4th, 8th Grades Still Come Up Short in Math

Despite a decade of progress in mathematics, only about one in four students in the fourth and eighth grades demonstrates a solid grasp of math topics normally taught in those grades, new data released Thursday show.

Moreover, the “achievement gap” in math proficiency is widening between white and Asian American students on one hand and their black and Latino counterparts on the other, according to results of a test known as the “nation’s report card.”

On the National Assessment of Educational Progress, administered in 2000, 34% of white fourth-graders demonstrated grade-level proficiency while only 5% of black fourth-graders and 10% of Latino fourth-graders did so.

In California, only about 15% of fourth-graders and 18% of eighth-graders could meet the test’s proficiency standard. The state’s performance on the fourth-grade test was the seventh-worst in the country; its performance on the eighth-grade test was ninth-worst.

The new data highlight issues central to education reform legislation being prepared in Congress. At the behest of President Bush, the Senate and House each passed bills creating a regimen of testing and sanctions aimed at forcing states to close the gap in performance between educational “haves” and “have-nots.”

A group of business leaders allied with Bush and U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige both said Thursday that the national test results show the legislation is badly needed.

Congressional leaders are working out the differences between the House and Senate bills, including whether states should be required to use the national assessment test to verify state-level academic gains. The leaders met Thursday in the Oval Office with Bush and Paige to discuss their progress. Paige said he was hopeful that a compromise is near.

Paige said the report on math contained “moderately positive” news. But he also said the administration is deeply concerned about the relatively small number of students achieving proficiency and the “gaping separation in student achievement” by ethnic groups.

“Those students in the greatest need should receive greater resources and technical assistance and where that happens, you see progress being made,” Paige said.

In fact, all groups of fourth- and eighth-grade students have made some progress since 1990. And all groups except American Indians have progressed since 1996, the last time the test was given.

In 2000, U.S. fourth- and eighth-graders were nearly twice as likely to be proficient in math as they were a decade earlier, perhaps reflecting a national push for higher academic achievement that has focused on raising standards and improving teaching methods. Among 12th-graders, performance was about the same in 2000 as four years earlier but was slightly better than in 1990.

But the gains are obscured by the fact that a minority of students are meeting grade-level expectations. Only 26% of fourth-graders and 27% of eighth-graders achieved proficiency, according to the 2000 test results. Only 17% of 12th-graders were judged proficient.

Earlier this year, the national assessment test results for reading showed less progress than in math but similar “achievement gaps” among ethnic groups. The most accomplished fourth-graders were continuing to advance. But struggling students were even worse off in 2000, indicating that they were being bypassed by a wide range of state and school district reforms.

The 45-minute national assessment tests, the only tool to gauge achievement across states, were taken by a sample of about 240,000 students nationally. Students in 46 states and U.S. jurisdictions took the fourth-grade test and those in 44 states and jurisdictions took the eighth-grade test. Results of a test administered to 12th-graders are calculated only for the nation as a whole.

In addition to receiving a numerical score, students are put into one of four categories: “advanced,” “proficient,” “basic” or “below basic.” Students on the lowest rung have missed out on the arithmetic, measurement and geometry skills deemed necessary for advancement to the next grade.

In California, just under half the state’s fourth- and eighth-graders were in that lowest category.

But 75% of the black fourth- and eighth-graders and about two-thirds of the Latino fourth- and eighth-graders fell into that category. Those numbers were not statistically different from eight years earlier.

In contrast, about 30% of Asian American and white fourth- and eighth-graders were on the lowest rung of achievement.

“This is an ongoing national problem that is of very grave concern in California,” said state schools Supt. Delaine Eastin. Four in 10 students in the state are Latino and 9% are black.

The new state budget includes $200 million to help the lowest-performing schools in California. They serve students who are predominantly minorities, many of whom are not fluent in English and are from poor families, Eastin said. The eighth-grade results were particularly troubling because those students will have to pass a high school exit exam to graduate.

But state officials said measures aimed at addressing areas of weakness in math were not yet in place when the national assessment test was administered in February 2000. Since then, the state has allocated $298 million for math training and $1 billion for textbooks.

Eastin said another reason California’s scores lag far below the national average is that 27% of the state’s fourth-graders and 19% of its eighth-graders are not fluent speakers of English. Nationally, those figures are 6% and 4% for the two grades, respectively.

In addition, California requires far more of its students who are not fluent to take the test, which is given only in English. About one in four of the fourth-graders and one in five of the eighth-graders who were tested were not fluent English speakers. In New York, for example, only 4% of the fourth-graders taking the national test were not fluent. In Texas, the figure was 10%.

For this reason, Eastin said, one should be wary of state-to-state comparisons.

Such comparisons could cost low-performing states such as California money if states are forced to participate in the national assessment program, as the current Senate bill would require as part of a federal accountability system. States where scores decline could be penalized financially.

If that requirement becomes law, Eastin said, California may challenge it in a lawsuit.

Other advocates of raising academic standards said the national test’s state-by-state comparisons are valuable because they shine a light on practices that are working.

Matt Gandal, vice president of Achieve Inc., a group of business leaders and governors that supports education reforms, said it is too early to determine the impact of academic standards on achievement. But he said that states such as North Carolina, Texas and Georgia, which have embraced math standards, are seeing gains.

“If we’re serious about all kids and serious about closing the achievement gap, then we should be looking at those states making gains and see what makes a difference,” Gandal said.

Requiring states to participate in the national testing and attaching consequences to their performance also will make states set ambitious academic goals, said Amy Wilkins, a partner in the Education Trust, a Washington, D.C., advocacy group.

But she said states also must make sure all schools have qualified teachers and adequate resources.

“Standards and accountability aren’t enough,” she said. “You can’t just beat people and say, ‘Do better. Do better. Do better.’ A lot of teachers and principals are working as hard as they can, and they just don’t know what to do. We have to give them the tools they need to improve.”

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Uneven Improvement

White students are making greater progress in achieving mathematical proficiency than are minority students in public schools nationwide, according to a report from the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Percentage of Students Proficient or Above in Math

Math score rank by state and other jurisdictions*

FOURTH GRADE

Best

Minnesota

Massachusetts

Indiana

Connecticut

Iowa

Worst (California and

jurisdictions ranked lower)

California

Mississippi

D.C.

Guam

Virgin Islands

American Samoa

Worst (California and

jurisdictions ranked lower)

California

Alabama

Arkansas

New Mexico

Louisiana

* No ranking was done for 12th-grade scores.

Source: National Assessment of Educational Progress

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Standards of Proficiency Examples of what mathematically “proficient” students should be able to do:

* Fourth grade:

Compute, estimate and determine if answers are reasonable in problems involving whole numbers; understand fractions and decimals; use calculators, rulers and geometric shapes.

* Eighth grade:

Solve “real-world” problems requiring arithmetic; infer conclusions from charts and graphs; gather and organize numerical data.

* 12th grade:

Solve algebraic equations involving polynomials; understand algebraic functions; judge the reasonableness of answers to real-world problems.

Source: National Assessment of Educational Progress