers said:
So let me get this straight. Capitalism is all good, Sarkozy all good, and Che Guevara all bad. If only world issues could be argued with Aristotelian syllogisms,free of reservations and qualifiers. Do you feel, like the WTO, whose goal is to eradicate poverty, that raising a nation�s GDP reduces poverty? The trickle-down theory looks pretty good from the top, as Joseph Stiglitz and Amayarta Sen illustrate in their Nobel Prize winning work on poverty, which, as Sen says, is a �social tyranny.� Capitalism is amoral, as Marx predicted. When morals are commodified, as happened when the Fourteenth Amendment granted corporations human rights, and the corporation is given the legal responsibility to place profit and shareholder interests as its number one priority, morals are only considered when they coincide with profit. A �third way� as Anthony Giddens calls it, must be navigated between Europe�s cumbersome social services and this nation's lack there of.

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9:57 AM MST on Mon., Oct. 29, 2007 re: "Pete Stark�s strident talk does ill-advised bill no favor at all"

West Coast Liberal said:
I guess killing children trumps saving kids. The compassionate conservatives are the biggest bunch of death worshipping hypocrites to ever roam the planet. That was even before God created the heavens and the earth 6000 years ago. Pete Stark speaks TRUTH for me and the people of the South Bay. Too bad we have so many knuckle dragging neocon neandethals tying us to war debt and bankrupt/corrupt economic policy. Goddess Bless Pete Stark.

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9:24 AM MST on Wed., Oct. 17, 2007 re: "Ambrose: Political opportunism explains bad timing of Turkish resolution"

Examiner Reader said:
"Democrats to legislate the USA into losing the Iraqi war" What did you wake up after May 2003?? It's already lost, been lost and was lost before we even started. Stupid fool

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6:48 AM MST on Wed., Oct. 17, 2007 re: "Ambrose: Political opportunism explains bad timing of Turkish resolution"

Examiner Reader said:
Jay is too kind. This is another backdoor attempt by Democrats to legislate the USA into losing the Iraqi war. After all, Democrats could have passed this during their long majority. Indeed, Pres. Bill Clinton asked Republicans not to bring up such a resolution, and they didn't.

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6:31 AM MST on Wed., Oct. 17, 2007 re: "Ambrose: Political opportunism explains bad timing of Turkish resolution"

Examiner Reader said:
So when is a good time to acknowledge human atrocities? In any event, the political costs to Turkey turning on the US are far greater than vice versa. After all, Turkey is still trying to get into the EU, if they start to look like they are going to pull out of NATO, or worse, actually invade Northern Iraq, the situation will become far more volatile on their part.

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7:58 PM MST on Tue., Oct. 16, 2007 re: "Newsweek fails the high school ranking test"

Examiner Reader said:
If you can pass the test this writer seems to disagree with so much, and the other schools cannot, doesn't that make your ranking higher? Sounds like another sore loser from the state with the lowest ranked schools in the nation to me.

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1:11 AM MST on Fri., Oct. 12, 2007 re: "Ambrose: Che Guevara was a thug"

Steven Lee said:
But of course in the name of "balance" we have the recent hysterical fringe-rant courtesy of Jay Ambrose - in this case an attack on Che Guevara. He calls Guevara a "thug," followed by the same old tired, inverted Cold War drivel that never bears up to any serious reading of history. This is the kind of cartoon "journalism" a la Limbaugh that is aimed at the jingo junkies. To paraphrase Joseph Goebbels: say something preposterous often enough and it will take on the semblance of truth. Ambrose would have us believe that the hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans (not to mention around the world) celebrating Che Guevara as a hero who fought against Yankee-backed dictators are duped, soft-headed "leftists" too stupid to understand their own interests. Such chauvinism is only surpassed by his contempt for his readers. Ambrose tries to pawn off his warmed-over anti-communist rhetoric as fact, yet he provides none himself - just assertions which he claims to be "easily accessible, well-

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9:05 PM MST on Thu., Oct. 11, 2007 re: "Ambrose: Che Guevara was a thug"

Examiner Reader...tim said:
Jay Ambrose...excellent article...Che was a murder and it caught up with him at age 39...

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4:52 PM MST on Thu., Oct. 11, 2007 re: "Ambrose: Che Guevara was a thug"

Examiner Reader said:
Long live Che Guevara. I say its the Neocon capitalist who are thuggish.

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4:30 PM MST on Thu., Oct. 11, 2007 re: "Ambrose: Che Guevara was a thug"

Mykel said:
It cracks me up how Neocon capitalists try desperately to get gays on their bandwagon by invoking the bogeyman of homophobia among socialists, communists or Muslims. The fact of the matter is that, left to their own vices, Neocon capitalists will also most certainly try to roll back civil rights protections for gays because we always have, and always will, make convenient scapegoats when times get tough. And in the unbridled capitalism of the Bush era, times are, indeed, getting tough.

