The latest news from the National Assessment of Educational Program (NAEP) scores released yesterday: Major achievement gaps between racial and ethnic groups, dismal science aptitude, and failure to “reach a basic level of achievement” among the fourth- and eighth-graders tested, according to the Washington Post.
From the Post article by Nick Anderson:
About two-thirds of U.S. fourth-graders failed to show proficiency in science in 2009, the federal government reported Tuesday, meaning that the average student was likely to be stumped when asked to interpret a temperature graph or explain an example of heat transfer.
“It’s disappointing,” said Francis Eberle, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association, based in Arlington County. “Essentially, it says that science hasn’t been part of the agenda. Science has had very little attention.” He said reading and math – the focal areas of most standardized state tests – have squeezed time for science lessons in daily classroom schedules.
From the NAEP results released yesterday: