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Problem: Even though some improvement has been demonstrated since 1992, more than 2/3 of the nation's elementary and middle school students lack proficiency in math, according to test results released November 13, 2003. There continues to be a large gap in math performance between white students and black and Hispanic students.

Source: Plisko, "The Release of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) The Nation's Report Card: Reading and Mathematics 2003," Nov. 13, 2003, http://nces.ed.gov/commissioner/remarks2003/11_13_2003.asp: "At the fourth grade, the percentage of students at or above . . . Proficient increased from 13 percent to 32 percent. At the eighth grade, the increases are from . . . from 15 percent to 29 percent."

" . . . the Education Trust, which represents urban schools, expressed concern because the math scores of white students in eighth grade rose more than those of Latinos and black students, meaning a widening achievement gap. In 1990, only 1 percent of black fourth graders, and 2 percent of black eighth graders were proficient at math. The new results showed 10 percent of black fourth graders, and 7 percent of black eighth graders, have reached proficiency." Source: Schemo, "Students' Scores Rise in Math, Not Reading," New York Times, Nov. 14, 2003.

Problem: "More than 80 percent of the nation's high school seniors lack proficiency in science, according to test results released yesterday . . . The performance of 12th-graders on the National Assessment of Educational Progress science test, given last year to a nationally representative sample of school children, was slightly worse than four years ago. The results add to concerns that U.S. students are growing weaker in a subject that is increasingly important to the nation's future. . . . The dismal performance on the science test was not limited to 12th-graders, 82 percent of whom were less than proficient in science. Seventy-one percent of fourth -graders and 68 percent of eighth-graders also scored below proficient, meaning they lacked the knowledge and skills needed to apply scientific principles." Fletcher, "Students Found Lacking in Science: 12th-Graders' Skills Declining, Nationwide Study Reports," Washington Post, November 21, 2001, A1, A18.
Problem: In 1999, U.S. eighth graders' math and science scores on standardized international tests place the nation 19th and 18th, respectively, out of 38 countries participating. While the U.S. scores were better than those of about half the participating countries (including Italy, Israel, and New Zealand), students in the U.S. scored less well than their counterparts in many countries (including, in addition to several countries in the Far East, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Hungary, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia).
Source: IEA, TIMSS 1999 International Mathematics Report, and TIMSS 1999 International Science Report, and Pursuing Excellence: Comparisons of International Eighth-Grade Mathematics and Science Achievement from a U.S. Perspective, 1995 and 1999. For more information on these reports, see http://isc.bc.edu/timss1999i/publications.html:

The 1995 survey ranked the U.S. 11th of 25 countries surveyed in math proficiency at the fourth grade level. By the eighth grade, however, U.S. student math proficiency fell below the international average (28th out of 41 countries). The U.S. was the only country in the top 12 to see that decline between fourth and eighth grades.

According to the 1995 international study, in the final year of secondary school (twelfth grade in the U.S.), U.S. math and science literacy performance was among the lowest (18 of 21 countries participating). U.S. performance fell below that of Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Italy, and Hungary, among others.

A similarly disturbing pattern applied to deterioration of U.S. student achievement in science in 1995: relative performance of U.S. students in science declines significantly from fourth to eighth grades (U.S. 3rd of 25 at fourth grade level; 17th of 40 at eighth grade level).

Source: Fletcher, "Students Gaining in Math Testing: Blacks, Hispanics Still Lag Behind Whites, Asians," Washington Post, August 3, 2001, A10 [citing National Assessment of Educational Progress Survey, National Center for Education Statistics]

"The math skills of the nation's fourth-, eighth-, and 12th-graders improved modestly over the past decade, progress that was dampened by a persistently wide gap separating black and Hispanic students from their white and Asian counterparts, a national assessment released yesterday shows."

"[S]lightly more than 25 percent of the nation's fourth- and eighth-graders in public schools performed at or above the proficient level in math. This is a sizeable increase from the percentage of proficient students in the early 1990s, and 3 to 5 percentage points better than in 1996, the last time the test was given." This still means that nearly 75 percent of these students were less than "proficient" in math.

"Among 12th-graders, 17 percent scored at or above the proficient level."

"Despite this improvement, it is clear that with one quarter of fourth- and eighth-graders performing at or above proficient levels on this exam, we are not doing as well as we need to," said Educational Secretary Roderick R. Paige.

"[The year 2000 NAEP math survey] results also highlighted the achievement gap separating blacks and Hispanics from whites. Less than 40 percent of black fourth-graders and 50 percent of Hispanics reached the basic level on the test, a standard achieved by 80 percent of whites and nearly 75 percent of Asians."

"'There is still a glaring separation in student achievement between minority students and their peers,' said Paige. Paige, and other federal education officials said that exemplary performance on the test is most often associated with experienced teachers trained in math and students in wealthier suburban schools. Blacks and Hispanics are more likely to be concentrated in poorer, urban school districts with teachers who typically have less math training and experience."

