American Students Miss Mark

American Students Miss the Mark in Math and Science
Education Reporter, January 1997, Number 132

             WASHINGTON, DC - A new U.S. Department of Education international
               study on math and science performance shows that American students are
               "far from the mark" of receiving superior math and science education. The
               study included over a half-million 8th-grade students from 41 countries.

               The "Third International Mathematics and Science Study," the largest such
               survey conducted to date, shows that while American students spend more
               time in class on the two subjects and are assigned more homework, they trail
               behind their foreign peers.The Department of Education blames
poor teacher training and inadequate course content
rather than too much television or lack of money.

               "We continue to shortchange America's teachers by not giving them the
               preparation and help they need to do the best possible job in the classroom,"
               said Education Secretary Richard Riley.

The study says that U.S. math curricula are "less advanced" and "less
focused" than those of higher achieving countries.
The content of 8th-grade math courses in the U.S. resembles the 7th-grade curricula
of most other nations that participated in the study.

American students scored higher than foreign students on environmental
issues and life sciences, but foreign students
outperformed Americans in physics and chemistry.

               Researchers drew their conclusions from exams, teacher surveys, analyses
               of curricula, and classroom videotapes. Students from Singapore, Korea,
               Japan, the Czech Republic, and Hungary outperformed the U.S. in math and
               science. American students performed comparably with those from other
               major industrial nations like England, Germany, and Canada.
Of the 41 nations, U.S. students placed 28th in math and 17th in science.

               The news comes at a time when business leaders worry about America's
               ability to compete globally. Governors promised in 1990 to make American
               students "first in the world" in math and science by the year 2000.

OK, you say.
So American students aren't doing so well compared to the rest of the world.
What's to be done?

Back to Education Page