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3:26 PM MST on Thu., Oct. 11, 2007 re: "Ambrose: Che Guevara was a thug"

Mark said:
Sucker! Those are just words so people like you fall in line.

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12:27 PM MST on Thu., Oct. 11, 2007 re: "Ambrose: Che Guevara was a thug"

Examiner Reader said:
"The true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love." Che Guevara

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5:38 PM MST on Wed., Sep. 26, 2007 re: "Ambrose: N.Y. policy promotes illegal immigration"

Juanita Rodriguez said:
New York needs to worry more about terrorists walking over the border between Canada and New York than hard working South Americans. You're wasting your time anyway. The politicians didn't enforce the last immigration bill and they won't enforce the new one. I was born on the Mexican side of Brownsville, Texas and I have a easy way to cross the border. Do you think I'm legal?

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1:26 PM MST on Sun., Sep. 23, 2007 re: "See no evil, hear no profiling � a wrong argument"

Examiner Reader said:
Finally someone is truly representing San Francisco. Jeff Adachi has my vote!! As a mother of a Latino males it is true that our children are the targets of unnecessary police questioning. We can not help how our children look and we do take responsibility for how they act. Who takes responsibility for how our children are treated by the city. As a person of color I know that many of you who are good law abiding citizens can relate to this outrage. Many of our white ally's have come to our defense and are just as outraged with this harrassment as us. We chose to live in SF for diversity and equal treatment. Should I move out of SF so my children will not be harrassed? Is this the city's agenda? Jeff call it like it is!!

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4:18 PM MST on Mon., Sep. 17, 2007 re: "It�s time for a tune-up of S.F. government"

Examiner Reader said:
Personally, I believe Mayor Newsom needs to step outside himself and actually listen to what he is saying in lieu of current circumstances in San Francisco. As has been proven so many times before, believing your own public relations can be hazardous to your political health and effectiveness.

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2:13 PM MST on Mon., Sep. 17, 2007 re: "It�s time for a tune-up of S.F. government"

Examiner Reader said:
Some people really need to stop being so cynical + do as a previous poster had suggested - become part of the solution. Have you volunteered today to clean up your street, help a homeless agency?? There's plenty of volunteer opportunities...

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1:51 PM MST on Mon., Sep. 17, 2007 re: "It�s time for a tune-up of S.F. government"

Examiner Reader said:
The homeless situation is as bad as it ever was. This health care initiative is going to draw chronically ill people from all over the country and world since immigration status is not an issue. Also many outsiders claim they live here to cash in on the benefits. There is no accountability and procedures to make sure residents ... are really the one's benefiting. I know of a few examples of young couples from the Shasta area who have acquired low income housing in brand new facilities near downtown SF, only to tell me that they really live up north and are only here a few days a week with their friends. Get that .. Vacation housing in SF at the publics expense. Denying desperate San Francisco residents access to this housing is obscene. It is all a dysfunctional system.. with no accountability and we continue to give more and more and get less and less. Career drug addicts who refuse to work continue to live in this housing so needed by responsible and working San Fr

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1:41 PM MST on Mon., Sep. 17, 2007 re: "It�s time for a tune-up of S.F. government"

Examiner Reader said:
What about the litter, endless new homeless, cops that just watch speeders and people running stop signs, the rising crime rate and spending 6 billion a year but still needing more.

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1:27 PM MST on Mon., Sep. 17, 2007 re: "It�s time for a tune-up of S.F. government"

Examiner Reader said:
Living in 9 cities over the past 40 years, I say, without hesitation and absolutely no political bias, Mayor Newsom is the worst city manager I have ever seen. The puriest of pol heads with best intentions and no tangible results.

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1:00 PM MST on Mon., Sep. 17, 2007 re: "It�s time for a tune-up of S.F. government"

Examiner Reader said:
Dear Mr. Mayor, I support you 100%. I wish to God that you are re-elected without delay. Your courage, convictions and personal triumphs represents me. If people won't be part of the solution, then step aside and let someone who will! Time is awasted. May you have a long shining career championing SF Values. Love you to no end...

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12:19 PM MST on Mon., Sep. 17, 2007 re: "It�s time for a tune-up of S.F. government"

Gavin Newsom said:
So that we can have a completely clear slate I think that I should resign--what's good for the geese is good for the gander But before I do, I'd like to appoint, as my successor. A man of decisive action, dash and intelligence, truly a"man of the people", the brilliant--Gerardo Sandoval.

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12:17 PM MST on Mon., Sep. 17, 2007 re: "It�s time for a tune-up of S.F. government"

WeNeedChange said:
As a 7-year resident of SF, what I want is the DA and the SFPD to aggressively go after quality of life crimes throughout the city. People who litter, drink/do drugs in public, urinate on the streets, loiter (where city-posted "no loitering" signs have been posted), and play music from vehicles at extreme volumes NEED TO BE CITED. These people won't change unless they have a reason to do so. Also, there needs to be a ZERO-TOLERANCE policy for criminals that are repeat offenders.

