MATH STUDENTS BEAT U.S. ODDS.

Byline: Eric Moses Daily News Staff Writer

Quick, answer this: What fraction is 50 percent less than five-eighths?

By the time you finished reading the question, 13-year-old Jeffrey Steinberg, a contestant in the head-to-head challenge round of Saturday's MathCounts competition, rang in with the correct answer: five-sixteenths.

The Walter Reed Middle School eighth-grader has a knack for mathematics - something lacked by most American students in eighth through 12th grades, according to a study released last week.

The Third International Mathematics and Science Study found that U.S. students Jeffrey's age ranked below the international average in math and in the middle of the 21-nation field in science. The results were dismal for high school seniors, who tested in the bottom third in both subjects.

Jeffrey's math teacher Bill Fitz-Gibbons, who guided a four-student team to a first-place finish at the contest for the 14th year in a row, found the research distressing.

He blamed the poor state of math affairs on an increasing dependence on calculators and a ``reform movement'' which de-emphasizes using formulas.

``Students are not as good in mental arithmetic'' as they once were, Fitz-Gibbon said after the contest sponsored by the San Fernando Valley chapter of the California Society of Professional Engineers. ``And they are weak in basic skills.''

His approach at the North Hollywood school is to let the brighter students learn advanced math - college-level calculus in some cases. The approach draws gifted students like Jeffrey, who travels 50 miles from the Antelope Valley each day.

``We've got to realize that there is a tremendous difference in ability and motivation, and you have to allow for differentials,'' Fitz-Gibbons said.

Though Jeffrey won the challenge round, he finished second overall in the individual competition, answering 39 of 46 questions correctly.

His teammate, seventh-grader Zahra Pumarega Yazdani, won the individual contest with 40 correct answers in the competition held at California State University, Northridge.

Jason Park, an eighth-grader at Portola Magnet Middle School in Tarzana, placed third.

Walter Reed and Portola finished one-two in the team competition, followed by Placerita Junior High School in Newhall.

The top two teams and four high scorers chosen from seven other schools in the competition advanced to the state finals, to be held March 14 at the University of California, Irvine.

The San Fernando Valley Chapter is headed by Norman Baron, a civil engineer from Canoga Park. He started the chapter 15 years ago when the National Society of Professional Engineers held its first nationwide ``mathlete'' competition.

``It's meant to make math fun,'' he said. ``It's to make math something of a sport.''

That's why Jeff Robson, a seventh-grader who aspires to be a computer game software designer, joined the team at La Mesa Junior High.

``It's challenging and it's fun and it makes you think,'' the 13-year-old said.

Though the parents who attended the competition may not have to worry about their children's math scores slipping, they are bothered by curriculum choices and teaching techniques.

``I remember being in school and I was always looking for the perfect answer to: How can I use this?'' said Barry Golob of Valencia.

As for those kids who ask that same question today, he said, ``I don't think they understand that there is good to learning math as well as every other subject.''

Jeffrey's mother, Ann, a teacher at a technical school, said she sees firsthand how dismal some people's math skills are.

``We have to teach basic math skills,'' she said. ``The adults we see were afraid to do it, and maybe they weren't pushed to do it.''

Ann Steinberg said she thinks some teachers focus on the middle-of-the road students, leaving advanced students bored and others lost.

But Paul Kass, who teaches pre-algebra and algebra to seventh-graders at Placerita, is an advocate of keeping students of all learning levels in a single class. He said he uses open-ended questions that let advanced students to delve deeper into the problems.

``The different viewpoints that come into discussions really add to the learning experience,'' Kass said.