What’s really frightening about these results is that the alarm has been ringing since the 1983 publication of “A Nation at Risk,” the federally sponsored study that highlighted vast problems in the public schools. Yet despite years of talk about reform–and genuine efforts at change in a few places–American students are still not making the grade and remain behind their counterparts in other industrialized nations.
Most mainstream educators already agree that American math instruction needs a drastic overhaul, with more emphasis on group problem-solving and creative thinking rather than repetitive drills. But local schools continue to resist these prescriptions. “It’s like we have a cure for polio, but we’re not giving the inoculation,” said Bill Honig, California’s superintendent of schools. Fewer than a third of the students surveyed regularly spent time in smallgroup work and the vast majority had never done mathematics projects or written reports on math. And most math classes are still mired in the Victorian age, eschewing the use of calculators and computers. About a third of the students had never used a calculator in math class and two thirds had never used a computer. Educators say too many children are wasting time practicing adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing when they could be moving on to more interesting and challenging math.
The math study, part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (commonly called the Nation’s Report Card), was administered last year to a representative sampling of 126,000 students in public and private schools. Students in three grades– 4, 8 and 12–were tested. The eighth-grade results have attracted the most attention because the scores were broken down by state for the first time since the inception of the test in 1973. State politicians originally lobbied Congress to forbid the release of this kind of detail, because they feared a backlash from outraged voters. Thirty-seven states, along with the Virgin Islands, Guam and the District of Columbia, finally agreed to participate. The 13 states that refused cited various reasons, most often a lack of funds. Participation cost each state $100,000.
Most educators predicted a poor showing on the math test, but the final tally was worse than expected. “Don’t let the fascination with ‘which state did better than which state’ blind you to the state of the forest,” says Chester E. Finn Jr., author of “We Must Take Charge: Our Schools and Our Future” and a leading advocate of national testing. “The forest did dismally.” Even in the top states–North Dakota, Montana and Iowa–only a tiny minority of eighth graders scored above their grade level. The lowest scoring eighth graders could only do second-grade work. Says Finn: “We are on various positions on the cellar stairs.”
Analysts emphasized that the math problem is nationwide. Only 14 percent of eighth graders scored at the seventh-grade level or above–and that includes students in well-regarded, wealthy suburban systems. The study showed that only 1 percent of the eighth-grade students in one state, Virginia, were ready for calculus.
Money alone doesn’t seem to be the answer. Finn notes that the highest-ranking state, North Dakota, is 32nd in terms of per-pupil spending, while the District of Columbia, which spends the most per student, is second to last. There is even compelling evidence that the longer kids stay in school, the farther they fall behind expected achievement. For example, the majority of fourth graders (72 percent) tested at or above the third-grade level, and 11 percent scored at or above the fifth-grade level. But by the time students reach the end of high school, many have fallen far, far behind. Only 46 percent of 12th graders can do seventh-grade work and only 5 percent can do precalculus work.
Instead of responding with defensive criticism, most educators seemed to welcome the test as a cleareyed look at the status quo–and an opportunity to start over. “We’ve all been led to believe that we were above average,” said Francie Alexander, California’s associate superintendent of schools. “These results should take care of that myth.” Some potential criticism may have been defused by the structure of the test, which reflects the most current thinking on what an exam should contain. The questions were designed to evaluate problem-solving ability, not just mere computational skills; in fact, every student had a calculator at his side. The only other available state-by-state comparisons are college boards like the SAT and the ACT, but those are only for students going on to college–a self-selected group. The national math test is a random sampling of all kinds of students taking the same test at the same time.
Almost immediately after the results were announced, schools began announcing blueprints for change. In California (ranked in the bottom third), officials said they would revamp their junior-high-school curriculum by stressing real-life problem solving, use of calculators and computers, and writing about mathematics. Honig said the program will begin in 100 schools in the fall and branch out from there as textbooks are ordered and teachers are retrained to use new techniques and curriculum.
While these changes may help, other data gleaned from the study indicates that curriculum reform by itself won’t cure everything. A range of factors, from income level to television habits to parents’ marital status, were linked with performance. Alexander called this the “91 percent factor,” referring to the 91 percent of students’ time that is spent outside school. “The only ones who can do something about these results are first, the students, then, their parents, the schools and the communities,” he said.
Students with higher scores tended to have parents with some education beyond high school and were more likely to live with both their parents. These students also reported doing more homework, missing less school and watching fewer hours of television than students who had lower scores. Across the country, eighth graders watched at least three hours of television a day, but in the lowest-scoring schools, such as the District of Columbia, students said they watched six or more hours per day. Eighth graders in private and parochial schools had slightly higher scores than public-school students although the difference was reduced by grade 12.
Not surprisingly, Asian-Americans did best overall, with scores in all age groups significantly higher than any other racial or ethnic group. However, Hawaii, the state with the highest proportion of Asian-Americans (67 percent), was one of the poorest-scoring states. One possible explanation: Hawaii’s Asian-Americans include many who have been in this country for several generations. This may indicate that assimilated Asian-Americans perform just like other Americans. The results showed no difference between the performance levels of girls and boys in grades four and eight; however, in the 12th grade, boys did better than girls–suggesting that cultural pressures don’t kick in until high school.
While the task of overhauling math instruction may seem monumental, educators say it is urgent–and essential–if the nation is to compete in a global economy. “Until recently, the public was perfectly happy with students who could do the basics of adding and subtracting,” says Shirley Hill, chairman of the National Research Council’s Mathematical Sciences Education Board. “Now we realize how much more students need to know, and people are going to be upset that they don’t know it.” In most of the rest of the world, adding and subtracting are considered merely steps in mathematical mastery, just as spelling and grammar are the building blocks of literacy. Many so-called reforms are standard procedure in other countries. Honig says that in Japan, students routinely talk and write about math, and work with real-life examples.
In this country, teachers say they’re most optimistic about the performance of children in the early grades, where reforms are more wide-spread. Young kids are used to hands-on mathematical-learning tools, such as blocks, puzzles and games, that make numbers relevant and fun. Today’s first and second graders are on the cutting edge, says Iris Carle, president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. “Soon these young children will be coming into the middle schools,” she says, “and they will force change because of their personal experience with critical thinking and application of real-life math skills.”
Is that just wishful thinking? Since 1973, the results on the national math tests have shown a steady record of disgraceful performance. This time we know which states are the worst; before this we knew only that something was terribly wrong. The nation is still at risk and time is running out.
Asian-Americans had the highest test scores; urban blacks were at the bottom of the list.
The Northeast and Central states did the best; Southeastern states did the worst.
Most students have access to calculators; a majority didn’t use them in school.
Most eighth graders did poorly on the test; most describe themselves as whizzes.
The best students watched the least TV; the worst admit to six hours a day.