Solutions: There are a number of sources of math programs and initiatives that seem capable of producing much more effective mathematics learning for our children. Among these are:

SFA Math Wings: sponsored by the Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk, a joint project of Johns Hopkins University and Howard University, and the Success for All Foundation. See a report on the success of this program in North Carolina, rural Maryland, Texas, California, and Arizona.

The Algebra Project at the Open Program, King School, Cambridge, MA. To learn more about The Algebra Project, see Moses, R. and Cobb, C., Radical Equations: Math Literacy and Civil Rights, Boston: Beacon Press, 2001:

- "In the spring of 1986, 39 percent of the project's first full graduating class was placed in honors geometry or honors algebra in high school. Not a single graduating student was taking lower-level high school math." (99)
- "In 1988, scores in the open program on the citywide algebra exam were the second highest in the system. . . . By 1992, 68 percent of the kids involved with the Algebra Project went into ninth-grade algebra, compared with 54 percent system-wide. At Steven Leonard's school, fifty-seven sixth graders passed a difficult math proficiency test that year. In 1989, only twelve students passed it." (106)
- "Where student, parent, community, teachers, and school administration have come together as in West Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, progress can be dramatic. In that county 94 percent of the students are African American and 96 percent receive free or reduced lunch. In 1995, a year after we began working there, district students taking the standardized Algebra 1, U.S. history, and functional literacy tests for the first time reached and/or surpassed state benchmarks. In 1998, the district was removed from the state's Department of Education probationary schools." (144)
- "I will conclude this tale of testing in Weldon [N.C.] by reporting that despite having eight teachers over the year all but four of the twenty-two students who took the state's algebra I test [after being in the Algebra Project] scored at or above the fiftieth percentile--the state's standard for proficiency. . . . Frankly, I was expecting for about half to prove proficient and hoping for 65 percent of them. It was very rewarding seeing 85 percent. . . . In August, . . . the state's Board of Education had given our kids an award for moving the school from being one of the poorest in the state to an 'exemplary' status." (163, 164)

Click here for a school-by-school assessment of the performance improvements resulting from use of Saxon Math Texts, Norman, OK. See also Matthews, "Not on the Same Page: Some Educators Say Saxon Math Books Are Great Teaching Tools, but Many School Systems Refuse to Use Them," Washington Post, June 19, 2001, A9. This article reports on the results of California state tests of students at Heliotrope Elementary School in Mayfield, CA., a largely Hispanic neighborhood. These tests showed first-graders "had climbed from the 28th to 44th percentile using Saxon. Second-graders had jumped from 24th to 42nd." The same article reports, "The books seemed to do best in inner-city and rural schools" and noted particularly beneficial results when Saxon texts were used at Window Rock High School on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona.

See also recommendations in "Improving Student Achievement in Mathematics, Part 1: Research Findings" by Douglas A. Grouws and Kristin J. Cebulla (Dec. 2000), and the sources cited in the digest of the article, published by the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), U.S. Department of Education.

"In the 1999-2000 school year, 99 percent of [Houston's] YES College [Preparatory Academy's] students passed the state's standardized tests in reading and math, and 100 percent passed in writing. . . . [Two low-performing Houston public schools in the Gulfton area were assigned Teach for America students.] In his second year, Dave [Levin] asked his principal for the lowest-achieving class. . . . 17 percent had ranked at grade level on the state's standardized tests. . . . At year's end, 94 percent of his students scored at grade level. Mike [Feinberg's] story was similar. . . . Of the students who had taken the math test, about a third had scored at grade level before Mike taught them. By the end of the year, the vast majority of the students took the test. Ninety percent scored at grade level." Kopp, W., One Day, All Children . . . : The Unlikely Triumph of Teach for America and What I learned Along the Way," New York: Public Affairs, 2001, pp. 167-8. For more information on what made these teachers and programs so successful, see Wendy Kopp's book, pp. 147-179.

Solutions: The National Science Foundation's Urban Systematic Program to encourage more students to take math and science courses and to improve proficiency in these courses seems to be producing measurable benefit.

NSF "funneled math and science grants to 22 cities, including 13.3 million to Columbus [Ohio] schools over five years" and "credits that with being a catalyst for large-scale changes to improve science and math achievement. Between 1996 and 1999, eighth-graders in Columbus Public Schools significantly boosted their passing rates on science proficiency tests [i.e., by 10-15 percent, and] posted smaller gains in math. . . Columbus schools used their grants between 1995 and 2000 to focus on staff development, said [the district superintendent]. The district hired a team of science and math specialists who provided support and training to classroom teachers. In some cases they stepped in to teach concepts if teachers didn't feel they had a strong background in them." Bush, "More Kids in Class for Math, Science," Columbus Dispatch, June 29, 2001, D7.

See the NSF Urban Systemic Program for more information on the science and math performance improvement in the other 21 urban systems.

Click here for more information on the NSF Math and Science Partnership Initiative for 2002.

See also information on Fairfax County, VA's Project Excel and Success by Eight programs.

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