Science Test
A close look at the latest national test scores shows that reading and math standards pay off.

Sunday, May 28, 2006

AT FIRST GLANCE the latest test scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress appear to tell us something we already know, namely that Americans don't do well at science and aren't getting any better. Over the past few years, a number of studies have amply demonstrated the lack of science teachers, the generally poor curriculum, and the failure of most public school systems to require adequate numbers of science and math courses of their students.

But this new set of scores also demonstrates something else: Far from discouraging science education, the new emphasis on reading and math standards in elementary school appears to have helped boost science achievement among younger students. Over five years, fourth-graders improved their science scores across the board, with low-income and minority students in particular making improvements. As the Education Trust hypothesizes, higher reading and math standards may have made science textbooks more accessible to more students.

At the same time the new scores show that the gains Americans make in elementary school are still lost in high school. Science scores among high school seniors have remained flat since 2000, which means that nearly half of high school seniors performed below what the NAEP has called the "basic" level in science. The survey also shows a continuing large gap between African American and Hispanic achievement on one side and that of whites and Asians on the other.

Unlike elementary schools, which have been subjected to the requirements of the No Child Left Behind law, many high schools have not yet felt much legal or political pressure to institute accountability measures or to raise requirements. In the past five years, the number of white students taking a full complement of high school science courses has grown by only one percentage point, to 30 percent. The number of black students doing so has dropped, from 25 percent to 22 percent.

When so much attention is focused on the competitiveness of America's workforce, it's surprising that this news has received relatively little notice. Whatever happens to the U.S. economy over the next decade, it's certain that more and better jobs will be created for people with more and better knowledge of science. It's tragic that the American school system hasn't caught up with that obvious fact.