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EDUCATION EDYTABLASZCZYK—ODESSAAMERICANVIAAP Odessa High School graduates pose for a group portrait prior to the start of the commencement ceremony in Odessa, Texas. By Jennifer C. Kerr The Associated Press WASHINGTON Thenation's high school seniors are slip- ping in math and failing to make progress in reading, with just one-third of the 12th graders ready for the academic challenges of col- lege. Scores released Wednes- day from the Nation's Re- port Card also show a wid- ening gap between the highest- and lowest-per- forming students. Only one-quarter of 12th- graders taking the test per- formed proficiently or bet- ter in math. In reading, 37 percent of the students were proficient or above — meaning they had a solid grasp or better of the sub- ject material. The average math score on the test last year was 152, down from 153 in 2013, the last time the test was given. It marks the first drop in math in a de- cade. For reading, scores were flat over the same pe- riod of time, and down five points from more than two decades ago when the test was first given to students in 1992. Education Secretary John B. King, Jr., says schools have undergone "some of the most signifi- cant changes in decades" as teachers retool their class- room practices to adapt to new and higher standards. "We know the results of those changes will not be seen overnight, so we need to be patient — but not pas- sive — in continuing to pur- sue the goal of preparing all students for success af- ter high school," King said. Since 2009, more than 40 states have adopted the Common Core learn- ing standards, which out- line skills students should learn and know in math and reading by the end of each grade. They empha- size critical thinking, with less of a focus on memori- zation. Peggy Carr, acting com- missioner of the National Center for Education Statis- tics, which administers the test, said the report sug- gests a pattern in reading scores that needs a closer look. "There is a gap, a wid- ening of a gap of higher and lower ability students, and I think that's something we need to think about," said Carr. Reading scores increased by two points for the high- est-performing students, and were down six points for the lowest-performing seniors. Math scores saw no significant difference over two years for the highest group of test-takers, but de- clined for the group of stu- dents at the bottom. Bill Bushaw, executive di- rector of the National As- sessment Governing Board, said the scores were disap- pointing. "We're not making the academic progress that we need to so that there's greater preparedness for post-secondary, for work, for military participation. These numbers aren't going the way we want," Bushaw said. The report estimates about 37 percent of stu- dents, for both reading and math, scored well enough to be considered likely to possess the knowledge and skills to be academically prepared for college-level work. That is not much dif- ferent than how well-pre- pared seniors were in 2013. Other findings: —The average math score was 152, on a 300-point scale. The average read- ing score was 287 on a 500-point scale. —No significant change was seen from 2013 in the average math score for any racial and ethnic groups. And it was the same for reading, with no real change seen from 2013 for any groups. —In math, the aver- age score for English lan- guage learners was higher last year, up six points from 2013. The National Assess- ment of Educational Prog- ress is considered a na- tional yardstick by which to measure student achieve- ment. The math test was given last year to about 13,200 twelfth-graders in public and private schools. About 18,700 students took the reading test. Math scores slip, reading flat for nation's 12th-graders HUSH MONEY CASE CHARLES REX ARBOGAST — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert departs the federal courthouse Wednesday in Chicago, a er his sentencing on federal banking charges which he pled guilty to last year. By Michael Tarm The Associated Press CHICAGO Dennis Hast- ert, the Republican who for eight years presided over the House and was second in the line of suc- cession to the presidency, was sentenced Wednes- day to more than a year in prison in the hush-money case that revealed accusa- tions he sexually abused teenagers while coaching high school wrestling. The case makes the for- mer speaker one of the highest-ranking American politicians ever sentenced to prison. The visibly an- gry judge repeatedly re- buked the 74-year-old be- fore issuing the 15-month sentence, telling him that his abuse devastated the lives of