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11:37 AM MST on Mon., Sep. 17, 2007 re: "It�s time for a tune-up of S.F. government"

julian ave said:
julian ave said: julain ave said: Go after the crack and smack, and you'll find many of the city's problems will be solved. Homelessness, quality of life crimes, robberies, thefts, human dung and urine on our sidewalks, violence -- all of this will be impacted if we can just get a handle on the open drug dealing and using. Put pressure on Kamela Harris, Gavin -- you can do it

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11:34 AM MST on Mon., Sep. 17, 2007 re: "It�s time for a tune-up of S.F. government"

julain ave said:
Go after the crack and smack, and you'll find many of the city's problems will be solved. Homelessness, quality of life crimes, robberies, thefts, human dung and urine on our sidewalks, violence -- all of this will be impacted if we can just get a handle on the open drug dealing and using. Put pressure on Kamela Harris, Gavin -- you can do it!

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11:22 AM MST on Mon., Sep. 17, 2007 re: "It�s time for a tune-up of S.F. government"

Examiner Reader said:
Gavin, get out of your bubble. Stop believing your own spin. The only accomplishments you have done are moving yourself up in the political food chain. People are not as dumb as you think. Even your lackeys are not as dumb as you think. They just need and want their big paychecks and contracts.

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10:49 AM MST on Mon., Sep. 17, 2007 re: "It�s time for a tune-up of S.F. government"

Lincoln Navigator said:
Go after the crack and smack, and you'll find many of the city's problems will be solved. Homelessness, quality of life crimes, robberies, thefts, human dung and urine on our sidewalks, violence -- all of this will be impacted if we can just get a handle on the open drug dealing and using. Put pressure on Kamela Harris, Gavin -- you can do it!

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8:55 AM MST on Mon., Sep. 17, 2007 re: "LAX shows a way to fix SFO delays"

Examiner Reader said:
Rebuilding an exisiting runway (as LAX did) is entirely different from building a new runway. Where are the airspace and noise impact studies to support the author's belief that this will have zero impact on operations and community noise?

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2:41 PM MST on Sun., Sep. 16, 2007 re: "LAX shows a way to fix SFO delays"

Examiner Reader said:
The readers who complained about noise in the San Bruno Gap didn't read the article carefully enough. The proposed runway would be for LANDINGS during cloudy weather. The existing runway patterns for takeoffs would not be affected. The existing runways are much longer than the proposed one and would continue to be used as they are now. No additional noise would be created over San Bruno.

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2:38 PM MST on Sun., Sep. 16, 2007 re: "LAX shows a way to fix SFO delays"

Examiner Reader said:
The reader who wrote that LAX does not have a new runway and that the writer is wrong is himself wrong. LAX opened a brand new runway and tore up an old one. So, while it still has four of them, one is brand new and it took exactly the time and money to build as the story said. And it provides a good example for SFO in terms of budget and timeline.

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12:57 PM MST on Sat., Sep. 15, 2007 re: "LAX shows a way to fix SFO delays"

Examiner Reader said:
Mr. Horn has been inhaling jet fumes too long. LAX does not have another runway (too bad the Examiner didn't take the time to check that fact out!). LAX had four runways last year and they have four runways now. Does anybody on the Examiner actually read these Op-Ed pieces before they are printed? How about checking with "real" experts to see if the plan is both realistic and safe? Mr. Horn should save his Op-Ed pieces for things he apparently knows about: nothing.

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10:15 AM MST on Sat., Sep. 15, 2007 re: "LAX shows a way to fix SFO delays"

Examiner Reader said:
Mr. Horn gives compelling reasons for improving SFO runway configuration but his solution is dead on arrival. His plan purports to be sensitive to mudflats, birdlife and environmentalists, but blithly ignores the thousands of people who live in the San Bruno gap. Currently many flights depart from Runway 1 over the bay. The proposed runway would mean continuous overflights through the Gap, subjecting residents of several cities to endless pollution from exhaust and noise. I agree that that airport runways need to be improved but in a way that is environmentally sound for people - not birds, mud and environmentalists who live far from the airport. Resident of Millbrae

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4:05 PM MST on Fri., Sep. 14, 2007 re: "LAX shows a way to fix SFO delays"

Examiner Reader said:
Why do you print this idiot's ignorant blatherings None of what he writes makes any sense at all to someone familiar with the airport's layout. Stop obsessing over airport maps Mr. Horn and take a few classes in in air traffic and airport design before waxing poetic about such pie-in-the-sky nonsense.

