Poor scores highlight U.S. disadvantage
| • | Dismal ranking may send students to science class |
By Fredreka Schouten
Gannett News Service
WASHINGTON — Most American students fail to advance beyond a rudimentary grasp of science, according to scores released yesterday from an influential national test.
Results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress — often called the nation's report card — found less than one in three students tested in grades four, eight and 12 demonstrated proficiency in science last year. And their scores have not budged since 1996.
In alarming news for educators and high-tech CEOs clamoring for a boost in science achievement, average scores for high school seniors actually dropped during the period.
Just 18 percent of 12th-graders scored proficient or higher, down from 21 percent in 1996. And nearly half, 47 percent, lacked even basic science skills.
The news comes amid growing concern about the ability of American students to compete in a marketplace that demands greater proficiency in science and math. A blue ribbon commission earlier this year cited students' weak science performance as a leading national security worry.
"The bottom line is that these are disappointing results," said Susan Traiman, who directs the education initiative at the Business Roundtable. "We risk having U.S. kids know more about physics from Harry Potter than they know from Isaac Newton."
Education Secretary Rod Paige said the scores show American schools are not preparing students for the modern workplace, and pointed to the dramatic increase in temporary visas for foreign workers to fill professional jobs, particularly in the high-tech sector. Those visas hit 195,000 last year, from 48,600 in 1992.
"There's something wrong when foreign workers are getting jobs in America because we failed to teach American kids," Paige said.
The decline in performance between middle school and the senior year mirrors a trend observed in international math and science tests: U.S. fourth-graders led the world, only to plummet by their senior year. Last year's NAEP math results showed a similar decline in performance since 1996 among high school seniors.
Federal officials said they did not have a clear explanation for the decline in performance in high school. But experts say it might be linked to a shortage of teachers with science backgrounds and a lack of rigor in high school science curricula. The standards-and-accountability movement embraced by states in the last decade has focused on boosting reading and math skills, with less emphasis on science.
The test scores also demonstrate the stubborn gap between white students and their black and Hispanic peers. The average score for white eighth-graders was 162 on a scale to 300. Black students had an average score of 122.
The gap narrowed slightly among seniors, but only because the scores of white students fell.
The results are based on a national sample of 47,000 students in the three grades who took the test last year. Another 180,000 fourth- and eighth-graders in 40 states, territories and Defense Department schools were tested.
Fourth-graders were asked about evaporation, for example, and the function of the esophagus, while questions for seniors included how to determine the density of a metal ring.
