Low science scores disappoint educators. (News connection: up-to-date and usable education information from schools, government, business, research and professional organizations).

The grades from The Nation's Report Card: Science 2000 were disheartening to science educators. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, issued in mid-November, show the average scores for fourth and eighth graders were flat since the last science report card in 1996. Worse yet, scores for high school seniors had declined by three points.

The science scores are in direct contrast to the 2000 mathematics assessment, released in August 2001, that showed significant improvement for fourth and eighth graders. High school seniors, however, showed declining scores in math, as well.

The NAEP aims for every student to score at proficient or above in its testing. Almost 30 percent of the 4th graders achieved this mark, while 32 percent of 8th graders scored proficient or higher. Only 18 percent of 12th graders, or about one in five, reached the proficient level.

The results show that no major racial or ethnic group scored higher in 2000 than they did in 1996. Although white students, on average, had higher science scores than black or Hispanic students, the white students in 12th grade scored lower on the 2000 assessment than the same subgroup in 1996.

On average, boys in fourth and eighth grade scored higher than girls.

The NAEP notes that eighth graders whose teachers majored in science education scored higher than those whose teachers did not. Fourth and 8th graders who used computers to play learning games or simulations and analysis scored higher.

U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige says: "If our graduates know less about science than their predecessors four years ago, then our hopes for a strong 21st century workforce are dimming just when we need them most."

The good news to be gleaned from the report is in the higher performance of students enrolled at the U.S. Department of Defense Schools that serve students whose parents are in the armed forces. Some of the highest 8th grade science scores are attributed to these schools, located in the U.S. and overseas. "How do DOD schools take diverse, highly mobile groups of students and do so well? The answer is startlingly simple and familiar--they set high standards," says Paige.

As for the response from the nation's science teachers, Harold Pratt, president of the National Science Teachers Association, blames the problem on a lack of resources, an incoherent curricula and unqualified science teachers.

"This isn't the first indication that we have a problem," notes Pratt. The results of the Third International Math and Science Study released three years ago revealed that eighth graders have slipped below the average performance when compared to students from other countries. U.S. high school students were near the bottom of the list, adds Pratt.

"The country hasn't accepted the importance of the task. You can't expect big changes in student achievement when we haven't made big changes in the way students learn science."

http://nces.ed.gov/ nationsreportcard, www.nsta.org