victims and would probably make it harder than ever for parents to trust other adults with their children. "If Denny Hastert could do it, anyone could do it,'" U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin said. "Nothing is more stunning than to have the words 'serial child molester' and 'speaker of the House' in the same sen- tence." As he did for much of the hearing, Hastert sat unmoving in a wheel- chair, peering over the top of his eyeglasses, his hands folded before him. Earlier this month, pros- ecutors went into graphic detail about the sex-abuse allegations, even describ- ing how Hastert would sit in a recliner in the locker room with a direct view of the showers. The vic- tims, prosecutors said, were boys between 14 and 17. Hastert was in his 20s and 30s. Dennis Hastert sentenced to more than a year in prison By Matthew Perrone The Associated Press WASHINGTON Lawmak- ers accused Valeant Phar- maceuticals of gouging patients to reward Wall Street investors at a hear- ing Wednesday focused on the embattled drugmaker's pricing tactics. The tough words from Senate Republicans and Democrats came as bil- lionaire hedge fund man- ager William Ackman de- fended the company's busi- ness model and its outgoing CEO expressed regrets for its most egregious price in- creases. As the hearing opened, lawmakers on the Senate Aging Committee laid into the Canadian drugmaker's approach to buying older, niche drugs and increasing prices. "Valeant's monopoly model operates at the ex- pense of real people," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in her opening statement. Berna Heyman, a patient with a rare genetic disorder called Wilson's Disease, tes- tified that the co-pay on her medication increased from $700 per year to more than $10,000. The 30-year-old drug, Syprine, was acquired by Valeant in 2010 and has seen its price increase more than 3,000 percent. Collins said documents reviewed by her staff show Valeant already has re- couped the purchase costs of four drugs subject to drastic price hikes, includ- ing Syprine. Ranking Democrat Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, said executives with ties to Wall Street have driven the adop- tion of Valeant's price-hik- ing business model. "The notion that we can sit idly by while smart peo- ple on Wall Street can do ledger entries to create an- other layer of profit in the health care sector to bene- fit multimillionaires on the backs of patients and ulti- mately taxpayers can't con- tinue," McCaskill said. The committee ques- tioned Valeant's outgoing CEO, J. Michael Pearson, its former chief financial of- ficer, Howard Schiller, and Ackman, whose hedge fund holds a large stake in Vale- ant and controls two seats on its board of directors. Valeant's stock surged under Pearson's leadership, fueled by a strategy of gob- bling up smaller companies and raising prices on niche drugs — bypassing the huge research and develop- ment investments typical of the drug industry. Valeant raised net prices on its port- folio of U.S. drugs by 41.3 percent between October 2014 and October 2015, ac- cording to research by Sec- tor and Sovereign Research analyst Richard Evans. Ackman told lawmak- ers this "low-cost and dis- ciplined" business model made Valeant a smarter in- vestment than its peers. "A number of observ- ers have suggested that the more a pharmaceutical company spends on R&D, the better for society. We do not believe this to be true," said Ackman, who is founder and CEO of Per- shing Square Capital. Ack- man, whose hedge fund controls $12 billion, went on to say that Valeant's strat- egy can do "more for inno- vation in pharma by acquir- ing other drug companies" than by developing its own drugs. He added that cer- tain drastic price hikes — including those that first at- tracted congressional scru- tiny — were mistakes that have caused "great reputa- tional damage."" Pearson also expressed regrets for the price hikes, specifically raising prices on two life-saving heart drugs by more than 300 percent and 700 percent, respec- tively. "Valeant was too aggres- sive and I, as its leader, was too aggressive," he told law- makers. "I regret pursuing transactions where a cen- tral premise was a planned increase in the prices of the medicines." Pearson's comments come shortly before he is due to be replaced as Vale- ant CEO, and may not win much sympathy from Sen- ate lawmakers. Valeant announced Mon- day that it would replace Pearson as CEO early next month with Joseph Papa, CEO of generic drugmaker Perrigo Co. DRUGMAKER Lawmakers blast Valeant for price-gouging tactics THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 5 B