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8:59 PM MST on Thu., Sep. 13, 2007 re: "Ambrose: Anti-war extremists furthering defeatist agenda"

Examiner Reader said:
"How many kids do you have over there, in Iraq, Jay? You talk pretty tough when it's someone else's kid that has to do the fighting. " - Funny how that all those "kids" (in reality grown adults) VOLUNTEERED to go over there, since we have an all-volunteer armed forces for the last 35 years. Most of those so-called "kids" support the mission, and in fact many of the re-enlist, knowing full well they could be going back. This isn't the 1960's anymore - there is no draft, and our service men and women don't need you to determine what they want and need to do...

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9:27 AM MST on Wed., Sep. 12, 2007 re: "Ambrose: Anti-war extremists furthering defeatist agenda"

Native San Franciscan said:
I applaud Mr. Ambrose for this article. It goes against the rabid anti-war nature of gutless leftists because it is the truth. This war, although unpopular, needs to be fought with boots-on-the-ground military leadership and not get hamstrung by idiots like Code Pink and other liberal kooks. Marxist idiots have invaded my beautiful city over the last 40 years and turned it into a laughingstock of the nation. As Lenin called your predecessors "useful idiots", I couldn't think of a better description for the seditious lunacy you frauds abide by.

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7:06 AM MST on Wed., Sep. 12, 2007 re: "Ambrose: Anti-war extremists furthering defeatist agenda"

Examiner Reader said:
How many kids do you have over there, in Iraq, Jay? You talk pretty tough when it's someone else's kid that has to do the fighting. Please visit my anti-war website, www.shockedandawful.com

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4:35 AM MST on Wed., Sep. 12, 2007 re: "Ambrose: Anti-war extremists furthering defeatist agenda"

Examiner Reader said:
Jay, this article is total propaganda. I guess we've forgotten how the war was a total sham to begin with? Yes we are sooo scared of the big bad terrorists getting in their rafts and coming over here. BTW they planted thermite in the towers. Google Terrorstorm

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1:02 PM MST on Fri., Sep. 7, 2007 re: "It�s time to consider the facts about crime cameras"

Art Bruzzone said:
From the FBI's most recent official 2006 crime statistics for major U.S. cities --- Violent crimes (that is, homicides, aggravated assaults, robberies and forcible rape) ROSE in San Francisco rose, 1.1 percent but dropped 4 percent in Los Angeles, and Dropped 3 percent in San Diego. Robberies San Francisco increased an incredible 22 percent. and only up 4 percent in Los Angeles and 16 percent in San Diego. Mr. Mayor, tear down this Lie. Produce your facts

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6:21 AM MST on Fri., Sep. 7, 2007 re: "It�s time to consider the facts about crime cameras"

Carson said:
Maybe they have all of the cameras so they can admire their illegal aliens looting America senseless. Just what is the plan when the liberals and their illegal invaders are finished with us? Do we all move onto the next country that has worked hard to make something for them selves and loot them into oblivion?

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5:51 PM MST on Wed., Aug. 29, 2007 re: "State is raiding local transit dollars"

Examiner Reader said:
Maybe if The bay area wasn't so happy to have illegal aliens, there wouldn't be so many illegals in prison strangling the prison system, along with the social services system. Maybe your governor wouldn't have had to siphon off all that money.

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5:36 AM MST on Wed., Aug. 22, 2007 re: "Ambrose: Inexperience not Obama�s biggest problem"

AMERICANS ARE SO DUMB said:
I meant to say "Ronald Reagan was right when he said it's a war that should NOT be fought"

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5:33 AM MST on Wed., Aug. 22, 2007 re: "Ambrose: Inexperience not Obama�s biggest problem"

AMERICANS ARE SO DUMB said:
You're nothing but a fool. America is not the only country that has nuclear weapons. If you leave the impression that you might use nuclear weapons open and other countries keep their options open too, who wins the war of scaring the other? If Pakistan or China or Russia wants, they can just drop a nuclear bomb in the United States this very minute and end all the talk about US domination. But the fact of the matter is no one wants to use it and Ronald Reagan was right when he said it's a war that should be fought. Stating circumstance under which you would not use nuclear weapons is not only smart, it's very good for diplomacy. So, if a deluded scumbag like yourself can't see that, then you're smoking something that's not cigarette.

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5:35 AM MST on Thu., Aug. 9, 2007 re: "Ambrose: Haste in Iraq could mean waste in U.S."

Mr. Mirth Alert said:
"...let's keep in mind how the Clinton administration was like the Bush administration in saying Saddam Hussein had WMD..." Well, to be fair, until 9-11, WMD was THE obsession of intell. analysts. As of 2000, the CIA estimated that 50 countries had WMD & military journals were brimming with cautionary tales on who'd use them first. The problem with comparing one admin.'s failures with its successor's is that no one is held accountable: one was "just as bad" as